Leinster's second half showing floors Stormers

01/25/2025 02:23 PM

MATCH REPORT: Leinster outscored the Stormers by five tries to two to emerge 36-12 winners keeping their unbeaten United Rugby Championship streak intact.

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The opening stanza was a tight affair as the Stormers managed to nullify most of Leinster's attack, but the wheels fell off later in the second half.

Leinster won the kicking-game within the opening minutes, with the Stormers unable to handle a high-bomb followed by a 50/22 which the Stormers survived as RG Snyman lost the ball on attack.

Leinster won the first penalty of the evening at the breakdown as Deon Fourie was cleaned out after initially having hands on the ball and got penalised for not rolling away as Ross Byrne opened the scoring with a successful penalty kick in the fourth minute.

The first scrum saw the Stormers being dominated which gave Leinster territory and field position.

*To recap all the action CLICK HERE

The attack was relentless and eventually stretched the Stormers out wide as Jordie Barrett's offload found Andrew Osborne on his outside to get the opening try in the 11th minute which Byrne converted.

The Stormers earned their first penalty of the evening 14 minutes into the match which Libbok kicked into the Leinster 22 to set the line-out, but Vermaak knocked the ball on while on the attack in the visitor's red-zone.

A misfired line-out by the Stormers paid-off as Leinster knocked the ball on and gifted the visitors an attacking scrum that out muscled the Leinster pack - as Libbok got the ball wide to Warrick Gelant who found Ben Loader on his outside who scored in the 21st minute as Libbok converted.

Back-to-back penalties conceded by the Stormers have Leinster ample field position and territory as Leinster were hot on the attack but couldn't round-off due to good aggressive defending by the visitors that saw the knock-on occur, but Leinster got the penalty at the scrum on a Stormers feed.

The hosts went to the corner as the line-out went over the 15 metres but Leinster conceded a penalty for obstruction much to the relief of the visitors who were under huge pressure.

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Manie Libbok limped off in the 38th minute and was replaced by Wandisile Simelane at the same time Leinster scrumhalf Luke McGrath was helped off the pitch with the medical cart.

A scrum penalty conceded by Neethling Fouché inside Leinster's half gave the hosts field position to attack and it paid dividends as Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan went in for Leinster's second try on the stroke of half time as got the ball from James Lowe to send the hosts into the break with an eight point lead.

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Leinster bossed the opening minutes of the second half and a penalty conceded by Ali Vermaak gave the hosts an early entry deep into the Stormers' 22.

Leinster earned two more penalties after failing to convert the territory into points as the visitors received a team warning, but Joseph Dweba made a crucial steal under his posts to get his side out of trouble, but the hosts couldn't find touch with the kick having lost Libbok in the first half as Warrick Gelant slotted into the flyhalf role.

A good kick by Ross Byrne led to a line-out overthrow by Andre-Hugo Venter and that led to Jordie Barrett slide over the line from a tap-and-go move in the 58th minute.

A silly offside penalty moments after the restart gave Leinster another 22 metre entry in the Stormers half as Leinster turned the heat up on attack before a cross-field kick by James Lowe saw Dan Sheehan get a brace on his return which Byrne converted.

There were almost another try for James Lowe moments later that were scratched due to a knock-on in the build-up.

Back-to-back scrum penalties by Leinster on a Stormers feed gave the hosts another attacking opportunity as the ball went loose and Ruhan Nel's pass were intercepted by Andrew Osborne who grabbed a brace.

The Stormers did manage to get the final say as Evan Roos crashed over to get the Capetonians into double figures on the score board as Gelant missed the conversion.

The Stormers tried to run out of their own 22 metre area for another potential score, but the ball was lost in contact which brought the match to a close.

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Scorers

For Leinster:
Tries: Osborne 2, Sheehan 2 ,Barrett
Cons: Byrne 4
Pen: Byrne

For the Stormers:
Tries: Loader, Roos
Con: Libbok

Teams

Leinster: 15 Henry McErlean, 14 Andrew Osborne, 13 Liam Turner, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 James Lowe, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Max Deegan, 7 Scott Penny, 6 Alex Soroka, 5 Brian Deeny, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Dan Sheehan (captain), 1 Jack Boyle.
Replacements: 16 John McKee, 17 Paddy McCarthy, 18 Rory McGuire, 19 Diarmuid Mangan, 20 James Culhane, 21 Will Connors, 22 Cormac Foley, 23 Charlie Tector

Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Jonathan Roche, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 JD Schickerling, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 André-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Wandisile Simelane.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Chris Busby (Ireland), Jonathan Erskine (Ireland)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)