DHL Stormers push Ulster all the way

03/28/2025 05:56 PM

The DHL Stormers scored four tries to claim two valuable bonus points in a narrow 38-34 defeat against Ulster in Belfast on Friday night.

Despite being reduced to 14 men for the majority of the second half, with captain Neethling Fouche shown a red card, the DHL Stormers fought valiantly until the final whistle and end their two-match tour with seven log points following the win against Scarlets last week.

They return to Cape Town and will end the league phase of the season with four home games against Connacht, Benetton, Dragons and Cardiff.

The visitors made a fast start at the Kingspan Stadium, racing out to a 17-0 lead, before Ulster responded with 17 points of their own to send the teams into the half-time break all square.

Evan Roos opened the scoring in just the third minute as he raced through a gap after taking a well-timed pass from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

The flyhalf took them into double-figures shortly afterwards as he coolly slotted a drop-goal, which was followed up by a try from Ben Loader, who picked up a loose ball to race away and score.

Ulster came back into the game with tries from wing Rob Baloucoune, hooker Rob Herring and flyhalf Jack Murphy, which saw the teams deadlocked at 17-17 at the break.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu was shown a yellow card just before half-time for colliding with Baloucoune off the ball and the visitors were down to 13 early in the second half when Fouche was shown red for what was ruled a dangerous tackle.

Ulster took advantage of the extra numbers and would score three more tries in the second half, but the DHL Stormers never let their heads drop and kept in the fight.

Replacement loose forward Willie Engelbrecht raced through for the third try and the fourth came from Roos, who forced his way over from close range with five minutes to go.

That gave the DHL Stormers a chance to push for the win and they gave it all they had, but Ulster managed to hold out under pressure to finish winners by just four points.

The scorers:

For Ulster:
Tries: Baloucoune, Herring, Murphy, Stockdale, Ward, Carson
Cons: Cooney 2, Murphy, Doak

For DHL Stormers:
Tries: Roos 2, Loader, Engelbrecht
Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 4
DGs: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 2

DHL Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Connor Evans, 3 Neethling Fouché (captain), 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 André-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Jurie Matthee, 23 Wandisile Simelane.

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