Stormers vs Bulls

The circumstances were unique as rugby rocked Cape Town just two days before Christmas, but the brutal battle between the Stormers and the Bulls on Friday ...

That optimism was effectively dashed when Libbok kicked a 40m penalty, taking it out to 37-20. It ended with the highly-rated Hartzenberg scoring, but this was a team try of the highest order. The fourth try was equally impressive. It was about to get worse for them, too. They responded perfectly, holding onto the ball for several phases of attack. Goosen knocked over a quality conversion as Damian Willemse was lost momentarily to a head knock, and in the 38th minute the Bulls were bashing away at the line again after a couple of Stormers penalties.

The Stormers ran in four tries to beat the Bulls' 37-27 victory in a replay of last season's URC final, while the Sharks defeated the Lions 37-10.

Cronje came off the bench to slot a long-range penalty with his first action in the match. His try was converted by Cronje in what would be the final change to the scoreboard. Lions full-back Andries Coetzee had a kick charged down by Chamberlain, and Janse van Rensburg was quickest to react as he collected the ball and offloaded to Grant Williams. A cut-out ball from Bosch to Rohan Janse van Rensburg saw the centre brush off the two Jaden Hendrikse took a drop goal attempt at the conversion, which he missed, as the Sharks opened up a 20-point lead. Bosch added the extras to give the home side a 7-0 lead after 10 minutes. Despite being down a man for half of the opening 40 minutes, the Bulls managed to go into the interval all square after Goosen slotted a penalty from right out in front. A successful penalty goal pushed the Cape side back into a 17-point lead and stalled any chance of a late comeback from the Bulls. The visitors did manage a consolation try as a brilliant penalty kick from Chris Smith gave them a lineout 5m from the tryline. Libbok tore through the Bulls’ defence for the third try before throwing a long pass out to Leolin Zas. For his actions, he was yellow-carded, and the hosts were awarded a penalty try. The Bulls’ discipline cost them in the match’s opening stages, with two soft penalties giving the hosts a 6-0 lead.

A flurry of three successive tries saw the DHL Stormers floor the Vodacom Bulls to earn a bonus-point victory in the first north-south derby of the season ...

His score was immediately followed up by one of the tries of the season, when Libbok, Damian Willemse and Angelo Davids all combined to put Hartzenberg over. [December 23, 2022] Tries from hooker Joseph Dweba, centre Suleiman Hartzenberg and wing Leolin Zas steered the Stormers to a 37-27 victory against the Bulls in what was a rematch of the inaugural URC final.

The DHL Stormers gave themselves the best imaginable Christmas present as they surged to the top of the South African Shield in the Vodacom United Rugby ...

However, that reckoned without the attacking flair of the home side. And they weren’t finished. What a crowd. The Bulls No 10 then kicked a penalty to make it 13-all at the break, with the Stormers perhaps kicking themselves at that point for missing out by having a lineout poached on the Bulls line on the stroke of halftime. What a performance. The Stormers effectively buried the game well before the start of the third quarter, but it never looked like turning out that way at halftime, with the Bulls coming back strongly towards the end of the first half after going behind early to a Stormers team that came out of the blocks quicker and dominated the initial exchanges.

The Stormers hurdled the Bulls in to second place in the BKT United Rugby Championship with a 37-27 success in Cape Town.

[Leolin Zas](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/leolin-zas/) with a long pass. [Ben-Jason Dixon](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/ben-jason-dixon/), Libbok, [Damian Willemse](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/damian-willemse/) and [Angelo Davids](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/angelo-davids/) combined to send centre [Suleiman Hartzenberg](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/suleiman-hartzenberg/) racing over. [Nizaam Carr](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/nizaam-carr/) judged the bounce superbly to touch down. [Elrigh Louw](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/elrigh-louw/) collapsed a maul as the Stormers were awarded a penalty try. [Manie Libbok](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/manie-libbok/) penalties inside the opening 10 minutes. [Marco van Staden](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/marco-van-staden/) caught Dan du Plessis high and spent 10 minutes on the sidelines.

With the match finely balanced early in the second half, the Stormers produced a thrilling passage of play by registering three touchdowns to take the game ...

[@Vodacom] [#URC] Conversions: Johan Goosen (2), Chris Smith (1). Penalties: Libbok (3). Conversions: Manie Libbok (3). [@THESTORMERS]get a bonus point victory against the [@Vodacom] [@BlueBullsRugby]in an epic encounter in Cape Town 🔥 [#STOvBUL] Jake White thinks so](/sport/rugby/urc/can-bulls-kurt-lee-arendse-canan-moodie-leave-stormers-defenders-in-their-wake-jake-white-thinks-so-62abdc45-0a9f-4cc0-917d-469e2fc38fff) [Jones won’t turn down a good offer but taking a breather for now](/sport/rugby/international/eddie-jones-wont-turn-down-a-good-offer-but-taking-a-breather-for-now-d1985fda-c002-4bad-964f-5e81879c1661) [It’s important to manage top players’ workloads, says Neil Powell after naming rotated team](/sport/rugby/urc/its-important-to-manage-top-players-workloads-says-neil-powell-after-naming-rotated-team-bc308db2-5776-42ff-a8fb-7d9092f1ec51) [Bulls have ‘moved on’ from URC final](/sport/rugby/urc/bulls-have-moved-on-from-urc-final-a928cdcd-5b25-4132-aab3-ed9a9220d7ca)

The DHL Stormers produced a fine second-half performance featuring three tries in quick succession to outlast the Vodacom Bulls 37-27 in their Vodacom ...

Penalty Goals: Goosen (2). The half ended in dramatic fashion as Louw was tackled high as he tried to force his way over the try line, which saw Goosen slot a penalty goal to level the scores at 13 all. Conversions: Manie Libbok (3).

Steven Kitshoff of the Stormers during the United Rugby Championship against the Bulls at Cape Town Stadium. Image: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images.

Penalties: Goosen (2). Penalties: Libbok (3) Conversions: Manie Libbok (3).

Jake White felt aggrieved about the fact that the Stormers weren't penalised more heavily for tackling star fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse around the neck a few ...

And the fact that we give the ball to guys like Canan and Kurt-Lee is why we played like we did tonight. Penalties: Libbok (3). We were apparently the weakest scrum, but tonight, we got three penalties against one of the best front rows in the world. We had lots of chances, and I think Kurt-Lee was tackled around the neck three times, which is actually interesting,” the former Springbok coach said. I don’t want to say decisions, but some of the actions that we had. “But we just tap and run the ball and knock it on.