Stormers do the double over London Irish

Having lost their opening Heineken Champions Cup match against Clermont, the Stormers did the double over a 13-man London Irish side with a 28-14 victory at Brentford Community Stadium.

It was a match pockmarked by ill-discipline, with French referee Ludovic Cayre handing out many yellow and red cards.

After Juan Martin Gonzalez was yellow-carded for collapsing a driving maul in the 14th minute, which resulted in a penalty try for the Stormers, the hosts were reduced to 13 men when Ben Loader was red-carded for a high tackle on Manie Libbok.

While London Irish coach Less Kiss said mid-match he was “flabbergasted” by the decision, the injured Libbok had to be replaced by teenager Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at flyhalf. London Irish, who have the worst disciplinary record in the English Premiership, further entrenched themselves as a team with a patent lack of discipline.

Before the match, which saw the Stormers in eighth place in Pool B and London Irish in 11th, Stormers coach John Dobson spoke of having “no excuses” and his charges backed him up in their maiden match in England.

The Stormers showed off their impressive transitional play, looked lethal on attack from turnover ball and were also smart in terms of identifying space. It was summed up when effective line speed from the Stormers saw Ruhan Nel, who returned from injury for the rematch, score an eye-catching intercept try.

The Cape-based side scored their third try when they found space and, with a well-weighted grubber from Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Suleiman Hartzenberg was on hand to dot down. The visitors had a 21-0 lead at the intermission.

The second half started in the worst possible fashion for the home side when Ciaran Parker was red-carded for a dangerous cleanout on Deon Fourie inside two minutes. It was the fifth red card of the Heinkenen Champions Cup weekend and underlined the zero tolerance policy that match officials have implemented in terms of foul play.

Stormers captain Steven Kitshofff joined the card-carrying club with a yellow card for collapsing a London Irish maul that resulted in a penalty try for the home side. They scored a consolation try through Danilo Fischetti but were second best in North London.

While Kiss will point fingers at the Loader red card, based on what he believed were mitigating circumstances, his side had only themselves to blame for the poor discipline.

The Capetonians secured a bonus point victory with a try from Angelo Davids in the 46th minute and, while Stormers backline coach Dawie Snyman bemoaned his side’s tactical naiveté at times against 13 men, they all but booked their place in the last 16.

Scorers

London Irish — Try: Penalty try. Danilo Fischetti. Conversion: (1), Rory Jennings.

Stormers — Tries: Penalty try, Ruhan Nel, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Angelo Davids. Conversions: (1), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (3)