Six-try Stormers crush the Kings

Kings ............... (3) 10 Stormers . . . . . . . . . . (17) 41 IN THE lead-up to the Stormers’ match against the Kings, stand-in captain Eben Etzebeth said that they weren’t going to underestimate the Kings because of their “fighting spirit”. And after that round three match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, one can clearly see why.

The Stormers did well in the scrums again and piled on the pressure at the breakdowns in the second half, but they gave the Kings just too many opportunities, especially in the second half, and the fact that the hosts came painfully close to scoring three times in the second 40 should say enough.

After a bit of a scrappy first 15 minutes, Dillyn Leyds produced a bit of individual brilliance when he scored the first try of the match.

The Stormers got their second try after Nizaam Carr started an attack in own half, and superb backline interplay and inside passing sent the ball flyhalf Robert du Preez, who did well to get the pass away to Bjorn Basson on the outside. Stormers No6 Rynhardt Elstadt’s scored a third, making the half-time score 17-3.

The Stormers got a great start in the second half after a fine break by inside centre Dan du Plessis set up a fourth try. After Du Plessis got taken down, Dewaldt Duvenage sent the ball to Du Preez, who worked his way through a few defenders to score.

The Kings were rewarded for their enterprise with a try to Makazole Mapimpi, but as the clocked ticked down, SP Marais put in a fantastic run and a perfectly timed off-load to boot to replacement scrumhalf Justin Phillips, who crossed over to score. In his first Super Rugby appearance this season, replacement flyhalf Kurt Coleman added the conversion to take the score to 34-10.

Just before the siren went, Willemse produced a step and off-load and EW Viljoen went over for the sixth try.