Leighton Koopman at Cape Town Stadium
The Stormers just don’t know when to say die when they play the Bulls at the Cape Town Stadium.
But on Saturday, a late missed conversion kick by replacement Clayton Blommetjies dampened the late drama in the North-South Derby for the Cape side as they lost 33-32 to the Pretoria visitors.
The Bulls, with their scrum on the front foot, made the crucial scores at the start of the game and when the second half kicked off to seal the United Rugby Championship victory.
Blommetjies and flyhalf Jurie Matthee missed some regulation kicks in front of goal that should’ve seen the Stormers clinch the match.
It was the visitors, though, who broke their long drought in Cape Town, winning their first-ever match in the United Rugby Championship in the Mother City.
It was also only their second victory over the Stormers in the competition.
A thriller right to the very end 🍿
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) February 8, 2025
The Vodacom Bulls hold on to win in Cape Town 👏👏#VURC pic.twitter.com/uV8q7n4R2x
Jake White’s team won’t worry how the win came, though, as long as they pick up a much-needed five points that brings them within striking distance of second place on the overall URC points table.
With a game in hand, they can still overtake the defending champions, the Glasgow Warriors.
A stand-out for the Bulls was No 8 Cameron Hanekom, who fought for the full 80 minutes to keep his team going forward every time he took the ball up.
He also defended like a trojan when called upon.
He was on hand to assist with a couple of tries, especially the first one by lock Cobus Wiese. Bulls replacement lock Ruan Vermaak scored the winning try in the 70th minute.
Despite the two yellow cards for ill-discipline, the visitors dominated most of the match and were deserved victors.
The Stormers can take heart out of the performance, and although they would’ve wanted a victory, it would always be difficult, with a plastered backline and missing most of their starters at the back.
Their scrum woes without Neethling Fouche and some ordinary tackling in the first half put them under pressure. That and the kicking at goal must be addressed going forward.
Five brilliant fighting tries were scored, and the five-pointer at the death by Bok flank Ben-Jason Dixon almost sealed another fightback victory for the Stormers.
The celebration matches the finish 😏🔥
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) February 8, 2025
This one is going down to the wire at the DHL Stadium 🏉👇
📺 Stream #VURC on DStv: https://t.co/0P0NNhnwKw pic.twitter.com/hKzs4vEcq3
But it wasn’t meant to be for the Cape side, and their URC campaign is slowly fading after another tough loss.
Fullback Warrick Gelant was again superb on attack and created opportunities, assisted captain Salmaan Moerat with his try and scored a peach of a breakaway try after being assisted by other try-scorer, prop Frans Malherbe.
Points-Scorers
Stormers 32 – Tries: Frans Malherbe, Salmaan Moerat, Evan Roos, Warrick Gelant, Ben-Jason Dixon. Conversions: Jurie Matthee (2). Penalty: Matthee (1).
Bulls 33 – Tries: Cobus Wiese, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Harold Vorster, Ruan Vermaak. Conversions: David Kriel (2). Penalties: Kriel (3).