Theo Cabango dives over for his opportunistic try against the Stormers at Cardiff Arms Park. Photo: Twitter.
Cardiff made it three home wins in a row when it beat the Stormers 22-16 in the teams’ final matchup in this season’s league phase of the United Rugby Championship.
They beat the Stormers 30-24 at Arms Park in 2022, followed it up with a 31-14 victory in 2023 and drank from the winning cup for the third time on Friday evening.
The team led at half-time with 17-10 and with its victory ensured that it will finish among the top eight, while the Stormers will move down to third in the standings after their defeat if Leinster wins over the Ospreys on Saturday in Dublin.
The defeat could have major financial consequences for the Stormers, because although they certainly made a showdown in the quarter-finals in Cape Town, they will in all probability lose home-field advantage and millions in gate money in the semi-finals and a possible final.
The Stormers’ inability to score tries hurt them on Friday night. They started off like an express train and after seven golden minutes took the lead with 7-0 after a try by lock Adré Smith. The Stormers devastated Cardiff in the scrum, but they could not capitalize.
PRC match. (Photo: X/Cardiff Rugby)
It’s easy to throw stones after the time, but why the Stormers replaced their best ball-back flanker Paul de Villiers, their best linebacker Ruben van Heerden as well as their captain Neethling Fouché in the 56th minute, left one scratching their head.
Yes, it was all part of the game plan, but if you’re caught in the middle of nowhere, then you switch to plan B.
One of Cardiff’s winning plans was precisely to rob the Stormers in the loose of possession, with Dan Thomas, Taine Basham and James Botham as well as the hooker Liam Belcher causing the Stormers big problems.
According to the match statistics, Cardiff turned over possession 12 times and the Stormers just eight times.
Cardiff also defended manfully and ensured that dangerous attackers such as Damian Willemse, Leolin Zas, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and ball carriers such as Evan Roos and Ntuthuko Mchunu were stopped behind the advantage line.
The Stormers could not finish. This is evidenced by only one try despite complete forward dominance in the scrum. Their discipline let them down (again), which led to Smith’s yellow card in the 39th minute after an inadmissible high tackle.
The Stormers also conceded ten penalties which broke their momentum especially on attack.
That said, Cardiff were punished twice with yellow cards (Belcher and Daf Jones) and were also punished 14 times, mainly for offenses in the scrums and offsides, but the Stormers could not fully exploit it.
The Stormers only made sure of a bonus point with a final penalty in the 80th minute by Feinberg-Mngomezulu to finish second or third.
With Glasgow (65 points) securing first place with a victory over Ulster, the Stormers are provisionally second (60 points). They will likely be moved from second place to third by Leinster (58 points) when the Irish complete their league duties against the Ospreys on Saturday afternoon.
When the season draws to a close in a few weeks, the Stormers will still be sore about the lost chances that were not taken advantage of in Cardiff.
Scorers: Cardiff 22 (17): Tries: Jacob Beetham (2), Tom Bowen, Ioan Lloyd. Goal kick: Lloyd.
Stormers 16 (10): Three: Adré Smith. Goal kick. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Penalty goals: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (3).