Stormers edge Sharks in Cape Town arm-wrestle

It was a bitter pill for the visitors to swallow – having taken the lead with five minutes remaining – to edge ahead in an arm wrestle that had been dominated by the set piece in the hot and humid conditions.

The first half could have been sub-titled "The Game of Scrums" as the packs went down 15 times in the wake of a slew of pressured handling errors.

The battle of the Springbok props, Ox Nche (Sharks loosehead) against Frans Malherbe (Stormers tighthead), was a fascinating duel with the hosts winning three penalties to the visitors' one although stalemate was the more common outcome.

The Durbanites fared better at the lineout where the DHL Stormers struggled to put their game together, spurning the entries they gained into the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ 22 in a half they shaded in terms of territory.

And the home side weren’t helped by the fact that they had to inject both of their backline replacements (from a 6-2 bench split) after injuries to Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (centre) and Herschel Jantjies (scrumhalf) in the opening half.

The KwaZulu-Natalians drew first blood with a Jordan Hendrikse penalty goal after five minutes before the Capetonians scored the first try of the match five minutes later. 

Returning wing Seabelo Senatla won the race to the touchdown in the left half corner from Warrick Gelant’s deft left-footed chip from 10 metres out.

Manie Libbok missed the conversion from the touchline and also missed a 45 metre penalty from straight in front shortly afterwards, while a booming 53-metre attempt from Jordan Hendrikse also drifted wide.

The latter’s pass to centre Jurenzo Julius was ultimately ruled forward to cancel out a score by his brother Jaden Hendrikse, who collected a one handed offload from Julius who impressed on the few occasions he received the ball.

However, Hollywoodbets Sharks right wing Yaw Penxe could not be denied when he went over in the left hand corner in a sweet backline move straight from scrum on the opposite side just inside the 22. 

The Hendrikses combined, Andre Esterhuizen’s dummy line opened the space for Aphelele Fassi to insert himself and give the scoring pass.

Jordan Hendrikse converted but the half ended with the DHL Stormers pressing for a second try from three successive lineouts on the five-metre line. 

From the second, Hollywoodbets Sharks wing Ethan Hooker was yellow carded for side entry at the maul but the hosts couldn’t convert any attempt and went in five points behind (10-5).

The latter pair also went off injured on the same medical buggy during the first half to disrupt the visitors’ cohesion in defence.

The DHL Stormers had a try overturned by the TMO as well - Paul de Wet just to the right of the poles after his break from the base of a ruck had got his team in behind – but they levelled with their second from captain Deon Fourie at the back of a well set maul after Libbok’s pinpoint kick to the corner.

Libbok came from around the corner to cruise onto a pass from De Wet to score the DHL Stormers’ third try with 13 minutes remaining but the Hendrikses combined for the Hollywoodbets Sharks to hit back with eight minutes remaining, Jaden’s no look pass to his brother seeing Jordan surge over halfway out on the left. 

He converted his own try to level the scores.

He followed it up with a 45-metre penalty goal to put his side in front with five minutes remaining and set up a frantic finale before the DHL Stormers’ crushing blow to the Durbanites’ hopes.

Libbok kicked a penalty to he 22-metre line and the DHL Stormers drove the lineout to within a couple of metres from the line for the ball to popped up into the hands of Jean-Luc du Plessis, who timed his run perfectly to take the pop pass from nine and dive over.

Libbok converted to leave the Hollywoodbets Sharks four points adrift and needing a try to take the victory – it was a bridge too far.

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