Wandisile Simelane of the Stormers reaches for the ball as he is tackled during the Investec Champions Cup 2024/25 game against Sale Sharks at Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa on 11 January 2025. Picture: Ryan Wilkisky, BackpagePix
Leighton Koopman
It took them a while to get into the game, but the six-try Stormers were full of running rugby in their 40-0 romp against Sale Sharks in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon.
They weathered the initial storm by an inspired visiting side and had to do most of the defending in the opening 15 minutes of the clash at the DHL Stadium as they staved off attack after attack on their try line.
If it wasn’t rolling mauls from the English club that they had to stop with their collective effort, it was strong tackles that fought off attempts to cross the line and eventual knock-ons that saw them escape with zero points scored against them.
After clawing their way back into the game with their defence, lock JD Schickerling finally scored the opening try for the home side after a good break on the touchline by outside centre Wandisile Simelane. Simelane stepped a would-be defender, drew two more tacklers, and offloaded to the towering lock to score in his 50th Stormers cap.
Shortly after flyhalf Manie Libbok scored try number two with another defensive move that started almost on their try line, Sale lost the ball in an attacking position from which scrumhalf Stefan Ungerer put up a high kick which Libbok chased.
He caught the ball, stepped past the last defender and ran about 60 meters to go over.
The visitors also had the upper hand in the scrums and when Stormers prop Frans Malherbe was sent off for repeated infringements, it could’ve opened the door for Sale.
But the Cape outfit had other plans and almost had the last say with another breakaway try before Robert du Preez Jnr, flyhalf of the Sharks, booted the ball over his dead goal line for halftime.
Replacement prop Neethling Fouche came to stabilize the scrums in the second half in the absence of Malherbe and won the first penalty against Sale's loose head who seemed to have the best of Malherbe.
Of a Sharks comeback there was nothing though, they were flat in the second half and it was all the home side as they started to run riot with their beautiful offload game.
Two yellow cards to Du Preez and fullback Joe Carpenter changed the game and opened the door for the Stormers' bonus point try.
They did all of the attacking in the second forty and were rewarded with four more tries to complete a comprehensive win that should keep their hopes alive of making it through to the play-offs of the Champions Cup.
Although they need some favours from other teams, they kept their winning momentum intact and will give themselves a chance at Racing 92 next Saturday in the final round-robin clash of the tournament.
Points scorers:
Stormers 40 (14) Tries: JD Schickerling, Manie Libbok, Sti Sithole, Warrick Gelant, Paul de Wet, Andre-Hugo Venter. Conversions: Libbok (4), Jean-Luc du Plessis.
Sale Sharks 0