Full of enterprise and endeavour the Stormers, much to their lament, were also full of errors in their United Rugby Championship clash against Ulster in Belfast on Friday night.
Ill-discipline undermined much of the Stormers’ toil allowing the hosts to overcome a poor start to win 38-34 in a game of fluctuating fortunes.
With the Stormers crucially losing Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to a yellow card just before the break and captain Neethling Fouche to a red in the 45th minute, the home side made the most of their numerical advantage as they at times ran the visitors’ defence ragged.
Apart from losing players to the bin a slew of penalties after the quarter of the hour mark also saw the Stormers lose much of the momentum they established early on when they enjoyed a 17-0 lead after just seven minutes.
Paying the penaltyIt was about that time the penalty count started to mount against the visitors.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu missed a penalty in 37th minute when the ball initially fell off the tee adding shot clock pressure. Two minutes later he was yellow-carded for cynically, and foolishly, body checking Baloucoune whose kick ahead appeared well covered.
His poor judgment was compounded when Ulster scored their third try from the ensuing penalty on the cusp of halftime leaving the teams 17-all at the break.
With a player in the bin the visitors were caught short out wide early in the second half as the hosts grabbed the lead.
Fouche’s red card for an illegal tackle compounded matters for the visitors in the 45th minute.
Though the Stormers stayed in the fight, in defence, in numbers and application they came up short.
They did however earn two log points to help sustain their URC challenge.
ScorersUlster (38) — Tries: Rob Baloucoune, Andrew Warrick, Jacob Stockdale, Jack Murphy, Zac Ward, Stewart Moore. Conversion: John Cooney (2), Murphy (2).
Stormers (34) — Tries: Evan Roos (2), Ben Loader, Willie Engelbrecht. Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (4). Drop goals: Mngomezulu (2).
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