Leinster just overcoming the Stormers sets up a replay of last season’s URC final against the Bulls at Croke Park.
Defending champions Leinster overcame an immense defensive effort from the Stormers to clinch a hard-fought 20-11 United Rugby Championship (URC) semifinal win at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday night, to set up a replay of last season’s final against the Bulls at Croke Park.
The Bulls produced a superb second half performance to upset Glasgow Warriors 22-21 at the Scotstoun Stadium earlier in the day, which meant if the Stormers could produce their own upset, they would host an all South African final in Cape Town.
An amazing defensive showing gave them a massive chance of doing just that, until poor discipline cost them dearly, as two yellow cards and a red card in the second half assisted Leinster in doing just enough to battle their way into the same Grand Finale they hosted last season.
In the match Leinster dominated the stats, with 66% possession and 67% territory, which saw the Stormers constantly on the defence, with them forced to make 200 tackles while the hosts made less than half of that with 90.
But despite the constant pressure they were under, the Stormers put up an incredible fight were right in the game until the final 10 minutes when they were reduced to 13-men and Leinster pulled a converted try ahead, which sealed the result.
On top from the start
Leinster were on top from the kick-off, putting the Stormers under massive pressure in their own half, with almost all of the territory and possession over the opening 10 minutes.
That pressure finally told in the eighth minute after a huge defensive set from the visitors was broken, as the Stormers ran out of defenders and outside centre Rieko Ioane hit a gap and ran in for the converted score.
Leinster continued their territorial domination over the opening quarter, keeping possession in the Stormers half and took their points, as flyhalf Sam Prendergast slotted two penalties to move them into a 13-0 lead after 23 minutes.
But the Stormers then started to turn things around, after they managed to score a try with their first real foray into the Leinster 22m.
It started from some great interplay amongst the backs, with fullback Damian Willemse breaking into the 22m and earning a penalty, which they tapped and went, bashed away on the line and lock Adre Smith picked up and powered over for the unconverted try in the 27th minute.
The Stormers were finally on the front foot and after good play in the Leinster half again, earned a penalty in the 22m, which flyhalf Jurie Matthee slotted to make it 13-8 after 34 minutes.
An unbelievable defensive set from the Stormers on their own line over the final few minutes of the half then crucially kept Leinster out and kept the South Africans well in the contest at the break.
Action packed start
An action-packed start to the second half saw the Stormers lose wing Leolin Zas to a yellow card in the 47th minute for a deliberate knock-on.
From the penalty Leinster kicked into the Stormers 22m and attacked off the lineout, but then lost the ball and Stormers scrumhalf Imad Khan hacked the ball ahead, picked it up and tried to race away, only for fullback Hugo Keenan to hunt him down.
But the visitors did get the first points of the second half, after earning a penalty from a scrum on the hosts 22m, with Matthee popping it over from in front to cut the deficit to two points in the 52nd minute.
The match then became a massive arm wrestle, with the Stormers defending for large portions, stopping the hosts in their tracks, before ill-discipline decided the game.
First Stormers replacement loose forward Ruan Ackermann received a yellow card that was upgraded to a deserved red for a very poor cleanout at a ruck in the 68th minute.
It then got even worse just a minute later when scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park spotted a gap on the Stormers 22m and sniped through to go in under the posts to put them into a 20-11 lead.
To add insult to injury referee Hollie Davidson yellow carded replacement lock Salmaan Moerat for what she called a deliberate kick of the ball out of Gibson-Park’s hands before his break, although replays suggested Moerat had no idea where the scrumhalf was, and was just trying to get up.
That took the sting out of the final few minutes and Leinster saw out the win relatively comfortably.
Scorers
Leinster: Tries – Rieko Ioane, Jamison Gibson-Park; Conversions – Sam Prendergast, Harry Byrne; Penalties – Prendergast (2)
Stormers: Try – Adre Smith; Penalties – Jurie Matthee (2)
