Stormers outclass Scarlets in Stellenbosch

The DHL Stormers ran in eight tries on their way to a 52-7 Vodacom United Rugby Championship win against the Scarlets in Stellenbosch on Saturday.

It was an impressive performance in front of an enthusiastic crowd at the Danie Craven Stadium, to make it two bonus point wins from two matches at the start of the season.

The home side were dominant in the first half, outscoring the Welsh team by five tries to one to take a commanding 31-7 lead into the half-time break.

Flank Marcel Theunissen scored the first two tries, first from close range and the second from a maul.

Scarlets responded with a try from a quick tap penalty by scrumhalf Kieran Hardy, but those were to be their only points of the first half.

DHL Stormers scrumhalf Paul de Wet went through a gap to cap a dominant period in the 22 and the hosts had all the momentum.

Clayton Blommetjies finished an incredible team try, which started in their own 22 and wing Ben Loader went over for his first DHL Stormers try just before half-time to send his team into the break with their tails up.

They didn’t take long to add to that in the second half, with De Wet going over in the corner for his second early-on.

There were further tries for Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and replacement wing Courtnall Skosan, who scored the eighth try of the day on his DHL Stormers debut to put the seal on a convincing performance.

The scorers:

For DHL Stormers:
Tries: Theunissen 2, De Wet 2, Blommetjies, Loader, Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Skosan
Cons: Blommetjies 2, Feinberg-Mngomezulu 4

For Scarlets:
Try: Hardy
Con: Lloyd

DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Clayton Blommetjies, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Neethling Fouche (captain), 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Nama Xaba, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Courtnall Skosan.