Sloppy Stormers fire late to make winning start to URC campaign

The Stormers erased a first-half deficit on their way to a grinding 29-15 victory over Connacht in Galway on Friday night. MARIETTE ADAMS reports.

Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry may be over, but the United Rugby Championship is back and so are the Stormers.

John Dobson’s side opened their 2026/27 campaign with a hard-fought 10-12 victory over Connacht, but they didn’t get to there without a couple of setbacks in the lead-up to kick off.

The Cape side lost the services of power men Evan Roos (hamstring) and Marcel Theunissen (calf) at the 11th hour, presumably to soft tissue injuries suffered on Connacht’s synthetic 4G pitch. Luckily for the Stormers, that double blow mattered little in the broader context of the contest, as they came away with the maximum log points on offer.

While it was the firepower and physicality of the forwards that eventually got the job done, the Stormers – coaching staff and players alike – will be first to acknowledge there’s a lot more to be done ahead of a gruelling campaign.

That said, the Stormers didn’t perfection in their opening encounter, they just had to get the desired result and that they did.

FIRST HALF RECAP: CONNACHT TURN IT AROUND TO SNATCH THE LEAD

The opening half was a typical Stormers display. They dominated possession and had a fair few 22m entries thanks to linebreaks; but they squandered several scoring opportunities and played too much rugby inside their own half of the field.

Despite going up 10-0 in a dominant opening half-hour performance, their wastefulness, failure to convert, ill-discipline and all-round poor game-management led to their lead evaporating in a 10-minute burst from Connacht.

In a remarkable turnaround, the hosts, inspired by Mack Hansen and Josh Ioane, rose from their slumber to score two late tries for a surprising 12-10 at the break.

Wasted three line breaks, typical Stormers display, losing control at crucial time, handling, didn’t have a perfect start, ill-discipline, they have the patience, but need to convert better, played too much rugby in their own half, played too much rugby in their own half.

SECOND HALF RECAP: STORMERS TOO STRONG

The poor conversion rate trend followed the Stormers into the second half, much to their own detriment. Dobson and his men were left disappointed as they made all the running in the first five minutes after the restart, but had nothing to show for it as first Seabelo Senatla was help up over the line and then Jurie Matthee pulled what should have been a regulation penalty right in from the poles.

By contrast, Connacht made the a point of converting their scoring opportunities and soon they led 15-10 thanks to a penalty off the boot of Sam Gilbert.

But then there was an almost inevitable concession of a penalty and a yellow card by the hosts as the Stormers marched them 30m up field with a devastating driving maul. The Stormers set a lineout, but lost the ball at the set-piece which allowed Connacht to clear their lines.

That was how the game ebbed and flowed, until the Stormers – through their rumbling forwards – wrestled back the ascendancy. Through the sheer power and aggression of their pack, the Stormers started playing with newfound energy, enterprise and dynamism, all of which Connacht failed to match.

Replacement prop Sazi Sandi burrowed over from close quarters to level the scores and Matthee knocked over the conversion to put them in front again.

With the scoreline at 17-15 heading into the final 10 minutes, the game was finely poised and set up for a grandstand finish. But the Stormers not only shut up shop defensively, they ran in two late tries to secure a bonus point win and end all Connacht’s hopes of potentially getting something out of the game.

SCORERS: CONNACHT VS STORMERS

Connacht – Tries: Mack Hansen, Josh Ioane. Conversion Sam Gilbert. Penalty: Gilbert.
Stormers – Tries: Warrick Gelant, Sazi Sandi, Vernon Paulo, Ezekiel Ngobeni. Conversions: Jurie Matthee (2), Yaqeen Ahmed. Penalty: Matthee.

TEAMS: CONNACHT VS STORMERS

Connacht – 15 Sam Gilbert, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 John Devine, 12 Cathal Forde, 11 Finn Treacy, 10 Josh Ioane, 9 Ben Murphy, 8 Paul Boyle (c), 7 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 6 Seán O’Brien, 5 Josh Murphy, 4 Niall Murray, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Eoin de Buitléar, 1 Francois van Wyk.
Bench: 16 Matthew Victory, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Fiachna Barrett, 19 David O’Connor, 20 Max Flynn, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Seán Naughton, 23 Shayne Bolton.

STORMERS – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel (c), 12 Jonathan Roche, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 André Warner, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Riley Norton, 6 Louw Nel, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Riley Norton, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Vernon Matongo.
Bench: 16 Vernon Paulo, 17 Olly Reid, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Adré Smith, 21 Wandisile Simelane, 22 Ezekiel Ngobeni, 23 Yaqeen Ahmed.