The Reds hosted the Stormers on Friday night and they were hoping to pick up an easy win making it their third in a row which would have made it their best run since 2004. They did get the perfect start but let the game slip in the 2nd half.
After two minutes the Reds had scored a try by Blake. The try went unconverted and it took a further 50 minutes before the Stormers got their first try.
The minutes that followed van Niekerk’s try that followed stunned the Reds as the Stormers scored 21 unanswered points in 3 minutes. The three tries came from van Niekerk, Nokwe and Britz.
Nokwe did little all night but tapped the ball in the intercept and then chased the ball the length of the field with the Reds Mitchell hot on his heels. Nokwe got there first and got downward pressure for the try.
The Stormers third came from Britz and this 3 minute session won the Stormers the match.
The Reds did comeback at the death with a try from Ben Tune and the conversion from Huxley making the final score 20-24.
Overall the Reds were the better team in the match but they let the match to go stale in the second half which allowed the Stormers in.
All in all it was a scrappy match and the Reds were let down by Huxley’s kicking.
Stormers fans wont mind too much that their team was not in the match for most of the match and will be happy with picking up a win on the road.
Scorers
Reds
Tries – Blake, Mitchell, Tune , Conversions – Huxley , Penalties – Huxley
Stormers
Tries – van Niekerk, Nokwe, Britz , Conversions – Grant 3 ,Penalties – Olivier
Teams
Reds:
15 Drew Mitchell, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Ben Tune, 12 Julian Huxley, 11 Caleb Brown, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Josh Valentine, 8 John Roe (c), 7 David Croft, 6 Tom McVerry, 5 James Horwill, 4 Mark Connors, 3 Rodney Blake, 2 Sean Hardman, 1 Greg Holmes.
Reserves: 16 Stephen Moore, 17 Anthony Mathison, 18 Cameron Treloar, 19 Mitchell Chapman, 20 Nic Berry, 21 Lloyd Johansson, 22 Tim Atkinson.
Stormers:
15 Tonderai Chavhanga, 14 Rayno Benjamin, 13 Jean de Villiers, 12 De Wet Barry (c), 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Bolla Conradie, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Luke Watson, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Gerrie Britz, 3 Neil Fullard, 2 Schalk Brits (c), 1 JD Moller.
Reserves: 16 Hanyani Masana Shimange, 17 Eddie Andrews, 18 Henk Eksteen, 19 Adri Badenhorst, 20 Joe Pietersen, 21 Peter Grant, 22 Marius Joubert.
