Stormers too strong in Stellenbosch for Connacht
Another away performance not to be for Connacht after defeat in Stellenbosch to DHL Stormers.
The defending champions of the the United Rugby Championship took advantage of Connacht going down to 14 men after Bundee Aki’s getting sent off for a dangerous clear-out, the sending off coming midway through the second half after Tom Farrell touching down before going to the TMO.
Farrell’s try would have brought Connacht to within a score of the champions but the sending off extinguished any hope of a fight back.
It was a sore defeat for Connacht to take but one of the big concerns for Andy Friend and his coaching staff is the ankle injury picked up by scrum-half Caolin Blade. Blade is named to go on Emerging Ireland tour of South Africa in the coming weeks.
Stormers back row, Evan Roos opened the scoring for the South African side. Dylan Tierney-Martin got Connacht back into the game with a try before half-time which had the score 13-8 in the home sides favour.
Through the boot of Manie Libbok, Stormers had stretched their lead out to 19-8 when Aki was shown red. Quickfire tries by Andre-Hugo Venter and Hacjivah Dayimani wrapped up the result for Stormers against the 14-men of Connacht before Marcel Theunissen earned the hosts a four-try bonus point in second-half stoppage time.
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