Cape Town’s DHL Stadium was the stage for the first-ever United Rugby Championship final, which saw the Stormers beat the Bulls 18-13
The much-anticipated grand finale began at a blistering pace. The 33 000 fans at DHL Stadium were treated to fireworks early on as the Bulls crossed the whitewash after three minutes.
There was a very promising start to the game when Harold Vorster surged across the whitewash for the Bulls early on but it descended into a dire clash for the rest of the half. It was perforated by errors as both teams struggled to get any continuity.
At half-time it wasn’t exactly looking like the greatest end to what had been an otherwise excellent season, but that changed after the break. All of a sudden, some action broke out, the Stormers in particular started to create chances and it turned into a much more watchable contest.
Much of the first half was characterized by kicking for territory and hoping to capitalize on errors but the Cape side found a resolute Kurt-Lee Arendse at the back who was comfortable under the high ball.
It took awhile for the Stormers to find their groove but when it came, Manie Libbok, who was the hero with his boot in last week’s semi-final missed a penalty in the 33rd minute which he would’ve been expected to slot over with ease.
The score was tied at 10-10 when the centre was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle and with him off the field, the Stormers immediately benefited. They set up a maul and drove towards the line where Andre-Hugo Venter finished off and took the hosts ahead for the first time in the match.
It was a significant score and gave Dobson’s men a massive boost heading into the final 25 minutes of the encounter. Although the Bulls handled the rest of Hendricks’ time off the field well, it allowed the Stormers to control the pace of the game. All of a sudden it was the visitors forcing play and making needless errors, which meant the home side dominated territory.
Manie Libbok missed some kicks last weekend against Ulster but produced when it mattered to nail the decisive conversion and the fly-half came up with similarly clutch moments on Saturday.
Libbok was awry with his first effort against the Bulls but managed to kick the one on the stroke of half-time to get his side back into the match. It certainly gave the playmaker a boost as he was impressive after the interval, controlling play nicely and then scoring the key drop-goal with six minutes remaining.
It took the Stormers out of three-point range and they duly held out relatively comfortably to claim the title, which a few months ago looked to be a highly improbable achievement
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