Stormers 26
Highlanders 16
KEY POINTS:
A tenacious Highlanders were overwhelmed in the second half by the Stormers who ran out 26-16 winners of their Super 14 rugby match in Cape Town this morning (NZ time).
With the scores level at 9-9 at halftime an upset was on the cards at Newlands but the South Africans completely dominated possession in a second spell shutout to run out deserved winners.
They sco red tries through hooker Tiaan Liebenberg and his replacement Schalk Brits but couldn't push on for a bonus point which sees them drop from fourth to sixth, passed by the Chiefs and Hurricanes.
The 12th-placed Highlanders were muscled up in an uncompromising first half but they spent most of second half tackling inside their own half.
They did well not to concede more points, refusing to buc kle as they did in the 17-47 loss to the Bulls in Pretoria last week.
And the they had the final say when winger Fetu'u Vainikolo crossed after the final hooter in a rare attacking foray.
All their early points went to third-choice first five-eighth Mike Delany - forced into action with Daniel Bowden and James Wilson both having returned home action.
He put in an accomplished performance, opening their scoring with a slick dropped goal and landing penalties in the 26th and 33rd minutes.
It cancelled three penalties to opposite and former All Black Tony Brown, who looked polished against his old franchise before leaving the game with injury on the half-hour mark.
A penalty to his replacement Peter Brown, kick-started a 17-point scoring burst in the space of 13 points that turned the game and set the Stormers on their way to a sixth win in seven games.
With Stormers lock Andries Bekker dominating the lineouts and his pack gaining ascendancy - one maul rolled for more than 50m - points were inevitable.
Liebenberg's try came from a sweeping move while Britz peeled off a drive to scythe over untouched when the visitors were reduced to 14 men.
The Highlanders became increasingly frustrated with the rulings of Australian referee James Leckie, who gave a yellow card to prop Clint Newland for persistent team offending.
They found late reserves to swing onto attack where Vainikolo latched onto a cross kick and reached out for his sixth try of the season.
Highlanders captain Craig Newby wasn't surprised by his team's tenacity.
"That's what we've shown all year, apart from last week, we were gutted with our performance against the Bulls," he said.
"We wanted to show a bit of guts and we did that today. For probably about five minutes we let ourselves down in the second half and they scored a couple of tries.
"The Stormers are on a roll so we're pretty proud but we wanted to come here and win."
Stormers skipper Jean de Villiers
"We got the win at last but I think we needed the bonus point. That might just come back and haunt us at the end of the competition," he said.
"But it's still a win. Last year we were struggling to get a win, this year we're not happy when we don't get a bonus point."
The result reversed the weight of history against the Stormers, who had won just two of the previous 11 meetings betwee n the sides.
The Highlanders complete their three-match South African campaign next week against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein while the Stormers host the ACT Brumbies next week.
- NZPA
