Stormers too good as Scarlets suffer
Stormers………..52pts
Tries: Theunissen 7,12, de Wet 25, 42, Blommetjies 28, Loader 35
Feinberg-Mngomezulu 58, Skosan 71
Cons: Blommetjies 7, 29, Feinberg-Mngomezulu 36, 43, 59, 72
Try: Hardy 16
Con: Lloyd 17
Scarlets ………….. 7pts
SCARLETS will return from their two-match tour of South Africa still seeking their first point in the URC and licking their wounds after falling to a second heavy defeat to the Stormers in Stellenbosch.
Their eight try, 52-7 defeat to last season's runners up and the 2022 champions made it 17 tries and 115 points conceded in the opening two weekends. They conceded nine tries in the crushing 63-21 reverse in Pretoria to the Blues the previous weekend.
“Physically we just weren't at the races, and we just couldn't hold on. We were out-muscled, it was as simple as that,” admitted Scarlets head coach Dwyane Peel for a second weekend in a row.
“We were in the game for the first quarter, but then errors cost us. We got punished through their power.
“This is the first time a lot of these players have been to South Africa. We've had two heavy losses and we've got to learn from them.”
Peel will now turn his attentions to his side's first regional derby of the season against Cardiff this weekend. Once again, he will be without a number of players on duty with Wales for their game against the Barbarians on the same day, but will have to find a way to build some confidence after two shattering experiences in South Africa.
To add insult to injury, one of the chief architects of the Welsh side's downfall was centre Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who scored 13 points. A former exchange student at Llandovery College, he scored a try and kicked four conversions, while former Scarlet Clayton Blommetjies kicked two conversions and added a try. made it 31-19 and then with two points. as Scarlets suffer
It took the Stormers a mere 28 minutes to notch their try bonus point as flanker Marcel Theunissen scored twice and scrum half Paul de Wet and Blommetjies also crossed the Scarlets line. To their credit, the visitors conjured up a try from Wales scrum half Kieran Hardy in the 16th minute, which his half back Ioan Lloyd improved.
By the break, though it was 31-7 to the home side after former London Irish wing Ben Loader had chipped in with a fifth try. The second half turned into something of a procession at the Danie Craven Stadium as the Stormers lived up to their name and added three more tries.
There was some pretty stuff at the end from the Scarlets, but all to no avail.
TEAMS
STORMERS: Gelant 7; Loader 6, Nel (Skosan 6, 19), Feinberg-Mngomezulu 7, Zas 6; Blommetjies 7, De Wet 8 (Jantjies 6, 50); Vermaak 7 (Sithole 6, 46), Dweba 8 (Venter 6, 46), Fouche 7 (captain, Harris 6, 46), Smith 7 (Porter 6, 46), Van Heerden 7 (Dixon 6, 46), Theunissen 8, Dayimani 7, Roos 8 (Xaba 6, 50)
SCARLETS: McNicholl 5; Nicholas 4, Roberts 6 (James 5-17), Davies (captain) 5, Conbeer 4 (James 5, 40); Lloyd 6 (Titcombe 5, 68), Hardy 6 (Hughes 5, 43); Mathias 5 (W Jones 5, 50), Evans 4, Wainwright 4 (O'Connor 5, 41), Craig 4, Jones 5 (Young 5, 57), Plumtree 5 (Price 5, 45), Davis 5 (Williams 5, 30), Tuipulotu 4
REFEREE: Sam Grove-White (SRU)
Star man Paul de Wet-Stormers
