Stormers down Zebre to make it a full house of South African URC wins

The men from the Cape would have been eager to bounce back after last weekend's disappointing defeat against Ospreys, and they managed to do just that with a dominant performance in Parma - albeit against the perennial whipping boys of the URC, Zebre.

The Stormers started slowly but did take an early 3-0 lead via Jurie Matthee's boot after Danilo Fischetti strayed offside at the breakdown right in front of the sticks.

What followed was a scrappy period of play, with both teams struggling to impose themselves. The Stormers were seeing more of the possession and were showing their dominance in the scrum, but they weren't making it count on the scoreboard - though they did eventually double their lead midway through the half after Rueben van Heerden got his hands over the ball and won a penalty turnover.

The Stormers continued to grind Zebre down with another penalty shot five minutes later to stretch their lead to nine, and with time running out in the first half the visitors struck a hammer blow when Paul de Wet shot through a gap before drawing in a defender and offloading to Leolin Zas for their opening try. Matthee added the extras as the Stormers headed into the break with a formidable 16-0 lead.

Zebre would have been desperate to score first in the second half but instead it was the Stormers who added to their tally after another powerful scrum saw the referee extend his arm and award the penalty.

The visitors were starting to impose themselves once again and all but dealt the killing blow shortly after the hour mark after swinging the ball out wide where a well-timed pass from Warrick Gelant allowed Suleiman Hartzenberg to go over for their second try.

When Zebre hooker Tommaso Di Bartolomeo was shown a yellow card for repeated scrum infringements shortly after, it gave the Stormers a chance of chasing a possible bonus point, and after Zas picked up his double following a well-worked team move, the visitors responded to a try from Simone Gesi by clinching the extra point in the closing moments as Angelo Davids went over to cap a great weekend for South Africa in the URC.

READ MORE: Fez Mbatha the hero as Sharks sink Dragons at the death in URC thriller