Stormers fall to last-gasp defeat in URC clash against Cardiff

Cardiff were second best in terms of possession and territory in the United Rugby Championship clash but were the more clinical side as they achieved a morale-boosting bonus-point win.

Cardiff's other tries came from Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Liam Belcher and Mason Grady with Tinus de Beer adding four conversions and a penalty.

Ruhan Nel scored two tries for Stormers, Andre-Hugo Venter the other with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicking three conversions and a penalty.

It took Stormers only four minutes to take the lead when Venter finished off a driving line-out.

Cardiff's poor start continued when de Beer's restart went straight into touch and they were made to pay when Nel crashed over to reward a sustained period of pressure.

The home side's woes continued when Harri Millard was forced to leave the field to fail an HIA after being on the receiving end of a thumping tackle from Jean Luc du Plessis.

Cardiff opened their account when De Beer made amends for a couple of basic errors by creating an excellent try.

The fly-half sliced through a gap before his well-timed kick ahead was collected by Millard's replacement, Hamer-Webb to score.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked a penalty to extend the visitors' lead but Cardiff roared back into contention with another impressive try.

Grady ran strongly down the left flank before Lopeti Timani made a further dent in the defence with Belcher on hand to take advantage and score.

De Beer converted before Feinberg-Mngomezulu was short with a penalty from inside his own half to leave Stormers with a 17-14 interval lead.

Ten minutes after the restart, some skilful passing created a second for Nel but Cardiff's response was immediate when Grady powered over from a pre-planned move following a close-range line-out.

De Beer converted before adding a penalty to bring the scores level with 17 minutes remaining with Ben Thomas missing the chance to land the knock-out blow by firing wide with a 45-metre penalty after Connor Evans had been sin-binned for a high challenge on Josh Turnbull.

It mattered little as error-ridden Stormers presented their hosts with one final opportunity with Litterick's try being awarded after a number of TMO replays.

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