By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The DHL Stormers blew the opportunity to finish in the top two of the United Rugby Championship (URC) after succumbing to a 16-22 loss to Cardiff at the Arms Park on Friday evening.
They remain second but will end third if Leinster beat the Ospreys in Dublin on Saturday.
John Dobson side made an ominous start at the Arms Park, with their scrum dominating on the 4G surface. After a series of penalties, Cardiff captain Liam Belcher was shown a yellow card for repeated infringements.
The Stormers capitalised immediately. Lock Adré Smith crashed over in the seventh minute and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu added the conversion to give the visitors a deserved 7-0 lead.
But despite being reduced to 14 men, Cardiff responded superbly.
In the 17th minute, flyhalf Ioan Lloyd produced a pinpoint cross-kick for Jacob Beetham, who gathered and stepped his way over for the hosts’ first try. Lloyd converted to level the scores and they hit the front shortly after when Tom Bowen flew over in the corner following a well-worked team move.
Stormers cut the deficit to two points on the half-hour mark through Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s penalty, but the home side extended their advantage to seven points with the last action of the first period when Loyd crossed over in the corner.
The Stormers kept themselves in the contest through another penalty five minutes into the second half when Mngomezulu split the posts for a second time.
Cardiff scored their fourth try of the match in the 49th minute when Beetham added his second of the night and Mngomezulu’s penalty in the final minute was nothing more than a consolation.
Cardiff – Tries: Jacob Beetham (2), Tom Bowen, Ioan Lloyd. Conversion: Lloyd.
Stormers – Try: Adré Smith. Conv. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Pen. Feinberg-Mngomezulu (3).
In other matches on Friday night, Connacht beat Edinburgh 26-5 to book their place in the quarterfinals, while Glasgow Warriors narrowly beat Ulster in Belfast to retain their top spot on the log.
Meanwhile SA Rugby is planning to host a strategic planning session of its members and their directors of rugby to undertake a thorough review of competitions and focus on identifying a workable solution to the pressing issue of player welfare for South African players.