Reds overcome poor Stormers in Brisbane

The Stormers paid the price for not finishing opportunities yet again as they slumped to a 24-12 loss against the Reds in Brisbane on Friday.

It was the Stormers’ 11 straight defeat overseas since 2016 and another chastening result.

It’s hard to see how they can salvage their season after this new low point. It was their fourth loss in seven matches.

In another soppy display the Western Cape side were over the tryline three times only for the tries to be correctly disallowed. They managed to score two legitimate tries.

Even without a host of injured and absent stalwarts such as Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit‚ the Stormers had enough ball and enough of a platform to win.

But they didn’t have the nous and patience on attack yet again and the good work of players such as No 8 Jaco Coetzee and replacement scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies was devalued.

The Reds scored three tries with all the points being scored in the second half after a tepid first-half display.

The Reds also benefitted from a yellow card for Stormers skipper Siya Kolisi‚ scoring 14 points while he was off the field.

The first half was one of the worst in memory with neither side offering any cutting edge.

The Stormers will say they had two chances to score and were denied by centimetres‚ but better teams make those opportunities count.

Fullback Damian Willemse chased a Damian de Allende kick and thought he’d scored only for a replay to show he grounded the ball on the dead-ball line.

Moments later wing Sergeal Petersen did well to slide in at the corner from a standing start‚ but the try was correctly disallowed because his foot was in touch.

To compound matters Stormers lock Cobus Wiese knocked on with the tryline at his mercy after the Stormers’ most incisive move of the half.

And just when it seemed it couldn’t get worse for the visitors‚ Kolisi was sin-binned for killing the ball. It seemed a harsh call by South African referee Marius van der Westhuizen.

The Reds offered even less than the Stormers early on.  Centre and skipper Samu Kerevi was the focal point of their attack‚ running hard into contact. That was about it.

It was enough for the first points of the match in the 42nd minute when Kerevi scored after the Reds worked the ball wide for about the first time.

With Kolisi in the sin-bin there was enough space for the Reds to manipulate‚ allowing Kerevi to take an inside pass to score.

The Reds added a second try when hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa forced his way over from close range and suddenly the dour 0-0 of the first half seemed a distant memory only six minutes into the second half.

With Kolisi’s return to the field the Stormers prospered from a full eight-man scrum close to the Reds line‚ from which flank Kobus van Dyk scored.

With the outcome in the balance Reds scrumhalf Tate McDermott sniped in from a quickly-tapped penalty‚ which settled the matter‚ even though the Stormers scored late through centre Damian de Allende.

Scorers:

Reds

Tries:

Samu Kerevi‚ Brandon Paenga-Amosa‚ Tate MacDermott.

Conversions:

Bryce Hegarty (3).

Penalty:

Hegarty.

Stormers

Tries:

Kobus van Dyk‚ Damian de Allende.

Conversion: Jean-Luc du Plessis.