Swiel stars as Stormers down Sharks at Kings Park

Tim Swiel put away a late penalty to earn the Stormers a much-needed 25-22 Rainbow Cup SA win over the Sharks under the light rain at Kings Park Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

It was heartbreak for the Sharks as the match was tied at 22-22 from the 55th minute until Swiel found the middle of the posts with two minutes remaining on the clock.

With this victory, the Stormers have moved to second on the standings with 12 points from two wins and as many losses while the Sharks have dropped to third spot with 11 points.

The visitors could have taken the lead after seven minutes but flyhalf Abner van Reenen, who had a poor afternoon with the boot, made a mess of his penalty as it did not have the distance.

Minutes later, Van Reenen was shown how it is done by Curwin Bosch who found the middle of the poles with a long penalty from inside his own half for the Sharks to open the scoring.

The Sharks increased their lead with the first try of the match after 20 minutes when prop Ox Nche forced his way over the try line following tap and go as a result of a series of penalties by the Stormers.

The Stormers responded with a solo try by Edwill Van Der Merwe who waved his magic past the Sharks defence with pace and skill to reduce the deficit to three points.

Van Der Merwe gave the Stormers the lead with his second try of the match after he received a long pass out wide from Damian Willemse after good pressure play by the visiting forwards.

Unfortunately, the Stormers’ lead was only two points as Van Reenen missed the conversion to add to his poor penalty kick in the early stages of the match.

On the other hand, Bosch gave a better showing with the boot as he put away one conversion and a penalty but his efforts were not enough as the visitors went to the break leading by two points.

The Stormers got off to a dream start in the second half with Pieter-Steph du Toit scoring their third try of the afternoon after he received an offload from Herschel Jantjies with Van Reenen converting.

Shortly afterwards, the Sharks retook the lead with two tries from Yaw Penxe, who received an offload from Springbok captain Siya Kolisi, and Aphelele Fassi who benefited from a loose ball that bounced off his teammate.

The Sharks suffered a massive blow after 70 minutes when Sbu Nkosi was shown a yellow card and the Stormers forced their hosts into making a mistake that led to a penalty that was put away by Swiel to seal the game.

FT Score

Sharks (10) 22

Stormers (12) 25

Scorers

Sharks

Tries: Ox Nche, Yaw Penxe , Aphelele Fassi

Conversions: Curwin Bosch (2)

Penalties: Curwin Bosch (1)

Stormers

Tries: Edwill Van Der Merwe (2), Pieter-Steph du Toit

Conversions: Abner van Reenen (2)

Penalties: Tim Swiel (2)