Stormers rise above indifferent start to chalk up their 13th straight home win in the URC

As expected the Stormers were forced to call on their champion qualities before they beat down the challenge of Edinburgh at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

The defending champions, playing for the first time at the venue where they lifted the United Rugby Championship (URC) trophy last season, were forced to regroup after an indifferent start to chalk up their 13th straight home win in the URC.

The Lions downed them at home in December last year but they've gone blemish free as hosts since.

They earned a bonus-point 34-18 win on Saturday but not before they were forced to pull out all the stops against the team they knocked out at the quarterfinal stage last season.

Organised and efficient Mike Blair's team posed awkward questions of the hosts for the first half-hour. They were proficient at the set pieces and they were more decisive in the contests on the deck as they kept the Stormers firmly on the back foot.

The visitors fielded the slightly heavier pack and they made it count in the scrums.

Without the Bok bruisers captain Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe to front their effort, the Stormers were also feeling the heat in the scrum. The squeeze mainly came from Edinburgh's SA-born props Pierre Schoeman and WP Nel.

By the 35th minute loose head Brok Harris was summoned from the bench to replace Alistair Vermaak.

Harris brought stability, while Andre-Hugo Venter brought energy a little later at hooker.

Elementary errors initially, as well as poor discipline throughout dogged the Stormers and they had much to troubleshoot after the half-hour mark.

Yellow cards to Manie Libbok, Evan Roos and a terribly harsh red card to Sazi Sandi, meant the hosts played for almost half an hour at a numerical disadvantage.

Around the 20-minute mark and with Edinburgh on persistent attack, Libbok was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-down.

It was the team in orange that kept their opponents imprisoned near their own try line. Edinburgh laid siege to the Stormers' try line and though the hosts repelled them well, the pressure eventually took its toll as the visitors scored.

At 10-0 down, that score helped firm the Stormers' resolve. They camped inside the Edinburgh 22 in the closing minutes of the first half and were denied their opening try thanks to a last-gasp tackle by Stuart McInally that also earned him a yellow card.

Not long after Deon Fourie went through the middle of a maul for a significant Stormers score to close the first half.

As importantly, hooker Joseph Dweba got over for a converted try shortly after the restart, before Libbok added another penalty.

Edinburgh kept pressing but the impeccable Suleiman Hartzenberg helped balloon the score in the hosts' favour.

Scorers

Stormers (34) — Tries: Suleiman Hartzenberg (2), Deon Fourie, Joseph Dweba. Conversions: Manie Libbok (4). Penalties: Libbok (2).

Edinburgh (18) — Tries: Pierre Schoeman, Dave Cherry. Conversion: Blair Kinghorn. Penalties: Kinghorn (2).

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