The Stormers came back stronger from the break with Engelbrecht registering his second try of the night and more tries from the efforts of JJ Kotze, Clayton Blommetjies and Marcel Theunissen.
During the flurry of second-half tries by the Stormers, Benetton managed to cross the line through Manuel Zuliani but his effort could not inspire them to make a comeback.
The scoreline was made a lot more respectable in the closing stages when Benetton were awarded a penalty try that led to Hacjivah Dayimani being shown a yellow card.
Dayimani was the third Stormers player to be in trouble with the referee as he followed in the footsteps of Evan Roos and Seabelo Senatla who spent some time in the sin bin earlier in the match.
The Stormers suffered a scare after 67 minutes when Senatla was stretchered off the field after he collided midair with a Benetton player and fell awkwardly to the ground.
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Stormers earn vital URC bonus-point win over Benetton in Stellenbosch
Image: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix
The Stormers secured a 38-22 bonus-point victory over Italian side Benetton at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch on Friday to keep their hopes alive of finishing the league stages in second place.
With this United Rugby Championship (URC) win, the Stormers shot up to second on the standings but they may be overtaken by Ulster who took on Edinburgh in the late match at the Kingspan Stadium in Belfast.
The first points of the match went to Benetton when Tomas Albanorz found the middle of the poles with his penalty but the Stormers roared back immediately with their first try scored by Angelo Davids.
Benetton retook the lead through a converted try by Alessandro Izekor but the Stormers hit back on the stroke of halftime when Willie Engelbrecht powered home after a maul.
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The Stormers came back stronger from the break with Engelbrecht registering his second try of the night and more tries from the efforts of JJ Kotze, Clayton Blommetjies and Marcel Theunissen.
During the flurry of second-half tries by the Stormers, Benetton managed to cross the line through Manuel Zuliani but his effort could not inspire them to make a comeback.
The scoreline was made a lot more respectable in the closing stages when Benetton were awarded a penalty try that led to Hacjivah Dayimani being shown a yellow card.
Dayimani was the third Stormers player to be in trouble with the referee as he followed in the footsteps of Evan Roos and Seabelo Senatla who spent some time in the sin bin earlier in the match.
The Stormers suffered a scare after 67 minutes when Senatla was stretchered off the field after he collided midair with a Benetton player and fell awkwardly to the ground.
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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