Sale 'nilled' in Cape Town as Stormers blow them away

Stormers thrashed Sale Sharks in front of 23,682 spectators by 40-0 to boost their Investec Champions Cup hopes at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday. Sale dominated the territory in the first-half without being able to convert the pressure into points, with the Stormers capitalising on their limited opportunities after a stalemate opening 20 minutes.

The first penalty went to the visitors after Wandisile Simelane knocked on a high ball and Suleiman Hartzenberg played the ball in an offside position. Sale went for the lineout inside the 22 where Bevan Rodd was penalised for a side entry.

Another penalty due to poor kicking by Stefan Ungerer occurred moments later as Sale rolled the dice again to go for the corner but couldn’t convert as the ball was knocked-on in the lineout.

Both sides squandered scoring opportunities in the opening 20 minutes, with the Stormers discipline being an issue conceding six in the process and being warned for it in the 17th minute.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 22nd minute when an outside break by Simelane set JD Schickerling up for a try on the occasion of his 50th Stormers cap. Manie Libbok converted.

Stormers soon added a second try in the 25th minute after Sale were hammering away inside the hosts’ 22 and lost the ball. Ungerer executed a pin-point box-kick which Libbok gathered to score under the posts and he converted himself.

Frans Malherbe received a yellow card after repeated infringements at the scrum in the 35th minute but Sale couldn’t capitalise on the opportunity yet again as the case was throughout the first-half. Libbok kicked a loose ball through which was cleaned up at the back in the nick of time by Joe Carpenter.

The second-half started with Sale dominating the opening two minutes with ball-in-hand but they wasted two scoring opportunities. But when Sale conceded a penalty for offside, the Stormers opted for the lineout and it paid off as Sti Sithole barged over for the try after a collapsed maul which Jean-Luc du Plessis converted.

Stormers went wide moments after the restart as Hartzenberg made a break and chipped ahead. He was taken out by Robert du Preez, who was yellow-carded. Carpenter joined du Preez in the bin for a deliberate knock-on. The Stormers went for the corner and played it wide as Warrick Gelant picked up a scrappy ball to go in for the bonus-point try in the 54th minute which went unconverted.

A grubber kick by du Plessis saw the Stormers force a maul and get the turnover five metres from the Sale line and earn the scrum feed. Paul de Wet got the pass from Evan Roos, who picked the ball up at the back of the scrum, and he went over for Stormers’ fifth try. Libbok converted.

A scrum penalty gave the Stormers another 22 metre entry and Andre-Hugo Venter forced his way over the line on 71 minutes. The drama wasn’t over as Rekeiti Maasi-White was issued a yellow card for a dangerous tackle on du Plessis six minutes later.