The Western Stormers continued their good form when they outscored the Queensland Reds five tries to two to record a convincing 37-24 win in a Super 14 match on Saturday.
The victory for the Stormers, following their surprising win over the Auckland Blues last week, took them to 27 points in the standings, while the 10th defeat for the Reds leaves them on 11 points and bottom of the table.
It was the sixth win for the Stormers in their campaign of the southern hemisphere inter-provincial rugby competition.
With nothing riding on the result the match never reached any great heights, but for Springboks Brent Russell and Joe van Niekerk it was a night they'll remember for some time to come.
Both produced good performances a week out from Jake White naming his first Springbok squad of the year.
It was a dull opening quarter with neither side coming close to crossing the tryline, and both teams were guilty of giving away a number of penalties, especially at the breakdowns.
Clinton Schifcofske scored all 12 the Red's first-half points thanks to four successful penalties, while the Stormers scored through flyhalf Peter Grant, who knocked over two penalties, and captain Luke Watson, who crossed the Reds tryline on two occasions.
Watson went over in the 26th minute after receiving an inside pass from scrumhalf JP Joubert after a drive towards the line by the forwards was stopped by the Reds and he crossed again four minutes later, again after taking an inside pass, but this time it was from Van Niekerk. Grant converted both tries.
After going into the break 20-12 up, the home side extended their lead almost immediately after the restart when left winger Russell finished off a move which started deep inside the Stormers' own half and featured Van Niekerk and center De Wet Barry who did excellently with ball in hand to send the speedy Russell on his way.
Grant's simple conversion made it 27-12 for the men from Cape Town.
Then at the midway point of the second period the Reds finally found a way through the Stormers defense via veteran center Ben Tune, but straight from the restart the Stormers hit back with a five-pointer after Russell had charged down a clearance kick by Andrew Walker and then dived on the ball inside the in-goal area.
The two extra points from Grant's conversion made it 32-19 for the home side.
The Stormers then made sure of the win when, with 13 minutes remaining, No 8 Van Niekerk crashed over in the left-hand corner.
The men from Queensland, however, got a second try on the stroke of full-time when replacement hooker Sean Hardman went over from a lineout.
The Reds finish their campaign against the Northern Bulls in Pretoria next weekend, while the Stormers host the Coastal Sharks in Cape Town.
Both the Bulls and Sharks need to win their games to secure a semi-final place.
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