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Stormers climb off the bottom with Brisbane win

South Africa's Western Stormers climbed off the bottom of the Super 14 rugby standings with a bonus-point 34-16 win over Australian strugglers Queensland Reds at Lang Park yesterday.

The Stormers had been winless in their opening three matches, but they produced adventurous attacking rugby to sink the Reds.

Led by flanker Luke Watson, hooker Schalk Brits and fullback Conrad Jantjes, the Stormers ran the Queenslanders off their feet with their expansive attacking game and had three further tries disallowed by the video referee in the first half.

"We lost three on the trot and I'm elated with our first win of the tournament," Stormers' skipper Jean De Villiers said.

Queensland had fought back from 10-8 down at halftime to hit the front 16-13 with a try by flanker Leroy Houston in the 56th minute, but the Stormers finished strongly in the final quarter.

Watson, who was held up twice over the try line in the first half, backed up a break by the lively Brits to score in the 58th minute, replacement scrum-half Bolla Conradie dived over in the corner and winger Tonderai Chavhanga got the scoring bonus point with a fourth try in the final minute.

Fly-half Peter Grant kicked immaculately, with four conversions and two penalty goals from all his goal attempts, and finished the match with 19 points after his first half try.

It was the Stormers' third straight victory in Brisbane after 21-20 and 24-20 wins in their previous two visits in 2004 and 2006.

It was another sorry night for the hapless Reds, who made seven team changes after their much-criticized loss to the injury-hit Brumbies, but yet again their errors let them down.

Wallaby fullback Chris Latham scored his 39th Super 14 try in the first half and fly-half Berrick Barnes landed two rare drop goals, while Clinton Schifcofske missed his two conversion attempts.
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