Winger Bryan Habana scored two tries and flyhalf Peter Grant kicked 18 points as the Stormers beat the champion Bulls 38-10 in an all-South African derby at Newlands to secure a Super 14 home semi-final.
The result means the Stormers finish second in the table with 44 points, three behind the Bulls and one ahead of Australia’s New South Wales Waratahs, whom they will host in next weekend’s second semi-final.
The Bulls will meet New Zealand’s Canterbury Crusaders, who finished fourth, in the first playoff match at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto. Both games take place on Saturday.
The Stormers beat the Waratahs 27-6 in Cape Town in pool play, while the Bulls beat the Crusaders 40-35 last week, a result which ensured the Bulls would finish top of the table and allowed them to rest almost their entire starting team for their final round-robin match.
The Stormers put the match out of reach of the understrength visitors by the half-hour mark, scoring three tries in a one-sided contest.
Habana, restored to the side after a rib injury, scored the opening try against his former team in the fourth minute and added another 20 minutes later to give the home side an 18-3 lead.
Flyhalf Peter Grant had kicked two earlier penalties and the conversion of Habana’s first try to keep the scoreboard ticking, before lock Andries Bekker stretched over after 28 minutes to open up a 22-point lead.
With the match over as a contest, the Stormers stuttered through the third quarter with only a Grant penalty to add to their tally, before center Jaque Fourie went over under the posts with 18 minutes remaining.
From 60m out, Grant put fullback Gio Aplon in space and the diminutive Sevens specialist chipped over the advancing defense and regathered, before putting Fourie away for a clear run.
The Bulls scored a consolation try in the dying minutes through replacement scrumhalf Ruan Snyman after Habana had been yellow-carded for a professional foul, but by then the home side had achieved their objective.
■CHEETAHS 59, LIONS 10
REUTERS, WELKOM, SOUTH AFRICA
The Gauteng Lions finished their dismal Super 14 season without a win when the Free State Cheetahs raced to big victory in an all-South African derby on Saturday.
Their points difference of -315 is the worst recorded in Super rugby.
The Lions made an awful start to the match, conceding four tries in the opening quarter, with Cheetahs wing Bjorn Basson and scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius each scoring twice.
The Cheetahs adopted an attacking strategy and their fluent running with the ball was helped by a forward pack that took control from the outset.
The Lions’ frustrations were exacerbated by the loss of captain Wikus van Heerden early in the first half with an arm injury.
Lock Barend Pieterse and center Corne Uys also scored tries to complete a dreadful first half for the Lions, who went into the break trailing 38-3.
The visitors enjoyed a marginally better second half and scored first after the break.
Dreadful ball control by the Cheetahs allowed Lions center Marius Delport to steal possession and he fed replacement wing Michael Killian for the try, but the Cheetahs replied in the 46th minute when fullback Hennie Daniller stretched over the line after a penalty was tapped close-in.
The tall Daniller’s second try would come 11 minutes later when he zipped through two lackluster tackles.
Replacement prop Coenie Oosthuizen completed the rout, which allowed the Cheetahs to leapfrog the Waikato Chiefs and finish 10th in the final standings.
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