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Waratahs steal late winner

It certainly was an exciting match when the Waratahs of Sydney met the Stormers of Cape Town at Allianz Stadium in Sydney – a seesaw match.

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The Waratahs probably deserved to win, though, in the end, it was the Stormers' own errors that brought about their downfall, and, when they lost, it was some time after the hooter had sounded to signal the end of the match. Not that there was anything at all untoward in the time beyond 80 minutes.

Just a look at the order of scoring tells its tale:

3-0

3-7

10-7

10-10

17-10

17-17

Half-time

24-17

24-24

27-24

27-27

34-27.

The scores were regularly tied but the Stormers led only once and then for just two minutes.

The Stormers were far, far better at scrumming where the Waratahs were penalised six times, which is a huge number in any match. The Waratahs were better at line-outs where they won all of their own and the Stormers lost four including a crazy one at the end of the match that set their defeat in motion.

It took 13 minutes before the first score came and then in the next 23 minutes of the first half 31 points were scored in a tit-for-tat sequence, as the team scored against became the next to score.

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From the start both the start, both teams tried to run, but against tough defences. The Waratahs looked the more effective and creative, for they had Israel Folau looking at his best.

The first score came when Siya Kolisi was penalised for an intentional knock-on and the infallible boot of Bernard Foley goaled. 3-0 after 13 minutes.

The Stormers kicked off.  Raymond Rhule raced up and tackled the catcher Michael Wells. The won a turnover and the ball went left to Rhule at the touchline. He passed inside to Steven Kitshoff who had an easy route to the try. SP Marais of the impeccable boot goaled and the Stormers led 7-3 after 15 minutes.

From the kick-off, Damian Willemse kicked a long way downfield to Foley who kicked high. Folau chased, caught the ball in front of Willemse's nose and off he cantered 38 metres to score. 10-7 after 17 minutes.

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From the kick-off Nizaam Carr was close, Paddy Ryan was penalised and Willemse goaled. 10-10 after 19 minutes.

That was 20 points in six minutes!

The Waratahs attacked but the Stormers won a turnover. With poor judgement, Marais tried to run from near his line and the result was a five-metre line-out to the Waratahs. They mauled briefly. Michael Hooper broke away and burst through Ramone Samuels's tackle to score. 

17-10 after 28 minutes.

Inevitably the Stormers were next to score. They were attacking close to the Waratahs' line. They partially charged a Foley kick and got possession. On advantage, Dewaldt Duvenage chipped a little kick into in-goal where, after a multitude of TMO reviews, a try was awarded to Kobus van Dyk of the Stormers. Marais converted from touch.

That made the half-time score 24-all.

The Waratahs kicked off to start the second half and won the ball in a turnover off Marais. Kurtley Beale chipped a foot pass to right wing Andrew Kellaway who passed inside to hooker Damien Fitzpatrick who scored far out, and the Waratahs led 24-17 after 43 minutes.

The Stormers attacked after a penalty at a scrum and then had a remarkable series of three five-metre scrums as they preferred scrums to penalties. From the third in the series, Nizaam Carr broke and was stopped just short of the line. Marais was on hand to pick up, dive, score and convert. 24-all after 51 minutes.

At 56 minutes lock Rob Simmons was yellow-carded for going in under the jumper Van Dyk to bring him crashing down. In the time that Simmons was away, only three points were scored and that was by the Waratahs who got through the big man's absence really well.

A penalty for collapsing a maul made it 27-24 after 64 minutes and then a penalty against 20-year-old prop Harry Johnson-Holmes levelled the scores at 27-all on 67 minutes.

The 13 minutes left belonged largely to the Waratahs and, by the tradition of this game, the Waratahs would be next to score, and it looked likely as they set up phases.

At one stage they won the only tighthead at a scrum. That was freakish given the Stormers' domination in scrums, but the home side did not get far as they yielded a line-out to the Stormers.

The final siren sounded and then Dean Muir threw in. It was a shortened line-out with locks Pieter-Steph du Toit and Chris van Zyl standing one behind the other. The throw soared clean over the line-out, and the Waratahs did phases till the ball went to tall Ned Hanigan who ran over Rhule to score in the corner. 

The victory delighted the Waratahs.

It was a match to delight spectators.

Man of the Match: Steven Kitshoff and Nizaam Carr stood out for the Stormers. Israel Folau had a wonderful first half for the Waratahs but then retired to a restful second half on the wing. Our choice is Bernard Foley whose boot, direction of play and a great break late in the match were outstanding.

The scorers:

For the Waratahs:

Tries: Folau, Hooper, Fitzpatrick, Hanigan

Cons: Foley 3

Pens: Foley 2

For the Stormers:

Tries: Kitshoff, Van Dyk, Marais

Cons: Marais 3

Pens: Marais 2

Yellow card: Rob Simmons (Waratahs, 57 – foul play, playing an opponent in the air)

Teams:

Waratahs: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Lalakai Foketi, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Curtis Rona, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Michael Wells, 7 Michael Hooper (captain), 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Tom Staniforth, 3 Paddy Ryan, 2 Damien Fitzpatrick, 1 Tom Robertson.          

Replacements: 16 Hugh Roach, 17 Harry Johnson-Holmes, 18 Shambeckler Vui, 19 Nick Palmer, 20 Jed Holloway, 21 Mitch Short, 22 Bryce Hegarty, 23 Alex Newsome.

Stormers: 15 Sarel Marais, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 Johannes Engelbrecht, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Kobus van Dyk, 6 Siyamthanda Kolisi (captain), 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 John Schickerling, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Ramone Samuels, 1 Steven Kitshoff.

Replacements: 16 Dean Muir, 17 Jacobus Janse van Rensburg, 18 Carlu Sadie, 19 Chris van Zyl, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Justin Phillips, 22 George Whitehead, 23 EW Viljoen.

Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)

Assistant referees: Mike Fraser (New Zealand), William Houston (Australia)

TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)

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