Stormers beat Cardiff to seal URC semi-final spot

May 30, 2026 No Comments

Stormers beat Cardiff to seal URC semi-final spotImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Stormers have defeated Cardiff twice in Cape Town in the past 12 monthsByGareth GriffithsBBC Sport WalesPublished18 minutes agoUnited Rugby Championship play-off quarter finalStormers (21) 44Tries: Venter, Mchunu, Zas, Feinberg-Mngomezulu, P de Villiers, Kotze Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3, Matthee Pen: Matthee 2Cardiff (7) 21Tries: Winnett, Basham, Botham Cons: I Lloyd 3Stormers booked their United Rugby Championship (URC) semi-final play-off place with a six-try victory against Cardiff in Cape Town.John Dobson’s side will either face a trip to play Leinster in Dublin or a home tie against fellow South African side Lions next weekend.Tries from hooker Andre-Hugo Venter, prop Ntuthuko Mchunu, wing Leolin Zas, flanker Paul de Villiers, replacement JJ Kotze and fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who finished with 11 points, set up the quarter-final success.Cardiff took an early lead through an interception try from full-back Cameron Winnett, while Wales back-row duo Taine Basham and James Botham also crossed.URC quarter-final: Stormers set-piece out-muscles Cardiff – reaction

Cardiff demonstrated admirable resilience, but were overpowered by their South African opponents as the visitors paid for ill-discipline, while the Welsh side also lost the aerial battle.

Wales prop Keiron Assiratti suffered a traumatic afternoon in the scrum and was shown a first-half yellow card after conceding four set-piece penalties.

Assiratti also picked up a calf injury which will make him a doubt for Wales’ summer programme.

Fellow tight-head Javan Sebastian was also sent to the sin-bin in the second half as Cardiff found themselves on the wrong side of Irish referee Eoghan Cross after conceding too many penalties.

Stormers secure Cardiff revenge as Welsh interest ends

Stormers gained revenge for the 22-16 defeat by Cardiff in the final round of league matches.

Cardiff’s loss in Cape Town also represents the end of the season for the Welsh professional sides.

After missing out by a point last season, the Blue and Blacks enjoyed a first taste of URC quarter-final action and travelled 6,000 miles for their knockout debut.

Winning in South Africa was always going to be a tough task with eight of Cardiff’s 11 league victories this season coming at the Arms Park.

Cardiff won only once outside Wales in the 2025-26 campaign with a league win at Zebre in November complemented by domestic success at Scarlets and Dragons.

Stormers overcome ‘easiest’ play-off opponents

Stormers head coach John Dobson caused a stir when he stated Cardiff were the “easiest” of the possible quarter-final opponents.

Dobson later qualified that by saying he had given this description because they had been the Stormers’ most recent opposition.

Cardiff were boosted by the returning Wales wing Josh Adams and influential lock Josh McNally, although Test trio Alex Mann, Mason Grady and Teddy Williams were still missing.

The visitors provided the first attacking impetus with clever work from flanker James Botham and McNally, but the threat was quelled by a forward pass.

Stormers’ dominant scrum yielded a couple of penalties which put Cardiff under pressure but the visitors survived.

A surging break from Cardiff fly-half Ioan Lloyd relieved some of the home momentum before the Welsh side capitalised on a Stormers mistake.

The hosts were hammering away at the Cardiff line, but a loose one-handed pass from home scrum-half Imad Khan was intercepted by wing Jacob Beetham who released full-back Winnett to score. Lloyd converted from the touchline.

Stormers responded as they capitalised on Cardiff’s ill-discipline with the visitors’ penalty count rising.

Home hooker Venter was driven over and the try was given on the field by Cross who stated he saw the ball touch the try line with the television match official (TMO) not overruling the decision.

The number of Cardiff penalties conceded allowed Stormers to set up a chance for prop Mchunu to crash over.

The home loose-head then forced Assiratti to concede a fourth penalty which resulted in a yellow card for the Cardiff tight-head.

Cardiff duo Dan Thomas and scrum-half Johan Mulder produced superb defence to deny Stormers captain Ruhan Nel.

That only delayed the inevitable and Stormers’ third try came from clever work between full-back Damian Willemse and Zas, who were both passed fit to start despite a collision in training.

Willemse’s incisive offload released Zas who powered through an attempted Winnett tackle to score as Stormers led 21-7 after an opening 40 minutes in which Cardiff conceded 10 penalties.

Cardiff rally but Stormers see out victory

Cardiff rallied at the start at the second half with Basham dancing over from the base of an attacking scrum courtesy of some fancy footwork.

Their comeback was hampered by a loose Lloyd kick gathered by Seabelo Senatla, who provided the try-scoring pass to Feinberg-Mngomezulu that was not deemed forward.

It was the final action of the game for Springboks fly-half Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who hurt his ankle in the act of scoring following Lloyd’s desperate tackle.

A Senatla try was disallowed for a knock-on before Cardiff battled back for the third try with Botham diving over.

Lloyd’s conversion reduced the deficit to five points with the gutsy Welsh side refusing to give up.

Cardiff found themselves down to 14 players again when Scotland prop Sebastian was shown a yellow card and de Villiers prospered with the Stormers’ fifth try.

With Assiratti having already gone off injured, uncontested scrums were introduced with Cardiff also having to lose a player and go down to 13 men.

That effectively ended the game as a contest with Jurie Matthee kicking two late penalties and converting a try from replacement hooker Kotze.

Line-ups

Stormers: Willemse; Senatla, Nel (capt), du Plessis, Zas; Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Khan; Mchunu, Venter, Fouche, Smith, van Heerden, de Villiers, Dixon, Roos.

Replacements: Kotze, Matongo, Porthen, Moerat, Ackerman, Theunissen, Ungerer, Matthee.

Cardiff: Winnett; Beetham, B Thomas, Jennings, Adams; I Lloyd, Mulder; Barratt, Belcher (capt), Assiratti, McNally, Thornton, Botham, D Thomas, Basham.

Replacements: D Hughes, Southworth, Sebastian, Nott, Lawrence, E Lloyd, Bevan, Bowen.

Yellow card: Assiratti 32, Sebastian 64

Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Andrew brace & Andrew Cole (Ireland)

TMO: Leo Colgan (Ireland)

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