Cape Town — Exeter Chiefs dumped the Stormers out of the Champions Cup after beating them 42-17 in their quarter-final at Sandy Park on Saturday evening.
The Cape side and current United Rugby Championship (URC) title holders never looked like they were in the game with the home side totally dominating them in all facets right up until the final whistle.
Early in the second half already, Exeter stretched their lead to 28-0 with an easy run-in score for eighth man Sam Simmonds after beating Stormers forwards Marvin Orie and Frans Malherbe through a gap.
That score was the nail in the coffin for the visitors after they went into halftime 21-0 down with no sign that they’ll get back into the game.
It was a tight-fought contest for about 12 minutes in the first half before the home side had Sandy Park and its supporters on their feet.
With a deft kick in behind the Stormers’ defence by flyhalf Joe Simmonds, the ball was fielded by fullback Tom Wyatt to easily run in for the first try.
Jack Nowell, Exeter Chiefs winger, also had an easy run-in, through three defenders, to score his try. When other winger Olly Woodburn went over for Exeter’s third score in the first half, one had a sense that it will be a long day for the Stormers at the office.
Firstly, they struggled to get their hands on the ball and the way the Chiefs starved them of possession was an ideal start for the home side. And where the Stormers usually start quickly, it was Exeter who turned on the fireworks early on to effectively put the visitors to bed.
Flyhalf Simmonds, who scored 12 points, had a near-perfect day on the field and completely overshadowed Manie Libbok, his opposite number. Much was expected of Libbok to direct the Stormers on the attack, but he hardly had any possession to make things work.
With the little bit of ball the Stormers had in hand, Exeter made sure to shut down any plans of an attack. They rushed the Libbok and his fellow playmakers almost every chance they could. Balls that would normally be spread down the backline to the wings, were smothered in Libbok’s hands or with centres Dan du Plessis and Ruhan Nel.
Two scores in the second half, first when fullback Damian Willemse dotted down in the 52nd minute and then when winger Suleiman Hartzenberg ran for 50 meters to score, briefly lit the flame of a possible fightback.
But when Exeter scored their fifth try off a well-executed maul, that hope of a fightback was all gone.
It was another disappointing overseas fixture for the Stormers and they will have to learn from these losses if they want to start winning consistently away from home.
The Stormers can now shift their attention to defending their URC title with important home matches against Munster and Benetton coming up to secure second place on the log.
Point-scorers
Exeter 42 — Tries: Tom Wyatt, Jack Nowell, Ollie Woodburn, Sam Simmonds, Jack Yeandle, Tom Cairns. Conversions: Joe Simmons (6).
Stormers 17 — Tries: Damian Willemse, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Marvin Orie. Conversion: Manie Libbok.
IOL Sport
