Thrilling win for Stormers

Habana: Scored a try in Stormers win

The Stormers secured second place in the Super Rugby table and home advantage in the semi-finals after an entertaining 44-34 victory over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.

Both teams ran in four tries but the boot of Peter Grant proved the difference as the Stormers fly-half kicked 24 points.

Ryno Benjamin scored a hat-trick for the hosts, who threatened to come back from a 20-point deficit in the second-half before their defeat was finally confirmed.

Sias Ebersohn opened the scoring for the Cheetahs with a penalty after three minutes but Grant quickly wiped that advantage out with three points of his own.

The pair exchanged kicks again in what was shaping up to be a tight contest, but the Stormers opened the floodgates with the opening try after 21 minutes.

Schalk Burger and Duane Vermeulen combined to run the ball from deep before the latter supplied the decisive pass to Gio Aplon, who darted over the line.

Grant was on target with the conversion to make it 13-6 and then extended the advantage with two more penalties to leave the Cheetahs 13 points adrift.

Challenge

The hosts rose to the challenge, though, and Davon Raubenheimer went over in the corner on the stroke of half-time - with Ebersohn adding the extras - to close the gap to 19-13 at the interval.

However, any hopes of a Cheetahs comeback seemed to be killed off soon after the restart when Juan de Jongh raced down the line for another try which Grant duly converted.

Nick Koster then got his name on the scoresheet in the 54th minute, holding off two Cheetahs players to cross, with the extras from Grant seeing the Stormers take a valuable 33-13 lead.

The points continued to flow at Free State Stadium, but this time for the home side as Benjamin finished a well-worked move.

But Ebersohn's conversion had barely been recorded when Bryan Habana found some space at the other end and raced over the line for the Stormers' bonus-point try.

The Cheetahs hit back through Benjamin once more, with Ebersohn again slotting the extras to bring the scores to 38-27.

Two Grant penalties restored some calm in the Stormers' camp as the Cheetahs' hopes of a comeback slipped away, although the hosts did have the final say Ashley Johnson setting up Benjamin for his hat-trick.