Thanks to their victory, Cardiff has booked their URC play-off spot and secured a place in the European Champions Cup next season. Stormers are in danger of dropping to third in the final standings with Leinster potentially rising into second when they face Ospreys on Saturday (16/5).

Before the match, Cardiff were in seventh place on the log, aiming to book the play-off place, while Stormers were second and hoping to seal the top spot for a potential home quarterfinal.

Yellow card

The Stormers were handed a useful advantage in the first ten minutes when Cardiff captain Liam Belcher was shown a yellow card for repeated infringements. Lock Adré Smith went over the line with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu adding the conversion to give the Stormers a 7-0 lead.

However, Jacob Beetham and Tom Bowen scored in quick succession for Cardiff, putting the Welsh side in front. Feinberg-Mngomezulu added three more points for the Stormers when they were awarded a penalty, but a yellow card for Smith just before halftime allowed the hosts to score another try, courtesy of Ioan Loyd.

Tom Bowen scoring a try. Photo: Facebook/Cardiff Rugby 

Six minutes into the second half, Feinberg-Mngomezulu succeeded with another penalty, but Cardiff’s Beetham crossed for his second to take the hosts’ lead beyond a converted try.

Cardiff – Tries: Jacob Beetham (2), Tom Bowen, Ioan Lloyd. Conversion: Lloyd.
Stormers – Try: Adré Smith. Conv. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Pen. Feinberg-Mngomezulu (3).

In other matches on Friday night, Connacht beat Edinburgh 26-5 to book their place in the quarterfinals, while Glasgow narrowly beat Ulster in Belfast to retain their top spot on the log.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger dg