Following the Stormers’ hard-fought 29-21 triumph over the Dragons in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Sunday, Planet Rugby picks out five takeaways from the thrilling action.
The top line
The Stormers held the upper hand from the outset and raced into a 14-0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes courtesy of two converted tries from Springboks star Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
The Welsh region soaked up that early pressure before Seb Davies crossed for their opening try in the 25th minute which was converted by Angus O’Brien and they did well to keep their hosts at bay during the latter stages of the half.
That meant the match was evenly poised at half-time with the Stormers holding a 14-7 lead and they went further ahead soon after the restart when Feinberg-Mngomezulu slotted a penalty.
The visitors continued to dominate and in the 49th minute Evan Roos was rewarded with their third try off the back of a powerful scrum close to the Dragons‘ try-line.
The Dragons needed a response and that came five minutes later when Thomas Young dotted down before Stormers secured their bonus point courtesy of a Wandisile Simelane try on the hour mark.
That meant the hosts held a 29-14 lead but the Dragons would not surrender and in the 72nd minute Rio Dyer crossed for their third try which added some respectability to the final score.
Dragons no pushovers
Although the visitors are lying in 15th position in the URC standings, they came into this encounter in a confident mood as they had the best defensive record in the tournament in 2026.
And despite the home side racing into a 14-0 lead, the Welsh region were competitive throughout and did well to narrow the gap to seven points at half-time via Davies’ try.
Although they endured a torrid time in the scrums, the men from Newport’s forwards put up a brave fight in the other tight exchanges with the likes of Davies and Levi Douglas winning their fair share of the possession in the lineout battle.
Meanwhile, the visitors lost the services of Harry Beddall to injury in the 21st minute which resulted in Thomas Young coming on as his replacement and he was soon in the thick of the action, especially at the breakdowns, and early in the second half he crossed for his side’s second try from close range.
The Stormers continued to hold a slight edge as the match progressed and although Simelane’s try extended their lead again, the Dragons finished stronger and were rewarded in the game’s closing stages when Dyer scored the game’s final five-pointer.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu leads the way for Stormers
The Stormers and Springboks fly-half has not been at his best in recent weeks and his poor form coincided with three successive URC defeats for the men from the Cape.
Although there were signs of improvement in last week’s victory over the Bulls, the Springboks’ golden boy was not at his best, but it was a different matter against the Dragons as he delivered a superb all-round performance.
From the outset, the 24-year-old showed his class as he put his side on the front foot with a perfectly executed 50/22 kick as early as the first minute.
He then ran a superb angle before gathering a well-timed pass from his scrum-half Imad Khan before crossing for his first try in the ninth minute.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu also did well to gather a deft offload from Khan for his second try before making a try-saving tackle on Rhodri Williams deep inside the Stormers’ 22 in the latter stages of the second half.
The hosts’ fly-half also asked plenty of questions of the visitors’ defence with his excellent playmaking skills and in the 70th minute he prevented another Dragons try when he beat Rio Dyer to the ball before dotting down behind his try-line.
It was not a perfect performance from the Boks star as he also missed some shots at goal but Stormers fans will be happy that Feinberg-Mngomezulu displayed the type of form which makes him one of the world’s leading playmakers at the moment.
Dominant Stormers scrum a good attacking platform
After some shaky moments early on in the scrums against the Bulls last week, the Stormers showed great improvement in the set-piece as that match progressed and eventually held the upper hand in that department in Pretoria.
John Dobson’s charges continued where they left off in that match as they had the Dragons on the back foot in the scrum on several occasions and the home side used the set-piece as an attacking platform.
One of those powerful shoves from the home side’s pack was in the 17th minute when their scrum-half gathered the ball from the base of the set-piece on the visitors’ five-metre line before delivering a deft offload to Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who had an easy run-in for his second try.
It was a similar story in the 49th minute when soon after replacing starting loosehead prop Vernon Matongo and hooker JJ Kotze with Ntuthuko Mchunu and André-Hugo Venter, the hosts came to the fore with another huge shove at scrum-time which had their opponents back-pedalling at a rate of knots and resulted in Roos cantering in for his try.
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Visitors’ Wales internationals show their worth
Although his team suffered another defeat and are currently languishing just one position above the bottom spot in the table, Dragons head coach Filo Tiatia will be encouraged by his side’s overall performance against the URC’s second-placed side, and leading the way were their Wales internationals.
Amongst the forwards, the likes of Davies and Elliot Dee led the way in the execution of their core duties and the former’s efforts were rewarded when he glided through a gaping hole in the Stormers’ defence before crossing for a try.
Experienced tearaway Young’s introduction also helped the cause as he gave a good account of himself at the breakdown battle before he too crossed for a five-pointer.
Meanwhile, among the backs, scrum-half Rhodri Williams impressed with his service to his outside backs where back three duo Cai Evans and Rio Dyer had some good attacking moments and the latter also went over for a deserved five-pointer while he was unlucky not have a second try awarded after losing out to Feinberg-Mngomezulu in a foot race behind the Stormers try-line.