For a long time it looked like the DHL Stormers were trying their best to help the Connacht supporters reignite their belief in Father Christmas but ultimately they got their Vodacom URC campaign off to a winning 29-15 win that their overall dominance warranted in Galway.
When debutant replacement scrumhalf Ezekiel Ngobeni jetted in off a kick ahead for the fourth try off the last move of the game it secured the Stormers a full house of five log points, which was an excellent start for them given how many top players were missing both to Springbok duty in Perth and to injury.
Indeed, the injury bogey struck further shortly before kickoff when Evan Roos, selected to play at openside flank, was withdrawn. That facilitated a reshuffle, with Riley Norton moving from his selected position of No 4 lock to blindside flank, with Louw Nel moving to the openside and Gary Porter coming from outside of the match day squad to start in the second row.
If that disrupted the Stormers they didn’t show it, as they were the dominant team pretty much from the kick off. The only problem, and this wasn’t the first time this has been the case with the Stormers, was that they were in a charitable mood when it came to wasting their own scoring opportunities and gifting chances to the opposition.
When Josh Ioane crashed over on the stroke of halftime to grab the home team what a few minutes beforehand seemed a highly unlikely 12-10 lead it was courtesy of a Father Christmas type gift from the Stormers. And not completely surprisingly, it was fullback Warrick Gelant who played a big role in that, as with his team just having conceded a try that cut a 10-0 lead to 10-7, he elected to run a kick receipt that should just have been kicked into touch to end the half with the Stormers in the lead.
The DHL Stormers start their campaign with a win on the road ✅🌩️#SSRugby | #VURC pic.twitter.com/tbzuzOmjHl
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) September 25, 2026
Instead he passed to Seabelo Senatla, who was caught in possession, and then from that territory Connacht were able to put Ioane in for the try that gave the hosts a highly unlikely lead. It was that kind of game for the Stormers, with Seabelo Senatla held up on the line just after the break when it looked like he was certainly destined to score.
You might have thought after that it was just not going to be the Stormers’ night, but the reality was that the Stormers were just too physically dominant. They weren’t always great at lineout time and lost some crucial lineouts against the throw in the first half, but when they got it together their maul made a big impression and so did their scrum after an initial conceded penalty.
What was required from the Stormers but wasn’t always forthcoming was patience, but that did start to come together later in the game, and considering they knocked on with an open line twice, had one try to replacement flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed chalked off and had a player held up on the line, a 14 point win was a remarkable way for an understrength team to start the season.
Of course, it could have been far more comfortable than it eventually was. There was a driving try from Sazi Sandi that put them two points ahead with a quarter of the game remaining but then they had to wait for a similar try to replacement hooker Vernon Paulo to put some daylight between the teams with three minutes to go. Then came the Ngobeni try to clinch the bonus point, but a few minutes before halftime they were pressing for a comfortable lead only for it to explode in their faces.
Jurie Matthee, who missed a second half penalty that would have regained his team the lead after they’d started the half with a two point deficit, opened the scoring with a penalty when Ruhan Nel was only prevented from scoring after an intercept by a great scramble tackle from Connacht’s returning international wing Mack Hansen, and then it was Gelant who dotted down after a good little dink kick from loan scrumhalf Andre Warner, who made a pleasing debut in Stormers colours.
That made it 10-0 to the visitors and they were pressing for the score that would take them even further ahead for most of the rest of the half. However, an intercept near the Connacht line saw the transference of pressure that led to the first Connacht try to Hansen in the 38th minute, and then came the Gelant brain fart that saw Connacht go to the break with the kind of momentum that seemed highly improbable previously.
Overall though, considering how incredibly difficult it is to beat Connacht in Galway, and the fact that so many of the big guns were missing - national captain Siya Kolisi as it transpired from the television images is not in Perth but in Galway, with another Bok in Ben-Jason Dixon also a spectator - it was a great win for the Stormers and it would be churlish to nitpick it.
Oh, and just to add to that, it was also achieved on a 4G surface, so hopefully that is something that won’t be too much in the Stormers’ heads as they head to Edinburgh for a game on a similar surface next weekend.
Scores
DHL Stormers 29 - Tries: Warrick Gelant, Sazi Sandi, Vernon Paulo and Ezekiel Ngobeni; Conversions: Jurie Matthee 2 and Yaqeen Ahmed; Penalty: Yaqeen Ahmed.
Connacht 15 - Tries: Mack Hansen and Josh Ioane; Conversion: Sam Gilbert; Penalty: Sam Gilbert.