United Rugby Championship: Stormers 40-3 Cardiff Rugby

Stormers turned up the heat on Cardiff in Cape Town with a six-try victory in the United Rugby Championship.

Ruhan Nel, Leolin Zas, Manie Libbok, Junior Pokomela, Evan Roos and Rikus Pretorius all crossed for the dominant hosts.

Cardiff could only reply with a first-half Jarrod Evans penalty.

The Welsh side, like Scarlets, leave South Africa empty-handed having lost two from two.

Stormers rise to seventh in the table, while struggling Cardiff are 14th having played two fewer games.

Cardiff had started brightly with probing kicks from half-backs Lloyd Williams and Evans asking questions of the Stormers defence.

They took the lead through Evans' penalty, after Stormers hooker Scarra Ntubeni was penalised for a neck roll.

But that proved to be their only score in the sunshine of the DHL Stadium.

Stormers grew into the game having successfully defended Cardiff's driving line-outs, and turnover ball led to their first try.

The ball was shipped wide to Zas who showed blistering pace to collect his own chip before passing back inside for centre Nel to coast over.

The second try was even more impressive, if a little unorthodox.

Full-back Warrick Gelant scooped up a low ball with his boot, with the kick gathered by Seabelo Senatla who flicked it inside to fellow wing Zas, who grounded at full stretch.

Cardiff could have been dealt a further blow with Rory Thornton destined for 10 minutes in the shade for a deliberate knock-on, but the officials deemed it just a penalty.

Stormers flanker Deon Fourie could also consider himself fortunate not to see a yellow card after his head clashed with Cardiff's James Botham during a tackle.

Libbok's boot once again exposing the Cardiff back line on the stroke of half-time.

He gathered his kick over the top and exchanged passes with scrum-half Herschel Jantjies before running under the posts.

Manie Libbok scored a try and kicked four conversions for Stormers

Stormers dominated after the break, as Cardiff's penalty and error count began to mount up.

Waves of attack kept coming, but Stormers took 20 minutes to find the clinical edge they had in the first half.

The next score eventually came off turnover ball, with Lloyd Williams finding himself isolated after a half-break.

Damian Willemse picked up the scraps and an excellent offload found replacement Pokomela to score.

They were over again minutes later, with athletic number eight Roos breaking a double tackle to run through unopposed.

As Cardiff heads dropped, Stormers ran riot, with a show and go from Senatla who found Pretorius in support.

The results completes a miserable weekend for Welsh rugby, with heavy losses for both Scarlets and Cardiff and the national side losing to Italy in the Six Nations.

Stormers: Warrick Gelant; Seabelo Senatla, Ruhan Nel, Damian Willemse, Leolin Zas; Manie Libbok, Herschel Jantjies; Steven Kitshoff (capt), Scarra Ntubeni, Brok Harris, Adre Smith, Marvin Orie, Deon Fourie, Hacjivah Dayimani, Evan Roos.

Replacements: Chad Solomon, Ali Vermaak, Neethling Fouche, Ernst van Rhyn, Junior Pokomela, Paul de Wet, Tim Swiel, Rikus Pretorius.

Cardiff Rugby: Matthew Morgan; Jason Harries, Max Llewellyn, Ben Thomas, Theo Cabango; Jarrod Evans, Lloyd Williams; Corey Domachowski, Kristian Dacey, Dmitri Arhip, Matthew Screech, Rory Thornton, Josh Turnbull (capt), Ellis Jenkins, James Botham.

Replacements: Keiron Assiratti, Brad Thyer, Will Davies-King, Teddy Williams, Will Boyde, Ellis Bevan, Garyn Smith, Hallam Amos.

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)

Assistants: Marius van der Westhuizen & Morné Ferreira (SARU)

TMO: Adam Jones (WRU).

• SIX NATIONS 2022: Watch the latest action on Scrum V

• SLAMMED: The story of Wales’ transformation from rugby rejects to rugby royalty