Connacht play-off hopes hit by defeat by Stormers
Ruben van Heerden is tackled by Dave Heffernan and Finlay Bealham
- Published
United Rugby Championship - Connacht v Stormers
Connacht (7) 12
Tries: Blade, Aungier Cons: Carty
Stormers (3) 16
Tries: Davids Cons: Libbok Pens: Libbok 3
Connacht's hopes of making the end-of-season United Rugby Championship play-offs and qualifying for next season's Investec Champions Cup suffered a significant setback as they lost 16-12 to the Stormers at the Sportsground.
The Irish province defended stubbornly against their dominant visitors and led 7-3 at the break with the help of Caolin Blade's try.
Angelo Davids' touchdown helped Stormers take the lead but Jack Aungier crossed as the Irish province edged 12-10 in front.
Two late Manie Libbok penalties saw the South African side claim a deserved victory to sit fifth in the table.
Connacht will need a bonus-point win away to Leinster in a fortnight's time if they are to have any chance of progressing to the URC knockout stages and even then their fate would be out of their own hands.
The Galway triumph was a first victory on Irish soil for the Stormers at the sixth attempt and effectively sealed their place in the quarter-finals.
Player-of-the-match Libbok opened the scoring with a penalty midway through the first half, the first three points of the 11 he accumulated with two further penalties and a conversion to follow.
After retiring full-back Tiernan O'Halloran was turned over having taken a penalty quickly inside the visitors' 22, Davids missed out on a blistering breakaway try when TMO Stefano Penne spotted Warrick Gelant's forward pass.
There was no denying Connacht on the half-hour mark, taking the tap option again from a penalty before scrum-half Blade ducked his way over from a ruck and Jack Carty added a well-struck conversion.
The Stormers remained try-less despite two defence-slashing runs from Damian Willemse and a late lineout maul but they were back to their clinical best with the wind at their backs in the 50th minute.
Libbok used Gelant's flick to tear up into Connacht's 22 and send the supporting Davids over, with the Stormers fly-half converting to make it 10-7.
The Stormers' indiscipline invited Connacht forward again, though, and off a maul platform, Sean Jansen and Bundee Aki carried strongly before Aungier reached over from close range.
Oisin Dowling's turnover penalty ensured the Stormers left points behind them but Libbok brilliantly nailed a 45-metre penalty to put just a point in it at 13-12.
A scrum penalty allowed the Springbok to split the posts again four minutes later and a series of knock-ons made for a frustrating finish for Connacht, whose play-off hopes hang by a thread.
Connacht: O'Halloran, Porch, Hawkshaw, Aki, Ralston, Carty, Blade, Dooley, Heffernan, Bealham, Joyce, D Murray, Prendergast, Hurley-Langton, Jansen.
Replacements: Tierney-Martin, Duggan, Aungier, Dowling, Butler, C Reilly, Forde, Cordero.
Stormers: Gelant, Hartzenberg, D du Plessis, Willemse, Davids, Libbok, Jantjies, Harris, Dweba, Malherbe, Moerat, van Heerden, Roos, Dixon, Dayimani.
Replacements: Venter, Blose, Fouche, Smith, Theunissen, Ungerer, J du Plessis, Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Referee: Federico Vedovelli (FIR)