Ahmed-inspired Stormers see off Ulster
· The South African
An outstanding all-round performance by Yaqeen Ahmed lifted the Stormers to an ultimately commanding 33-7 win against Irish giants Ulster on a perfect Saturday afternoon in Cape Town.
On a day that could have gone horribly wrong for the Stormers , the Cape side overcame what looked like a first-half a self-destruction mission to clinch a four-try bonus-point victory that provisionally lifts them up to second in the URC standing (ahead of the Bulls, Leinster and Edinburgh).
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To put this contest into perspective, the Stormers had the better of Ulster in almost every facers of the game as they exerted dominance across the board. Ahmed and Markus Muller, the two Stormers rookies who received Springbok call-ups earlier this week, had Ulster’s defence on the ropes with their running lines and line breaks. The duo’s exuberance of youth was on full display.
However, poor handling led to a number of squandered scoring opportunities inside the strike zone and before long, Ulster took the lead against the run of play. That said, it was a contest for about 30 minutes before the Stormers finally pulled themselves together. And from there it was one-way traffic until the end.
FIRST HALF RECAP: StoRMERS SERVE AS THEIR OWN WORSE ENEMIES
It would have been a nervous John Dobson watching from the coach’s box as his team failed to settle into rhythm. They produced the gain-line dominance, the line-breaks, the offloads, the territorial supremacy, the set-piece dominance, aerial ascendancy; they produced everything except the finishing touches.
By contrast, Ulster scored the opening try of the game at the first chance of asking. Sensing that – despite their supremacy – this match holds the potential to derail horribly, the Stormers came alive late in the first half.
In an action packed seven minutes before the interval, JD Schickerling crashed over from close quarters to draw the home side level on the scoreboard, the Stormers lost in-form winger Leolin Zas with what appears to be a serious knee-injury, and bagged a fortuitous touchdown when Paul de Villiers’ was on hand to charge down and score from an Ulster clearance kick inside the 22.
SECOND HALF RECAP: ULSTER HAVE NO ANSWER FOR THE CAPE TIDE
The second stanza was equal parts sluggish and outstanding. Defensively the Stormers were at their very best, repelling multiple attempts on their own tryline. And in attack, they were dazzling at times and infuriatingly erratic at others.
When Ahmed pounced on a loose ball and transferred possession to his inside man Cobus Reinach, Evan Roos was on hand to take the final pass and scuttle downfield to score a runaway try.
That was in the 46th minute. And from that moment, there was to be no more points scored until the last 10 minutes of the game. With the scoreboard at 19-7 and the game still very much handing in the balance, Ahmed showed a level of maturity beyond his years and experience as he took control of the game.
With Ulster’s defence stubbornly denying the Stormers close to the tryline, the 20-year-old executed a perfect kick-pass for captain Ruhan Nel to latch onto and score in the right hand corner; before fighting his way through numerous would-tacklers for a self-converted touchdown to wrapped up the game and the result for the Stormers.