Cardiff 30-24 Stormers: Rhys Priestland masterclass helps Blue and Blacks stun the defending champions

Rhys Priestland was the star of the show as Cardiff stunned the URC defending champions Stormers 30-24 on Saturday night.

The Blue and Blacks had to deal with a lengthy injury list that included Lions Josh Navidi, Liam Williams, Josh Adams and Taulupe Faletau. But Priestland put on a masterclass, scoring 20 points and setting up two tries.

The fly-half opened the scoring with two penalties inside the first 16 minutes and Theo Cabango livened up the crowd with a brilliant try shortly after.

The hosts forced an error with a high ball around the halfway line and Priestland went to the boot again. He seemed to be going for a 50:22 when he spiralled one deep into the Stormers’ half but it sat up beautifully for speedster Cabango to race onto and score, giving his side an early 11-0 lead.

The Stormers had fired some warning shots, though, with breaks from Dan du Plessis and No.8 Hacjivah Dayimani. It was the trusty driving maul that charged over the line in the 22nd minute, carrying flanker Nama Xaba with it in a show of pure South African power. Manie Libbok converted.

And they were soon ahead. Leolin Zas beat Jason Harries to a bouncing ball on the far side and the winger handed off a weak tackle from Tomos Williams to score a brilliant solo try.

Shortly after the half hour mark, Dayimani was sent to the sin bin for a head-on-head collision with Kristian Dacey, the Cardiff hooker left the field and did not return. Priestland knocked over his third penalty of the half and the scores we level at the break.

Cardiff retook the lead early in the second half and, once again, their No.10 was the architect. He dropped a delicate cross-kick into the arms of Jason Harries, who rode the tackle of Clayton Blommetjies to dot down in the