Draw in Dublin: No separating Stormers, Leinster in URC's battle of the heavyweights

It was a bitter-sweet result for the South Africans. 

FT | Leinster 22-22 Stormers

Leinster had won all 15 of their league matches this season to command top spot on the URC standings heading into this clash, which leaves the Stormers as the only side in the competition not to have been beaten by coach Leo Cullen's charges. 

Having manufactured a 17-0 lead, however, the Stormers looked poised to secure a massive win, but the Leinster machine grew stronger and more clinical as the game progressed. 

By the end, Leinster - fielding a largely second-string team after Six Nations duty last weekend - were comfortably the better side, and the Stormers needed a late try from Clayton Blommetjies to secure a share of the spoils. 

The Stormers, loaded with returning Springboks Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, Marvin Orie and Damian Willemse in their starting line-up, clearly wanted this one badly. 

They were physical from the get-go, operating with precision and intent with ball in hand as they dominated the early exchanges. 

Manie Libbok, after kicking the Stormers into an early 3-0 lead, capitalised on that momentum when he dazzled with a trademark dummy pass to his right before cutting inside to score the game's first try on 20 minutes. 

The visitors were 10-0 up, with the Dublin wind at their backs, looking every bit a championship outfit. 

Leinster then got back into the contest through meticulous phase play, but when a pass went astray on 33 minutes, Libbok was again the playmaker as he pounced on the ball and set off from deep inside his own territory. 

The Stormers No 10 did not have the pace to finish off the score himself, but he was composed in off-loading to right wing Suleiman Hartzenberg, who made no mistake. 

Suddenly, the