Mngomezulu contributes 22 points as Stormers put fighting Zebre away with bonus-point win

Sacha Mngomezulu contributed 22 points as the Stormers blew Zebre away 37-20 in their United Rugby Championship (URC) game in Italy on Saturday.

Mngomezulu's full bag of tricks was on display as he defended well, kicked his points over and was finally rewarded with a try of his own in the last two minutes of the game.

It was Mngomezulu, not Manie Libbok, nor Damian Willemse who had the duty of finding touch and converting penalties.

The Stormers were mean in the opening 10 minutes as they suffocated Zebre and they had seven points to show for it. It would have been more had an attacking lineout not been well contested by the home team five metres from their tryline.

After an initial flurry of activity in the opening 15 minutes, the game found itself played at the whistle of Irish referee Eoghan Cross. 

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He was called on to adjudicate the usual knock-on, scrum call and outright penalty as both sides tried to get a foothold on proceedings.

Openside flank Junior Pokomela was influential in getting the visiting Stormers on the board on both occasions for the travelling Capetonians.

He marched his way over early in the contest, then, pulled the strings to ensure prop Neethling Fouche went over. The No 6 escaped a rolling maul in the 34th minute and from the formed ruck, Fouche was an arriving option, a few metres from the tryline and he dotted down for a comfortable 17-0 lead.

Zebre's scrumhalf Chris Cook nipped over for the hosts soon afterwards to register the home side's first contribution on the board in the first half. His try, converted by flyhalf Tiff Eden, left his side 10 points behind at the break.

In the 20 minutes after half-time and 60th minute, both