Nel stars as Stormers sweep 13-man London Irish aside after two red cards

The Stormers scored four tries to defeat London Irish 28-14 at the Brentford Community Stadium in the Champions Cup on Sunday, in a game marred by two red cards for the hosts.

Ill discipline was hot on the menu as the hosts suffered a yellow over and above the two reds, with the Stormers also contributing their own yellow card.

On the bright side, though, outside centre Ruhan Nel put together a sterling performance in midfield, and dominated the contest, especially in the first half.

AS IT HAPPENED | London Irish v Stormers

Wing Angelo Davids might have landed the first meaty blow when the Stormers pounced on an Irish attacking error, Nel charging down, picking up and sprinting through.

Nel fed SA Sevens speedster Davids, who had the line beckoning, but the wing couldn’t control the pass after seven minutes.

But the Stormers eventually opened the scoring first through a 14th-minute penalty try from a 5m lineout drive that Irish couldn’t stop. The Irish suffered a yellow card to No 6 Jose Luis Gonzalez as well, which would bite them big time minutes later.

Drama ensued in the 17th-minute when Davids thought he scored after another Nel midfield break. But the final ball to the wing from flyhalf Manie Libbok went forward.

However, Libbok was caught in a head-on-head collision as he was making the pass, which led to a London Irish fullback Ben Loader red card.

The home crowd didn’t like it but those head contact red cards have been dotted all over the Champions Cup this weekend, with Cobus Wiese (Sale Sharks), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs) and Jack O’Donoghue (Munster) getting sent off.

The hosts were down to 13 players for more than six minutes. The cost to the Stormers was that Springbok Libbok didn’t make it back out of the tunnel