Ulster's quest to secure home URC final ends in agony as Stormers strike at the death

Ulster's quest to secure a home final in the United Rugby Championship ended in heartache and agony as the Stormers won a tense semi-final at the death in Cape Town.

It looked as if Dan McFarland’s men had teed up a showpiece date with the Bulls in Belfast next Saturday thanks to first-half tries from Robert Baloucoune and Stewart Moore.

But the Stormers, who were reduced to 10 men when Adre Smith was red carded in the 71st minute, won it with a converted try from Warrick Gelant in the 85th minute.

Stormers vs Ulster LIVE score updates from the United Rugby Championship semi-final

Gelant’s touchdown in the corner levelled the scores at 15-15 and Manie Libbok stepped up to dissect the posts with the resulting conversion to make it 17-15.

Ulster CEO Jonny Petrie summed up the immediate post-match mood when he tweeted: “Absolutely gutted.”

Head coach McFarland told Premier Sports: "Ultimately when we look at it, we didn't deserve to win that game.

"The third quarter was our opportunity to put the game to bed and we turned the ball over so many times.

"I actually always felt they (the Stormers) were going to end up winning because in a semi-final you can't afford to be so profligate with the ball.

"But fair play to our lads, there's a lot of character in there and we didn't stop fighting. It's disappointing but I'm proud of their effort."

Ulster got off to a scratchy start and trailed 10-0 after only 14 minutes thanks to early tries from Stormers hooker JJ Kotze and Evan Roos.

Kotze bulldozed over the line from a driving line-out in the fourth minute before Roos, one of South African rugby’s emerging stars, added a second 10 minutes later.

A slick training ground move off the line-out saw Roos and Herschel Jantjies