Stormers take down 'Tahs
The Stormers made it two Super 14 wins from two after a comfortable 27-6 victory over the Waratahs in Cape Town.
Last Updated: 20/02/10 7:46pm
The Stormers made it two Super 14 wins from two after a comfortable 27-6 victory over the Waratahs in Cape Town.
Bryan Habana, on his home debut for his new franchise, scored two tries early in the second half, adding to an earlier Francois Louw effort to help settle nerves after a largely uncomfortable opening period.
They now join the Bulls, Hurricanes and Chiefs with 100 per cent records following the opening two rounds.
After coming out strong from the kick-off, the visitors wasted two early chances despite camping out on the Stormers' goal-line for the first six minutes.
When the home side finally managed to get down the other end, they were awarded a penalty, but Joe Pietersen hooked his 11th-minute effort wide to the left.
The deadlock was finally broken towards then end of the opening quarter when Berrick Barnes slotted over from 35 yards out after the Cape side were caught offside.
The hosts then suffered a major blow when captain Schalk Burger had to go off with what looked like a hamstring injury - Andries Bekker taking over the armband from his South Africa team-mate.
Lazy
But the absence of skipper hardly seemed to have affected them as Louw picked up the ball at the base of a driving Stormers pack and barged his way over for the opening try on the half-hour mark.
Pietersen put over the conversion for his first points of the night and then added two more penalties to send his side into a 13-3 half-time lead.
There was plenty of action after the restart with Barnes first bringing the deficit back to 10 after Duane Vermeulen was penalised for holding on in the tackle.
Then came two Habana tries - his first in front of the Newlands faithful since his off-season move from the Bulls.
He created the first one single-handedly, capitalising on a lazy attempted clearance when he charged down Kurtley Beale's kick and ran over for an easy score.
The Springbok winger then dropped his shoulder and turned in an excellent change of pace after a pass from Ricky Januarie as he sailed through the visiting defence for his second of the night.
Both efforts were converted by Pietersen, which helped stretch the lead to 21 points with 20 minutes to play.
And the scores remained that way until the final whistle handing Alistair Coetzee's team a straightforward win.
