A couple of seasons ago a 42-12 win over La Rochelle in the Investec Champions Cup would have been cause for a huge celebration for the DHL Stormers but the reality is they will leave Gqeberha feeling that they were well short of their best.
The narrative of Stormers/La Rochelle clashes, which up to this point was one win apiece and by the narrowest of margins, was thrown out of the window when it became apparent that the double Championship Cup winners had arrived at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium well short of being full strength.
In fact, they had some 19-year-olds in key positions.
As the Stormers coach John Dobson correctly put it before kick-off, that means “They’ve got nothing to lose and we have a lot to lose because we are expected to win”.
Indeed, and the win was never in doubt. But it was one of those classical situations where a team maybe finds it too easy in the first few minutes to the point that it leads to a drop in intensity or, maybe more accurately, looseness to their game.
The Stormers started like they might run up 80 points. A great cross kick from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu put wing Dylan Maart for the first try after just over two minutes had been played, and a two minutes let it be said where the Stormers already made their point physically.
That didn't take long! Dylan Maart gets on the end of a clever kick in behind to go over for the first try.
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) December 13, 2025
⛈️ 5-0 🟡⚫️ (2 mins)#STOvSR #inittogether pic.twitter.com/NDaeYZkDAj
A few minutes later the Stormers scrum, which was completely dominant again though less so the lineouts, overpowered the opposition eight on their put-in to set up a try for the other wing, Leolin Zas.
A massive shove in the first scrum and it goes wide to Leolin Zas, who finishes in style.
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) December 13, 2025
⛈️ 10-0 🟡⚫️ (8 mins)#STOvSR #inittogether pic.twitter.com/vkJCmU188o
TWO TRIES CHALKED OFF
Feinberg-Mngomezulu missed both conversions, but 10-0 in fewer minutes was a good start and momentarily it twice looked like it had become 17-0 as the Stormers made it look so easy in sending in first Ben-Jason Dixon and then the other flanker Paul de Villiers for tries that were subsequently chalked off.
The first was for a foot in touch at the start of the attack that saw Dixon go in, and the second was for a teammate being marginally ahead of De Villiers as he drove over after the attack had been set by a driving maul.
It would have frustrated the Stormers that the TMO cancelled out those tries, but at that point it didn’t look like it would matter.
Surely it was only a matter of time before the Stormers would pile on the agony and score more points?
Alas for the hosts, it took a while for them to cross the La Rochelle line again, as a plethora of errors and a rash of indiscipline that allowed the visitors to get a foothold in the game through a succession of penalties saw the French team become far more competitive.
Indeed, from around the quarter of an hour mark until halftime the Stormers, for the first time in a while, looked quite fallible, with La Rochelle coming back to dominate possession and territory.
La Rochelle broke back into the game with a converted try off a driving maul in the 27th minute to make it a six point game and the extent to which the momentum had switched was indicated by the Stormers electing to kick for posts with their next two kickable penalties.
DE VILLIERS WAS SIMPLY IMMENSE
It was those two kicks that allowed the Stormers to go to halftime with a bit of breathing space as they led by nine points (16-7) but let it be said they might not have had that cushion were it not for the interventions of the outstanding openside flank De Villiers, who was responsible for numerous turnovers and one of them was right on the Stormers line.
The flanker was a deserved Man of the Match after another seminal performance for the Cape team, and he was in the vanguard after halftime as the Stormers reasserted themselves by playing more with their dominant pack initially and sending hooker Andre-Hugo Venter over for his team’s fourth try.
Then came another soft moment as La Rochelle scored another try, but after that the Stormers were in control and won comfortably after netting the bonus point try through Maart off a move inspired by a tap and break from the pacy Cobus Reinach in the 52nd minute.
Reinach was one of a few individual standouts for the Stormers on the day, and his playing style and his strengths perfectly support the Stormers’ template.
Maart is also deserving of special mention. I am not sure how long he is with the Stormers as he is on loan from the Griquas but he looks like a keeper, and not just because of his two tries, most other aspects of his game look impressive too.
And that is said with full awareness that the Stormers should have the highly talented Suleiman Hartzenberg returning to the selection mix when they host the Lions in their first Vodacom URC derby next weekend.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu, as if it needs even to be said, was again a handful to the opposing defensive system and his rugby version of soccer’s assist would have mounted even more had he been just a trifle more accurate with some of his passing and cross kicking when his brilliant stepping and explosiveness had already put him in a good position to set up the score.
With Reinach inside him, Feinberg-Mngomezulu looks set to soar in the coming months.
You could say the same about the Stormers too, but there may have been aspects of this game, despite the margin of victory, that may have been a timely reality check.
That's eight straight wins for the Stormers 👏#STOvSR #InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/7ySInvR8MA
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) December 13, 2025
Scores
DHL Stormers 42 - Tries: Dylan Maart 2, Leolin Zas, Andre-Hugo Venter, Warrick Gelant, Marcel Theunissen; Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3; Penalties: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
La Rochelle 21 - Tries: Queintin Lespiaucq, Nika Sutidza and Nathan Bollengier; Conversions: Diego Jurd 3.