40' HALF TIME: STORMERS 10-15 ULSTER PENALTY, ULSTER, COONEY, 10-15: Cooney slots a penalty kick to give Ulster a five-point lead at the break. 41' A sloppy breakdown gifts Ulster a penalty that they use to drive the Stormers back to their 22. Libbok restarts the match for the Stormers. 42' Ulster knock on in attack and the Stormers have the scrum feed just outside their 22. 44' Moore kicks straight out and the Stormers will have the lineout feed close to the halfway line. 46' Ulster win a crucial turnover to scupper another Stormers attack and they are happy to boot the ball back into the Stormers half.
22' Ulster get a letoff as Fourie doesn't release after a tackle and they can move play back towards halfway. 23' Kitshoff gets over the ball and can't be moved and the Stormers can peg Ulster back into their 22 again. 24' It's knocked on after the lineout and Ulster have a scrum to set them up to clear their lines. 26' Burns opens up the Stormers with two brilliant chip-kicks but Fourie gets back to make a crucial intervention and they clear but only as far as their 22. 28' TRY, ULSTER, MOORE, 10-10: Ulster work a backline move that shreds the Stormers and Moore will sprint in to score. 29' CONVERSION, ULSTER, COONEY, 10-12: Ulster take the lead with the conversion.
10' Libbok is caught in possession on halfway and Ulster get over him winning the penalty which they use to set up a lineout just outside the Stormers 22. 12' Dayimani gets the lineout steal and the Stormers carry it up towards halfway before losing it at the breakdown, however Ulster then knock on and the Stormers have a scrum feed about twelve metres from halfway. 13' The Stormers get caught behind the gain line but Ulster are done for offside which allows Libbok kicks right up onto the Ulster 22. 14' TRY, STORMERS, ROOS, 10-0: The Stormers pull off a beauty of a set move from the lineout and slick hands between Jantjies and Roos lead to another score. 16' Gelant thumps a kick up towards halfway after the restart and there will be an Ulster lineout.
31' Only a knock on prevents Ulster from pushing into the Stormers half again after Balacoun did well to win the high ball on a hoist. 32' Moore marks it before moving six or seven metres in-field to kick it which is blatant cheating. 34' Libbok drills a penalty kick deep into the Ulster 22 to set up another attacking lineout for the Stormers. 35' The Stormers maul is stopped short and then their attack fizzles out as its lost forward in contact. Burns clears up towards halfway. 37' The Stormers quickly get back into the Ulster 22 but then hit a roadblock and Libbok's drop goal attempt drifts wide. 38' Ulster's captain is chewing the referee's ear off during a stoppage in play which leads to a TMO review but no foul play is found. 39' It is now Ulster who move play up to the Stormers 22 with a penalty kick from Burns.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Ernst van Rhyn, 21 Nama Xaba, 22 Godlen Masimla, 23 Sacha Mngomezulu. The Stormers ended the league rounds with 464 points for and 311 against, a 153-point swing. Ulster had a tougher go of it, scoring 412 points and conceding 297, a positive points difference of 115 points. But, as they say in the classics… anything can happen in a semi-final! The Stormers and Ulster both won 12 of their 18 fixtures, but the game-changer for the Stormers was picking up two draws, which ensured they finished in second place and gained the valuable home-ground semi-final.
RECAP | Gelant's dramatic late score, Libbok's pressure kick to send Stormers into URC final | Sport0' Seabelo Senatla leads out the Stormers on the occasion of his 50th match for the franchise. 0' The referee for his clash is Mike Adamson, and his two assistants are Sam Grove-White and Adam Jones. Ben Whitehouse will be our TMO. Ulster are unchanged from the side that knocked Munster out in last week's quarterfinals, and they will be captained by lock Iain Henderson.
48' Moore pops his free-kick into touch just outside the Ulster 22, might have gone for more distance. 49' Roos knocks on as the Stormers approach the Ulster 22 and the frustration is really starting to show. 50' Quick as a flash Ulster come out and Masimla has to carry into touch close to the line. 51' The Stormers stop the Ulster maul and win the scrum five from their own line. 53' A great kick by Libbok finds touch ten metres from the hallway line where Ulster will have the lineout feed. 56' A bizarre call from Adamson gives Ulster a big chance to put the game beyond the Stormers. They set up another lineout with their ill-gotten penalty kick.
Libbok has been brilliant out of hand but he shanks his kick at goal and it stays 10-0. 17' Ulster have a lineout deep in the Stormers 22 after Moerat mistimes the sack of the Ulster maul. 18' TRY, ULSTER, BALACOUNE, 10-5: Balacoune gets in at the corner despite the protests that the pass to him was forward. 20' Burns can't convert either and it stays 10-5 in the favour of the Stormers. 21' Willemse drives Ulster deep into their 22 with a great kick.