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Stormers crash out as Chiefs soar

Cape Town - The difference in class was there for all to see as the Stormers crashed out of the Super Rugby quarter-finals on Saturday night, going down 60-21 to the Chiefs at Newlands.

In the end the visitors scored eight tries to the Stormers' three.

The result means that next weekend's semi-finals will see the Hurricanes hosting the Chiefs while the Lions will host the Highlanders.

The Stormers had a shaky start to the match and were dealt a massive blow when Siya Kolisi was replaced by Rynhardt Elstadt just a couple of minutes in with what seemed like an ankle injury. 

Damian McKenzie put the Chiefs 3-0 ahead soon after that with a penalty when Pieter-Steph du Toit left his feet at a ruck. 

The hosts, though, were on the attack immediately after the restart and their desire to take the game to the New Zealanders was visible.

As the 28 972-strong Newlands crowd got behind their side, an exciting Stormers movement saw Elstadt knocked into touch 5m short.

But the Chiefs made a mess of their own ball, with Eben Etzebeth gathering at the back of the resulting lineout before Vincent Koch crashed over a couple of phases later to put his side ahead.

But then came the Chiefs masterclass.

They hit back just four minutes later when a sustained period of attack saw Sam McNicol finish off down the right. 

The conversion from McKenzie was good, and the visitors held a 10-7 lead after 15 minutes.

Alarm bells rang for the hosts just two minutes later when scrumhalf Brad Weber scored under the posts following a counter attack that had all too easily drifted through a seemingly absent Stormers defence.

17-7 down, the Stormers were rocked. 

They went further behind in comical fashion on 25 minutes. 

Under pressure, Taute had a kick from inside his own in-goal area charged down by Aaron Cruden. 

Huw Jones looked to have it covered for the Stormers, but he somehow lost the ball over his head while trying to dot down for the 22m dropout. 

Chiefs No 8 Tom Sanders was on hand for the easiest of tries, McKenzie converted and at 24-7 down the Stormers looked buried.

Another McKenzie penalty then made it 27-7.

The Stormers might have taken half time at that point, so one-sided had things become, but the difference in class was made abundantly clear once more on 34 minutes. 

A simple move through the hands saw Chiefs left wing James Lowe appear out of space on the touchline. 

Lowe stabbed a kick ahead, ran around Taute, and was first to the ball to score the Chiefs' fourth of the evening. 

McKenzie's excellent conversion from out wide made it 34-7.

The Stormers got one back just before the break after a patient build-up close to the Chiefs line - Koch barging over for his second. 

It meant that Robbie Fleck's men went into the break 34-14 down, with a 20-point mountain to climb in the second half.

They needed to strike first, but it was not to be.

After winning a scrum off Stormers ball, the Chiefs drifted left and moved it through the hands where McKenzie was on hand to finish off the move. 

He missed his conversion, but at 39-14 the match was over as a contest. 

As the benches came into play, the Stormers kept fighting and they would get their reward through Nizaam Carr. 

Brandon Thomson converted to make it 39-21, but the damage was already done.

To make matters worse, the Chiefs scored three more tries in the final five minutes.

First, they showed that they are more than just a ball-in-hand side when they dominated a rolling maul in the closing stages to score their sixth of the night before Tevita Koloamatangi got the Chiefs' seventh.

Then, in the final movement, replacement scrumhalf Tawera Kerr-Barlow scored the Chiefs' eighth as the Stormers' 2016 campaign came to an end in embarrassing fashion.

Scorers

Stormers 21 (14)

Tries: Vincent Koch (2), Nizaam Carr

Conversions: Robert du Preez (2), Brandon Thomson

Chiefs 60 (34)

Tries: Sam McNicol, Brad Weber, Tom Sanders, James Lowe, Damian McKenzie, Hika Elliot, Tevita Koloamatangi, Tawera Kerr-Barlow

Conversions: Damian McKenzie (7)

Penalties: McKenzie (2)

Teams

Stormers

15 Jaco Taute, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Schalk Burger (co-captain), 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Ezebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Alistair Vermaak.

Substitutes: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Frans Malherbe (co-captain), 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Rynhardt Elstadt, 21 Nizaam Carr, 22 Louis Schreuder, 23 Brandon Thomson

Chiefs

15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Sam McNicol, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Stephen Donald, 11 James Lowe, 10 Aaron Cruden (co-captain), 9 Brad Weber, 8 Tom Sanders, 7 Sam Cane (co-captain), 6 Taleni Seu, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Dominic Bird, 3 Atu Moli, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Kane Hames

Substitutes: 16 Hika Elliot, 17 Siegfried Fisi’ihoi, 18 Mitchell Graham, 19 Tevita Koloamatangi, 20 Lachlan Boshier, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Toni Pulu, 23 Shaun Stevenson

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