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Cape Town - A yellow card on the stroke of half-time for a high tackle by skipper Siya Kolisi proved costly as the Stormers crashed to a third straight tour defeat to the Reds in Brisbane on Friday.
As it happened: Reds v Stormers
Kolisi's 10 minutes off the field was decisive with the Reds getting two touchdowns in his absence on their way to a 24-12 win. The Stormers' pain was made worse by three disallowed tries.
All the points at Suncorp Stadium came in the second half after a scoreless opening 40 minutes - the first time this has happened in Super Rugby since 2013.
Both teams were coming off defeats after the Reds were thumped by the Rebels last weekend and the Stormers crashed to the Blues in Auckland.
"I spoke about starting well (in the second-half), we didn't do that last week and it was something we wanted to do today," said Reds captain Samu Kerevi. "I'm really proud of the boys."
Kolisi admitted his yellow card was a deciding factor.
"We started well and created a lot of opportunities but obviously the yellow card made a huge difference," he said. "That was the turning point."
The Stormers, who rested Springboks forwards Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit, had the early momentum and Damian Willemse thought he had the first points when he got under a box kick, only to dot down on the dead ball line.
There was more agony minutes later when winger Sergeal Petersen dived over for a try, only for replays to show he stepped out of play just before grounding the ball.
There were few other opportunities before Kolisi was penalised for holding on at the breakdown seconds before half-time.
With an extra man at the restart, Kerevi and Brandon Paenga-Amosa scored tries and Bryce Hegarty booted the conversions.
When Kolisi returned, the Stormers pulled one back through Kobus van Dyk, only for Reds scrum-half Tate McDermott to catch them napping soon after, taking a quick penalty and darting over.
Damian De Allende got a late consolation for the Stormers but another disallowed try, from Kolisi, summed up their night.
The Reds picked up four points for their victory and moved to third in the Australian Conference and ninth in the Overall log.
The Stormers, who lost their opening tour matches to the Hurricanes and Blues, left empty-handed. They stayed fourth in the SA Conference, but slipped to 10th in the Overall standings.
In next weekend's Round 9 action, the Reds travel to Pretoria to face the Bulls (Saturday, April 13 at 17:15), while the Stormers conclude their Australasia with a match against the Rebels in Melbourne (Friday, April 12 at 11:45 SA time).
Scorers:
Reds
Tries: Samu Kerevi, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Tate McDermott
Conversions: Bryce Hegarty (3)
Penalty: Hegarty
Stormers
Tries: Kobus van Dyk, Damian de Allende
Conversion: Jean-Luc du Plessis
Teams:
Reds
15 Hamish Stewart, 14 Filipo Daugunu, 13 Sefa Naivalu, 12 Samu Kerevi (captain), 11 Jack Hardy, 10 Bryce Hegarty, 9 Tate McDermott, 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 Liam Wright, 6 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 5 Harry Hockings, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Ruan Smith, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 1 JP Smith
Substitutes: 16 Alex Mafi, 17 Harry Hoopert, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Angus Blyth, 20 Fraser McReight, 21 Moses Sorovi, 22 Duncan Paia’aua, 23 Isaac Lucas
Stormers
15 Damian Willemse, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Dillyn Leyds, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Justin Phillips, 8 Jaco Coetzee, 7 Kobus van Dyk, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Chris van Zyl, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Corne Fourie
Substitutes:16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Michael Kumbirai, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 Juarno Augustus, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Joshua Stander, 23 SP Marais
