The Stormers squad were put through a mixed hit-out in sweltering conditions on Varsity Day at Florida Park in Ravensmead on Saturday.
An extended 28-man squad was tested in four 20-minute games, which made up their first pre-season outing of the year in front of a vibrant and enthusiastic crowd.
Maties, UCT, CPUT and the WP XV made up of local club players all put up a spirited fight, which made for interesting viewing throughout the day.
Stormers 10-5 CPUT
Wing Sihle Njezula got on the scoreboard early on and hooker Schalk Erasmus followed up with a maul try in sweltering conditions.
The free-running CPUT scored one of their own against the run of play and showed that they are a significant threat on the counter-attack.
Stormers 10-15 WP XV
Five tries in an action-packed 20 minutes as the local club players gave absolutely everything in the heat of the day.
There were tries from Stormers scrumhalf Deon Carstens and centre Cornel Smit, but they were outscored by the WP XV, with wing Sinethemba Mapaqa from Hamiltons, Jayden Hanlso from Tygerberg and No 8 Joel Paarwater from UWC all crossing the whitewash in a spirited display.
Stormers 5-0 UCT
With the wind starting to play more of a role at Florida Park towards the end of the day, the DHL Stormers had their defence tested against UCT.
A break from fullback Abner van Reenen set up field position for a maul try in the corner from hooker Schalk Erasmus.
While UCT enjoyed most of possession, the DHL Stormers defence held out well under pressure.
Stormers 10-5 Maties
The Stormers started on the front foot and the pressure on the Stellenbosch side told as Leolin Zas grabbed an intercept to race away.
Maties got over for a try of their own when Stormers prop Neethling Fouche was shown a yellow card, but the Stormers took control of the final stages, with centre Matt Moore crashing over the line for the final five-pointer of the day.
Stormers Varsity Day results:
Maties 15-10 CPUT
Stormers 10-5 CPUT
WP XV 15-10 Stormers
UCT 15-5 WP XV
Maties 10-5 UCT
WP XV 25-0 Maties
WP XV 0-0 CPUT
UCT 15-0 CPUT
Stormers 5-0 UCT
Stormers 10-5 Maties
