Edinburgh ship seven tries as Sean Everitt bemoans 'bread and butter' failures in defeat to Stormers

Edinburgh drop down URC standings after 43-21 defeat in Cape Town

Viliame Mata of Edingburgh Rugby on the ball during the defeat to Stormers in Cape Town. Photo by Steve Haag Sports/INPHO/Shutterstock (14399310bj)

The Cape Town heatwave may have abated but Edinburgh still found Stormers too hot to handle as they lost the first of their two-game South African mini-series.

Sean Everitt’s side had been welcomed into a 30C furnace when they touched down earlier in the week, with the mercury then mercifully dropping by 10 degrees by the time this game kicked off.

That didn’t make the experience any more comfortable, however, as the visitors shipped seven tries – including a hat-trick to Suleiman Hartzenberg – to drop from fourth to seventh in the United Rugby Championship table.

Edinburgh, who chalked up three scores of their own on rare entries into the Stormers’ 22, now head to Durban to take on the Sharks and looking to atone for this disappointing display.

“We knew the first week here was going to be tough,” said Everitt. “It’s quite a long flight when you go via Doha to get to Cape Town. It’s a massive adjustment for us, even though the guys are welcoming the South African sunshine. But we’re not going to use that as an excuse.

“We conceded four set-piece tries and that is disappointing because that's bread and butter stuff. A bonus point today would have been vital considering how tight the league is so it’s for us to get to Durban and get as many points as we can out of that game.”

Stormers were thoroughly dominant from the start, claiming the bonus point before the half-time hooter and only denied further first-half scores by some dogged Edinburgh defending. Wingers Hartzenberg and Leolin Zas did the bulk of the damage, running in a brace of tries apiece to leave the home side well in control by the interval.

Hartzenberg claimed the first two scores of the game, gathering Manie Libbok’s cross-field kick for the first and then running in the second in the corner.

His opposite wing wasn’t to be denied either. Zas’ first score was a gift after poor handling from Ben Vellacott and Ben Healy, while another slick team move presented him with his second – and Stormers’ fourth – with the clock in the red.

Edinburgh were being starved of possession but were able to capitalise on two mistakes to keep themselves within touching distance. Their first try was a special moment for debutant Jake Henry who benefited from Mark Bennett’s diligence to charge over the line.

Dan du Plessis’ kick against his own player teed up Edinburgh’s second, Jamie Hodgson winning the subsequent line-out and feeding Bill Mata who dragged would-be tacklers over the whitewash with him. The visitors needed further acts of generosity from their hosts if they were to threaten an upset but instead the majority of the traffic continued in the direction of the Edinburgh posts.

Hartzenberg soon had his hat-trick, picked out by Evan Roos before again scoring in the corner, with Stormers pulling Edinburgh repeatedly out of position with ease.

With the backs having garnered all of the glory until that point, Roos showed that the forwards can play a bit too, the No. 8 bursting free from the line-out maul to claim Stormers’ sixth try.

Paddy Harrison got Edinburgh’s third score to briefly break up the hosts’ dominance only for Roos to then claim his second and Stormers’ seventh to round off a breathless encounter.