The Stormers needed a late try from replacement lock Adre Smith to beat the Lions 29-24 in the final United Rugby Championship round-robin clash at Cape Town Stadium this season on Saturday.
The victory secured the Capetonians fifth place on the log, while the Lions, ninth, again missed out on a playoffs spot.
Coach Ivan “Cash” van Rooyen’s Pride went out with a bang, though, and could have easily scored what would have been a famous win innie Kaap.
But trailing 24-22 with six minutes left and down to 14 men – after Angelo Davids was red-carded for a dangerous tackle on Lions flyhalf Sanele Nohamba in the 50th minute that sparked a gerollery that saw Lions replacement centre Marius Louw get a yellow card – the Stormers gave their fans something to cheer about when Smith dotted down from close quarters after a rolling maul.
Earlier in the clash, the Stormers scored the first try, with hooker Andre-Hugo Venter crossing the whitewash after a Jordan Hendrikse penalty kick opened the scoring for the Lions.
After Hendrikse added another to make it 7-6, Stormers midfielder Wandisile Simelane gave his ex-teammates the lead in the 19th minute when his clearance kick from five metres out was charged down, with the Lions then taking the ball wide for Francke Horn to score in the corner (11-7).
But the Stormers struck back five minutes later when Davids was sent over by Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (12-11).
The seesaw battle continued when former Sevens star JC Pretorius powered his way over in the corner, with the boot of Hendrikse stretching the Lions’ lead to 21-12 at the break.
A Manie Libbok penalty made it 21-15 shortly after the restart, before Davids got his marching orders.
Stormers No.8 Evan Roos then brilliantly stepped his way past Lions veteran Willem Alberts to score a superb solo try, before Hendrikse added another penalty to make it 24-22.
That’s when Smith entered the fray to book the Stormers a ticket away to Scotland’s Glasgow Warriors in this week’s quarterfinals.