Cardiff reached the United Rugby Championship play-offs for the first time in their history on Saturday after beating the DHL Stormers 22-16 at Cardiff Arms Park. The win also secured Champions Cup rugby for next season and lifted Cardiff to fourth in the league table for the time being.
A crowd of 10,143 saw Cardiff outscore the Stormers by four tries to one in a match that swung early and then settled into a test of patience. Liam Belcher was yellow-carded after four minutes, and the visitors took advantage almost immediately when Adre Smith scored and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted. Cardiff hit back once Belcher returned from the sin bin, levelling the scores with a converted try before taking the lead again on 21 minutes after a move that went through around 25 pairs of hands over five phases.
Jacob Beetham scored two tries for Cardiff, while Tom Bowen and Ioan Lloyd added one each. Taine Basham was named Player of the Match after a performance that helped carry Cardiff through the pressure of a tense afternoon at the Arms Park. The result was built against the odds, with Cardiff making five changes from the previous weekend’s defeat away to Glasgow and doing so without around 12 players, including Taulupe Faletau, Mason Grady, Alex Mann, Harri Millard, Aled Davies and Teddy Williams.
The Stormers were described as close to full strength, which made Cardiff’s response harder to dismiss. Cardiff still had to absorb an early setback, stay connected after the yellow card and find enough precision to turn territory into tries. They did that well enough to take the points and leave the ground with a place in the play-offs secured, while waiting for the remaining final-round league matches to learn their quarter-final opponents.
