GEVAARLIK: Yaqeen Ahmed dotted down and kicked four conversions on Saturday

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THE Stormers made a step up to deliver a more polished second-half performance in their valuable 33-7 home win over Ulster in their round-five United Rugby Championship clash at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

The win ensured the Kapenaars maintain their good home run in the early stages of the cross-hemisphere competition, but they would have been far from happy with a patchy first-half performance. They did however improve in the second half to see them register an important bonus-point success.

Ulster were first to score when David McCann barged over to hand them a 7-0 lead, which they held until seven minutes before halftime, when JD Schickerling forced his way over next to the poles to open the hosts’ account and level the scores.

KWAAI: Paul de Villiers

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Shortly after the restart Springbok flank Paul de Villiers scored an opportunistic try when he charged down a kick to dot down, allowing the Stormers to take a narrow 12-7 lead into the break.

Five minutes into the second half, Evan Roos scored a jitz solo try when he ran 60m as the home team built on their momentum to establish a 19-7 lead.

Junior Bok flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed, who was included in the Bok squad for their Nations Championship tour, then demonstrated his skill and composure to find captain Ruhan Nel with a pin-point cross-kick out wide.

The experienced midfielder displayed kwaai arial skills to snatch the ball under pressure and went over for the hosts’ fourth of the afternoon.

Ahmed then ran a strong, flat line to take a pass from former Junior Bok Haashim Pead to dive over as the Stormers secure another vital home triumph.

Stormers 33 (12) - Tries: JD Schickerling, Paul de Villiers, Evan Roos, Ruhan Nel, Yaqeen Ahmed Conversions: Ahmed (4)

Ulster 7 (7) - Try: Dave McCan Conversion: Jack Murphy