Late drama as Stormers snatch entertaining draw with Ulster

The Stormers endured a nightmare opening to the contest as they lost Springbok Damian Willemse, who was forced off with a facial injury inside the first minute. And matters quickly worsened when former Blitzbok speedster Werner Kok crossed out wide.

But the visitors bounced back. Prop Ntuthuko Mchunu burst through the defensive line with a powerful carry before offloading for Evan Roos for the try.

Ulster captain Iain Henderson was sent to the sin bin for a croc-roll tackle on veteran flank Deon Fourie, who had just won a turnover. Fourie was clearly in distress as he limped from the field, and after further review by the bunker officials, Henderson's punishment was upgraded to a 20-minute red card.

Flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu sliced through for their second try before adding the conversion himself, and he later slotted a penalty to stretch the visitors' lead ten points after 22 minutes.

Ulster regrouped before halftime and struck back through Kok, who grabbed his second try of the evening. The hosts carried that momentum into the closing stages of the half and edged ahead for the first time when winger Zac Ward dotted down for a converted score, sending Ulster into the sheds with a 21-17 lead.

Ulster hit first in the second stanza via fullback Michael Lowry, but the men from the Cape refused to give up. Scrumhalf Imad Khan sniped over for their third try to narrow the gap before Feinberg-Mngomezulu produced another moment of brilliance, dancing through the defence for his second try, putting his team five points up.

Kok then completed a superb hat-trick to level matters again before Ulster nosed ahead through replacement prop Eric O'Sullivan. With five minutes remaining, it appeared the home side had done enough to seal victory.

But there was late drama. Zas went over in the corner and referee Andrea Piardi initially ruled the winger held up, but after reviewing the footage, he overturned the decision and determined that Nathan Doak had made head contact with his shoulder in the tackle attempt. A penalty try was awarded, allowing the Stormers to snatch a dramatic draw at the death. 

READ MORE: Djokovic suffers shock first-round exit in Rome as Prizmic stuns former champion