Stormers tame Lions

The Stormers kicked off their 2010 Super 14 campaign with a comfortable, if not dull win over the Lions in Johannesburg.

Jaque Fourie came back to haunt his former club as the South Africa centre and Joe Pietersen scored tries for the visitors en route to a 26-13 victory.

The Lions managed to outscore their opponents 7-0 in the second-half via a Michael Killian score, but the hosts' desperate attempt to rescue something from the game was in vein as the Stormers secured their first win of the season.

In what proved to be a largely scrappy affair at Coca-Cola Park, the Stormers slowly began to dominate the contest after an early exchange of penalties between Pietersen and Earl Rose.

Scrappy

However, their two major signings - Bryan Habana and Fourie - were largely anonymous as three more penalties from their full-back stretched the lead to nine points after 27 minutes.

The Lions continued their struggle to carve out any real openings, with their inexperience also counting against them as they conceded six penalties to harm their cause.

But Dick Muir's men remained tight on defence, offering hardly any try-scoring opportunities to their opponents.

They managed to pull back a penalty on the half-hour mark when Schalk Burger was penalised for being off-side and Springbok utility back Rose made no mistake with his 35-yard strike.

Dividends

But the constant Stormers pressure finally paid dividends as the floodgates began to open on the brink of half time.

First, Pietersen was sent on his way after being set up by Juan de Jongh and Habana's exchange of passes, followed by a second try which came via strong hold-up play by Andries Bekker that allowed Dewaldt Duvenage to put Fourie through.

Both were converted by Pietersen, handing his side a 26-6 lead at the break.

Muir made sweeping changes at half time and was almost rewarded with his side camping on the Stormers line for eight minutes upon the resumption.

But they were constantly thwarted by the defence of the Cape Town side and saw the chance go begging.

That seemed to break their spirit as the game began to amble on with the Lions now doing most of the defending.

However, a lifeline arrived in the 62nd minute when Heinke van der Merwe popped a pass to Killian just inside the opposing half and the replacement winger found some space to race away to score under the post.

Rose converted to bring his side to within 13 of Alastair Coetzee's team, but the Lions never really threatened any further as they slipped to defeat.