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The Stormers were made to sweat for their 39-26 Super Rugby win over the Hurricanes in their opening match of the season.

The Stormers were made to sweat for their 39-26 Super Rugby win over the Hurricanes in their opening match of the season at Newlands on Saturday night.

Although the Stormers held the upper hand for sustained passages of play, they were never able to convincingly impose themselves on the match.

Their pressure, however, caused the Hurricanes to buckle at the end when they surrendered 10 points in the dying stages of the match.

The home side's only regret would have been Joe Pietersen's disallowed try on the stroke of time, since it would have given them a bonus point.

The Stormers charged into the early lead when winger Gio Aplon weaved his magic with a dummy pass which gave him a clear passage to score the first try of the match. Fullback Joe Pietersen added the conversion to give the hosts a 7-0 lead.

Stormers skipper Schalk Burger left the field in the 14th minute with a knee injury, which was serious enough for him to be substituted by Siya Kolisi.

Referee Marius Jonker kept firm control on proceedings and in a 17-minute passage of play he awarded several penalties, which resulted in six points for each side.

Pietersen was on target for the home team, while flyhalf Beauden Barrett was on target for the Hurricanes.

The visitors incurred the wrath of Jonker halfway through the first period and prop Ben May was yellow carded, and the Stormers exploited the situation by opting for line-outs instead of converted penalty kicks.

The move paid dividends in the 27th minute when Kolisi dived across the tryline at the back of a driving maul, and Pietersen converted to give the Stormers a 20-6 advantage.

In the 35th minute, prop Tristan Moran followed his fellow front-ranker to the sin bin, which left the Hurricanes with 13

players.

Ironically, in the remaining first-half play, the Hurricanes outscored the Stormers 10-3.

First Barrett struck a penalty and then centre Tim Bateman scored a converted try under the posts.

The Stormers' lone advance was a drop goal by flyhalf Gary van Aswegen and the teams changed ends at 23-16.

During the break, the news filtered through that Burger had been taken to hospital to assess the injury to his knee.

When the teams resumed, the Hurricanes scored against the run of play when Barrett secured an intercept and left the opposition's defence for dead, though Aplon made a valiant effort to stop him.

Barrett converted to level the scores at 23-23, although the home crowd of nearly 37 000 were relieved moments later when two Pietersen penalties regained the lead for the Stormers.

Just on the hour mark the Hurricanes threatened with a penetrative foray into the Stormers' 22-metre and substitute hooker Motu Matu'u crashed in to score, but the TV ref found that he had lost the ball before it was grounded. Barrett did, however, reduce the deficit with a penalty.

The Stormers exerted a fair amount of pressure in the closing stages, which was converted into points via a penalty and a converted penalty try, opening up a 13-point gap minutes before the final whistle.

Scorers: Stormers: Tries: Gio Aplon, Siya Kolisi, penalty try. Conversions: Joe Pietersen (3). Penalties: Pietersen (5). Drop-goal: Gary van Asewegen.

Hurricanes: Tries: Tim Bateman, Beauden Barrett . Conversions:

Barrett (2). Penalties: Barrett (4). – Sapa