The Stormers were beaten for the third time in as many outings on their overseas tour when they lost 24-12 to the Reds in Brisbane on Friday.
With the scoreboard reading 0-0 at halftime, fans could be forgiven for switching off their TV sets at the break.
As for coach Robbie Fleck’s charges, it was almost as if they too went to bed after a boring first half, allowing the Reds to score three tries to two in the second half.
It was the visitors, though, that enjoyed the better of the first half.
The Stormers were actually unlucky not to have taken the lead before the break, with two tries being disallowed.
The first of them was when Damian Willemse collected a cross-kick but just dotted down on the dead ball line in the 15th minute.
Three minutes later, Sergeal Petersen dotted down in the same corner after beating two Reds defenders, but again his foot was judged to have touched the touchline.
YES: Damian de Allende. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix.
Those two disallowed tries seemed to have taken the steam out of the Stormers’ engine.
Then, just before the break Stormers captain, Siya Kolisi was sent to the cooler for 10 minutes for not rolling away.
That was a moment that changed the game as the Reds crossed the Stormers’ try-line twice.
Narrow defence on the blindside saw Reds midfielder Seva Naivalu break the Stormers’ line before setting free Samu Kerevi for the first points of the match (7-0).
The Reds doubled their lead three minutes later when hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa darted over after a good mini-break and offload from Kerevi in the build-up to the try (14-0).
With Kolisi back on the park, the Stormers hit back immediately with a try of their own via Kobus van Dyk (14-7).
POINTS: Kobus van Dyk scored a try. Photo: Muzi Ntombela/Backpagepix.
But with 14 minutes left Reds scrumhalf Tate McDermott caught the defence off-guard with a quick tap from a penalty to cross the whitewash (21-7).
With six minutes left, Damian de Allende spun his way past two defenders to earn his team’s second try (21-12).