It was Spider-Man who caught the Stormers in his web at Ellis Park on Saturday, with the Lions beating their visitors 41-22.
With two round-robin matches left to play, the Stormers are now on the verge of a Super Rugby exit after the defeat.
As it stands, the Cape side are still at the bottom of the South African Conference.
But get this, they are not completely out of the tournament just yet.
With the top eight teams advancing to the quarterfinal stage, the Stormers still have an outside chance of making it to the playoffs if they beat both the Sunwolves and the Sharks in their next two matches at Newlands.
Full-time in Joburg where the DHL Stormers have gone down 41-22 and suffered a few more key injuries against the Emirates Lions. We go again against Sunwolves at DHL Newlands next week. #LIOvSTO
— DHL STORMERS (@THESTORMERS) June 1, 2019
But they will know that they have to up their game if they want to do so, especially on defence, which we had seen needs much work after the Lions were caught breaking their lines with the greatest of ease on Saturday.
The first of the Lions’ six tries came via Kwagga Smith, who scored two touchdowns in the game, after he barged through the tackle attempts of Steven Kitshoff and Herschel Jantjies off a five-metre lineout in the 10th minute.
After a penalty apiece the scoreboard read 8-3 in favour of the Lions, before Andries Coetzee broke through four tackle attempts to make it 13-3.
SCORED A BRACE: Lions’ Kwagga Smith. Photo: Chris Kotze/BackpagePix.
A minute before the break the Stormers scored a try of their own when Dillyn Leyds twice made good passes and ultimately put Johan du Toit in the gap for a 13-10 halftime scoreline.
After taking the ball through more than 10 phases four minutes after the break, Smith got his second in the right corner for the Lions (20-10).
The Stormers were playing catch-up rugby and launched an attack from their own 22 in the 47th minute.
But after some good running, centre Damian de Allende threw a 50-50 pass that went forward and was scooped up by the host.
The Emirates @LionsRugbyCo's Kwagga Smith was the top tackler in this #superpowered derby. The team did a great job in #TacklingCancer in this @Vodacom #SuperRugby clash, which helps children like Joshua and Jordan, who battle cancer every day. #ConnectingForGood pic.twitter.com/l2WdvEtpYc
— vodacomrugby (@VodacomRugga) June 1, 2019
After getting the ball back from Vincent Tshituka, who flicked a delightful chicken-wing pass, Lionel Mapoe stood his ground as Damian Willemse and Leyds tried to bring him down, to offload to Courtnal Skosan for another five-pointer (27-10).
The Stormers gave themselves a bit of hope when Jantjies touched down against the upright in the 53rd minute, before Springbok wing Aphiwe Dyantyi restored their 17-point gap three minutes later after some good offloads by the Lions (34-17).
Lions v Stormers | Super Rugby 2019 Rd 16 Highlights
The @LionsRugbyCo's finals ambitions remain on track with a 41-22 mauling of @THESTORMERS in Johannesburg. #SuperRugby #LIOvSTO pic.twitter.com/uzJuSJ8dkj
— Super Rugby (@SuperRugby) June 1, 2019
With 15 minutes left, Joshua Stander got a try for the Stormers, before Lions replacement Tyrone Greene sidestepped Jaco Coetzee before offloading to Malcolm Marx, who then put replacement Hacjivah Dayimani away for the final score of the match.