Stormers beat Western Force in Super 15 rugby

South Africa's Stormers beat Australia's Western Force 17-3 in their Super 15 clash on Saturday, making it eight victories from nine games this season for the Stormers. The Stormers' workmanlike victory in Perth also gave them three wins from four matches in their Australasian tour, marking them out as one of the sides to beat. The visitors ran in two tries, one in each half, and the Force never looked likely to cross despite their best efforts. It was the Force who got on the board first, when a David Harvey penalty produced the opening points of the match in the 17th minute. But the home side's efforts were thwarted when Bryan Habana picked off a Force pass and sprinted away for an easy try for the Stormers in the 21st minute. However, he was lucky to collect the points as replays showed he clearly lost control of the ball just before he slid across the try line with an extended dive. Stormers fly-half Peter Grant, who had a good game with 12 points, added an easy conversion for a 7-3 lead. Harvey had the chance to pull the Force closer just before the break, but shanked the penalty in driving rain and it proved to be the home team's last chance to put scoreboard pressure on the Stormers. Early Force errors in the second half enabled Grant to add another three points in the 44th minute, before the Stormers struck again five minutes later. After spending a number of phases camped on the Force line, Grant was put through a hole in the defensive wall and dived over for a try that he also converted. Stormers captain Andries Bekker said they were thrilled to be returning home after a largely successful tour of Australia and New Zealand. "We started off a bit slow, it is not ideal weather," he said. "So we went back to the old structures of good defence." Force skipper David Pocock said his side never gave in but were not quite good enough. "I don't think you can fault the effort, but we've got to be more creative in attack," he said. "We were up against the best defensive team in the comp and that showed tonight."