The Highlanders beat the Stormers in sensational fashion at Carisbrook, a generally scrappy game bursting to life in the final five minutes. This keeps the Highlanders' campaign on track after a disappointing tour of South Africa, but they were within seconds of disaster as the Stormers threatened their second victory on New Zealand soil in a week.

The Stormers always seemed to have the match in hand, but found themselves up against an obdurate defence. Both sides squandered scoring opportunities but as they both tired in the late summer sunshine the gaps started to appear . Surprisingly , the Highlanders opened up an advantage whilst down to 14 men and seemed to have done enough to secure the victory until visions of Durban began to appear in front of their eyes. Last week , against the Sharks, they were on the brink of victory , only to leak 13 points in the final ten minutes.On this occasion, however, with seconds left, they just had enough energy and spirit left to drag one last move out of their armoury to snatch the four points.

The game started scrappily , some wayward passing upsetting the attacking intentions of both sides. The Highlanders started the stronger, putting together a couple of phases to give Tony Brown an early chance to give his side the lead. He made a dreadful hash of a straightforward kick. The Stormers responded with a series of dangerous attacks inside Highlanders' territory, ending with a chance for Van Straaten to open the scoring. He did not miss.

The Stormers continued to attack , the Highlanders' defence struggling to contain the energy of the South Africans. A second penalty chance was seized upon by Van Straaten to extend the lead, his kick from wide out a good one. Breyton Paulse immediately found himself under pressure behind his goal line and was forced to concede a 5 metre scrum. Poor back row play from the Highlanders allowed the Stormers to clear.

Powerful play from a line out gave Brown a chance to make amends for his earlier miss. He duly gave the Highlanders their first points. At the other end the Stormers again looked dangerous until Maimuri's timely intercept eased the pressure. But at the end of the first quarter the Stormers seemed to be in the ascendant.

Inspired by winning a scrum against the feed, the Highlanders upped the tempo, but found the Stormers' defence steadfast . Kempson and Maling were then sin-binned by referee Dickinson for waving hand bags at five paces and as the Highlanders again came under pressure they conceded another kickable penalty. But Van Straaten kicked to the corner instead, the Stormers winning the scrum feed from the resulting line out. Under unrelenting pressure , the Highlanders hung on , but made a real mess of moving the ball out of defence.

A Stormers' try seemed inevitable , but they had to make- do with Van Straaten's third penalty. This was immediately followed by Tony Brown's second. Half time came with the Stormers leading 9-6 and having dominated most of the play. They looked the more threatening of the two sides, the Highlanders having real problems with the accuracy of their passing.

The Highlanders got an immediate chance to equalize , but Brown found the kick just beyond his range. But seconds later he got a more straightforward opportunity which he struck straight through the middle. A period of sustained Highlanders' pressure followed, but the handling and passing had not improved sufficiently to capitalize on all the possession. Romi Ropati then clattered late into substitute de Kock and was lucky to receive a yellow card , not the red.

Despite being down to 14 men, the Highlanders scored the first try after a good move from a tapped penalty enabled Pita Alatini to give a short pass to Finau Maka , who raced over beneath the posts. Brown converted. He then dropped the ball deep inside his own territory , his side forced into desperate defence as the Stormers sensed the possibility of an equalizing try. Over-eagerness from the South Africans allowed the Highlanders to clear.

A weaving run through the middle of the Highlanders' defence by Percy Montgomery set up a further chance but poor handling from Skinstad relinquished the advantage his side had established. With fifteen minutes remaining the Highlanders increased the pace, subjected the Stormers to intense pressure and were rewarded with Brown's fourth penalty to extend their lead to 10 points. Forced into all-out attack, Breyton Paulse broke the Highlanders' defence with a devastating break, Gerber was at his shoulder to go beneath the posts and Van Straaten's conversion reduced the lead to three points.

A sensational break out by the Stormers from deep inside their own 22 led to Gerber nailing his second try as the Highlanders tired. Even more sensationally , with seconds remaining the Highlanders laid siege to the Stormers' line so that they were forced to concede penalty after penalty. Eventually , Laney found space on the right , fed winger Tuilevu who raced into the corner for the winning score.The Stormers will be bitterly disappointed to have lost at the last gasp, a second away win would have set their season alight. The Highlanders will be encouraged by the win, if not all aspects of their performance. They still have everything to play for.

Teams

Highlanders
Brendan Laney, Aisea Tuilevu, George Leaupepe, Pita Alatini, Romi Ropati, Tony Brown, Billy Fulton, Samiu Vahafolau, Finau Maka, Taine Randell ( captain), Simon Maling, Vula Maimuri, Carl Hayman, Anton Oliver, Carl Hoeft.
Substitutes : Iliesa Tanivula, Mark Urwin, David Gibson, Kelvin Middleton, John Blaikie, Kees Meeuws, Tom Willis.

Stormers
Percy Montgomery, Breyton Paulse, Robbie Fleck, Stuart Abbott, Werner Greeff, Braam Van Straaten, Dan Van Zyl, Bobby Skinstad, Corne Krige ( captain), Hendrik Gerber, Rob Brink, Hottie Louw, Faan Rautenbach, Charl Marais, Robbie Kempson.
Substitutes : Robert Markram, John Daniels, Neil de Kock, Chean Roux, John Slade, , Pieter Dixon.

Scorers:

Highlanders:24Tries : Maka, Tuilevu. Conversion: Brown. Penalties : Brown (4)

Stormers:23Tries : Gerber (2). Conversions : Van Straaten : (2). Penalties : Van Straaten (3)