"Chiefs coach Dave Rennie has paid tribute to the Stormers following Saturday's highly entertaining Super Rugby cliffhanger at Newlands.
WATCH: The best two tries ever scored at Newlands?
The Stormers ran out 34-26 winners in a match that was filled with skill and they finally extinguished the nightmares of 2016 when they were smashed 60-21 by the same opponents at the same venue in the quarter-finals.
This time around, the Stormers had more energy and defended like Trojans, while with ball in hand they were dangerous throughout.
"It was a heck of a spectacle. I thought the Stormers were excellent tonight," Rennie said.
"They put us under pressure and profited around the fringes. The certainly played their part in a free-flowing game and I thought we did too.
"They were stronger than us ... in the end, they were too good tonight."
Rennie said the improvement from last year was noticeable.
"I reckon they've learnt a lot from last year. They've got better systems and I think they're fitter," he said.
"We always felt that even with 20 minutes to go we could run them off their feet but they worked hard for each other and scrambled.
"There is clearly a lot of character in the group and I think that played a big part tonight."
The Chiefs stay in South Africa for another week with a clash against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein coming up on Saturday."
The improvement noted by Rennie was very evident - the most evident was that the Stormers played ball in hand rugby - except of two poor kicks which led to Chiefs tries. That is a very promising sign especially since the kicks they did make after hal f time was objective and of quality value.
