Ongoing

  1. ElectionsHot
  2. US mid-termsHeating up
  3. AICooling
Newsbrief
JoburgJHB29°69%
CTCT21°90%
PretoriaPTA33°75%
DurbanDBN30°20°

Stormers hold off Scarlets 52-40 after late Ahmed tries

Published

The DHL Stormers beat the Scarlets 52-40 in a Vodacom URC match at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday. Replacement flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed scored two tries after the teams were level at 40-all with about 15 minutes left.

The Stormers scored eight tries and the Scarlets scored six. The Stormers led 33-14 at halftime, but the Scarlets came back to level the scores at 40-all. Ahmed, a 20-year-old Junior Springbok, then settled the match.

Scarlets and Wales centre Joe Roberts scored a hat-trick of tries in the loss. The Stormers also used 19-year-old centre Markus Muller in the match.

The Stormers earned a full house of log points, according to the match report author. The same author said flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu made four handling errors, not all of them forced. The Stormers host Ulster next, and the author said they must be tighter and less sloppy.

Key facts

Who
Yaqeen Ahmed (Stormers replacement flyhalf, 20-year-old Junior Springbok); John Dobson (Stormers director of rugby); Joe Roberts (Scarlets and Wales centre, scored a hat-trick of tries); Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (Stormers flyhalf)
What
The DHL Stormers edged out the Scarlets 52-40 in a Vodacom URC fixture, scoring eight tries, after Yaqeen Ahmed scored two late tries following a 40-all draw with about a quarter of an hour to play.
When
24 October 2026
Where
DHL Stadium, Cape Town
Status
Final result

Elections Hot

What you need to know

Voting in the 2026 Local Government Elections is under way at 23,696 stations, and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reported a smooth start on 4 November. Stations opened at 7am and close at 9pm, and by 10am preliminary figures showed 3,523,691 voters had cast ballots.

There were problems: unused ballot papers were stolen from Mnyameni Secondary School near Durban, police opened a case, and the IEC relieved the station staff of duty. Some voters in Tshwane said they were turned away for wearing party shirts, but the IEC denied this and said only mayoral candidates' entourages were barred.

ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe told members not to query the results or discredit the IEC, while the IEC said false online claims show routine procedures as fraud.

  1. BOSA's Solomons flags one-ballot problem at Cape Town voting stations
  2. Mashatile urges new councillors to put voters first
  3. IEC dismisses MK Party worry about dead people on voters' roll

See every update

US mid-terms Heating up

What you need to know

Democrats won back both the US House and Senate in the midterm elections held on 3 November, according to media projections. Exit polls showed voters were angry about high prices and the direction of the country, and rebuked President Donald Trump.

Before the vote, US forces struck targets on Qeshm Island in Iran, while Republicans struggled to defend the war against Iran on the campaign trail. Iranian officials said US voters rejected the war, and Tehran stayed on high alert for possible new US strikes.

Markets reacted, with the dollar hitting a one-month low and the rand firming to around R16.55, as analysts pointed to fears of gridlock in Washington.

  1. Iran welcomes Democratic wins in US midterm elections
  2. Democrats win US Congress in midterm vote, projections show
  3. Ramaphosa wants US trade deal after AGOA suspension

See every update

AI Cooling

What you need to know

Nvidia has told its cloud computing clients to sell at least 51% of their services to non-Chinese companies, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. Anthropic said it has committed to spend close to $900bn on AI infrastructure, and that its computing costs are rising faster than its revenues.

Elsewhere, reports from unnamed sources say OpenAI's latest funding round is falling short of expectations, and a judge let the NAACP pollution case against xAI proceed. In South Africa, the VAST AI investment scheme went offline on 30 October after withdrawals marked approved did not arrive, according to a news investigation.

  1. Accenture faces accusations over AI report with false citations
  2. CrowdStrike to buy two AI security startups
  3. Google lets schools turn off AI tools but limits Search

See every update