Santiago Cordero had a last-gasp try ruled out as Connacht fell to a 34-29 defeat by the Stormers in Cape Town in the United Rugby Championship.
After Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who had earlier scored a hat-trick of tries, sent the Stormers five points clear with a late penalty, Cordero thought he had levelled the game with the clock in the red.
However, a TMO intervention ruled that hooker Dave Heffernan had impeded a tackle earlier in the play and the Stromers held on to win a pulsating fixture.
The win moves the Stormers into the top eight, which would secure a play-off, while Connacht jump into 11th with their try-scoring and losing bonus points.
A week after their 43-40 Challenge Cup defeat by Racing 92, which led to head coach Pete Wilkins leaving his role, Connacht were involved in another high-scoring thriller in Cape Town.
After Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored a superb opening try inside 60 seconds after darting through a gap, Connacht responded as Shane Jennings crossed out wide after good hands from the Irish backline.
The Stormers hit the front when Evan Roos crashed over off the back of a scrum, but Connacht drew level when Conor Oliver bundled over after more pressure in the 16th minute.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu had a stunning opening 40 minutes and grabbed his second try when he made a break and found back row Paul de Villiers, who returned the pass back inside which allowed the sprinting fly-half to score unchallenged.
The best try of the half came moments later when Feinberg-Mngomezulu again found himself in space. He chipped the ball over Piers O’Conor, collected his own kick and scored to complete his hat-trick and secure the bonus point for the Stormers.
However, Connacht refused to go away and Dylan Tierney-Martin rounded off a maul to pull a score back, and Jennings grabbed his second try of the game with the final play of the half, but Carty could only push his conversion wide as the Stormers held a two-point lead at the break.
The scintillating rugby by the Stormers continued after the restart when the South Africans powered into the 22 after a big break by Seablo Senatla, moved it quickly through the hands and Feinberg-Mngomezulu produced a ridiculous no-look pass out the back for Suleiman Hartzenberg to touch down in the corner.
The Stomers pressed for a sixth score but repeated infringements by Connacht near their own line saw centre Cathal Forde sent to the sin-bin.
However, Connacht held firm and it was soon 14 against 14 as Warrick Gelant was shown a yellow card as his attempted intercept went forward.
Connacht’s resilience was rewarded when Josh Murphy powered over but Carty could only strike the post with his conversion, and the Stormers led by two points with 13 minutes to play.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu landed a long-distance penalty to move the Stormers five clear, but there was late drama as Connacht came up just short of the line through Sean Jansen and Jack Auinger dropped the ball with the tryline gaping.
That was followed by the final play of the game when replacement Cordero danced over to level the game with a conversion to come, but the TMO ruled that Heffernan had stopped Roos from tackling Carty earlier in the play and the score was chalked off, much to the frustration of the visitors.
Stormers: W Gelant; S Hartzenberg; D Du Plessis, D Willemse; S Senalta, S Feinberg-Mngomzullu; S Ungerer; A Vermaak, AH Venter, S Sandi; S Moerat, R van Heerden; P de Villiers, M Theunissen, E Roos.
Replacements: JJ Kotze, V Matongo, B Harris, JD Schikerling, L Nel, D Fourie, P de Wet, B Loader.
Connacht: P O’Conor; C Mullins; D Hawkshaw, C Forde; S Jennings; J Carty; B Murphy; P Dooley; D Tierney-Martin; F Bealham; O Dowling, D Murray; C Prendergast, C Oliver, P Boyle.
Replacements: D Heffernan, J Duggan, J Augnier, J Murphy, J Joyce, M Devine, S Cordero, S Jansen.
