Overall, it was a rather bleak weekend for South African teams in the United Rugby Championship (URC). The Bulls were the only side to come away with a win, while the Stormers, Sharks, and Lions all copped defeats.
The United Rugby Championship (URC) breaks until the weekend of 18 April, with the Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup returning over the next fortnight.
We look at what went down in Round 14 of the URC.
Stormers 34 vs 38 Ulster: URC Contest of the Week
Following the Stormers’ defeat in Belfast, coach John Dobson said he felt that they beat themselves against Ulster, and that’s a fact.
The Stormers (26.03) squandered a 17-0 lead in the first half with ill-discipline and a mediocre defensive effort. Their penalty count and lineouts didn’t do them any favours either, while the two cards they copped contributed to making it a tough outing for the Cape side.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu starred again in the flyhalf jersey, but his yellow card for a shoulder challenge gifted Ulster two opportunities to close the gap on the scoreboard. They scored two tries to do just that on either side of the halftime whistle. Those tries sparked Ulster’s comeback and ensured that the Irish side’s record against South African opposition at home remained intact. They have now won all 11 matches played against teams from the Republic of Ireland.
John Dobson’s side, now in 10th place on the standings, will play their final four round-robin matches at home. And that’s a major positive.
After the two-week break, they will face Connacht, Bennetton, the Dragons, and Cardiff at Cape Town Stadium.
It’s not all doom and gloom, despite the weekend’s fumble; the Stormers can still end in a decent position, granted they get maximum points from their remaining games.
Sharks 7 vs 10 Leinster
Leinster made up for their agonising one-point defeat to the Bulls at Loftus by overcoming the Sharks at Kings Park to end their winning streak at home.
Going into the clash, the Sharks had won all six games they played at home this season.
Despite resting several of their top players ahead of next weekend’s Champions Cup Round of 16, the log leaders managed to secure the win courtesy of one try in each half in Durban through Henry McErlean and Scott Penny.
A second-half try from a rolling maul through hooker Bongi Mbonambi gave the hosts some hope, but it was an otherwise lacklustre performance in an error-strewn encounter for John Plumtree’s group.
While their scrummaging performance was strong, the Sharks failed to launch anything significant from the platform as Leinster’s line speed did well to shut down the Sharks’ attacking attempts.
The results saw Leinster bag their 13th win of the season and extend their lead on top of the log. Leinster have 62 points, with second-placed Glasgow Warriors on 54. The Sharks remained fourth with 45 points.
Bulls 63 vs 24 Zebre
The Bulls solidified their top-four position with a proper thumping of Zebre in Pretoria.
The hosts scored nine tries to the Italians’ three and had a 28-10 lead at the break.
Sergeal Petersen (two), Zak Burger, Stravino Jacobs, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Marco van Staden, Marcell Coetzee, Harold Vorster, and David Kriel all crossed the whitewash despite JF van Heerden receiving a yellow card.
As can be expected from the spirited side, Zebre relentlessly tried to fight back, but the Bulls’ depth and zest on the day saw them score an emphatic victory and hold onto their third spot on the points table.
Glasgow 42 vs 0 Lions
There were very few positives that the Lions could take out of this game.
The Johannesburg team went into the game on the back of a defeat to Cardiff in a game they should have won (considering how they dominated proceedings). But this weekend, the only positive was the fact that they didn’t allow the defending URC champions to cause any more damage after halftime. Their determined defensive effort after coming out of the shed is probably also something to list under ‘positives’.
But by the time the Lions had decided to carry their weight in the one-sided affair, it was too late. The Lions had a positive start to the season, but things are now derailing.
Head coach Ivan van Rooyen has frequently spoken about their ambitions of making the playoffs for the first time since the inception of the competition. There have also been talks of a top-four placing being the goal. But the latter part of that to-do list is now simply not achievable.
Should the Lions get it together and win their remaining games, they can still reach the top eight, but that would mean that they would have to travel to face one of the top teams. And, considering their most reasonable performance, there would need to be a massive improvement if they want their participation in a play-off berth to be anything more than a special guest’s appearance.
