Bulls and Stormers dominant in Vodacom URC derbies

The Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers delivered dominant performances to outclass the 10bet Lions and Hollywoodbets Sharks in a gripping round of Vodacom United Rugby Championship local derbies on Saturday, which not only ended the latter sides’ two-match winning starts in the competition but also saw them overtake their fellow SA teams on the standings.

The Bulls were in sublime form and powered their way to a classy 57-15 victory against the Lions in Pretoria, while the Stormers outplayed the Sharks 39-22 in Cape Town.

These results saw a dramatic shift on the standings, with the Bulls now occupying third place, the Stormers one position below in fourth (both on 11 log points) and the Sharks in fifth place (10 points), while the Lions dropped to seventh position (nine points).

Edinburgh now top the table followed by the Glasgow Warriors on 14 and 13 points respectively. They are the only unbeaten teams left after three rounds.

The teams will now switch their focus to the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup next week in the European showpieces before resuming the Vodacom URC competition in two weeks.

The Bulls produced a ruthless attacking display to thrash the Lions 57-15 at Loftus Versfeld as they took full control of the collisions and continuously applied pressure, which they often capitalised on to score nine tries to two by the visitors in a largely one-sided Jukskei derby.

Unfortunately for the Johannesburgers, the defeat ended their sterling start to the URC in which they registered back-to-back victories over Leinster and the Ospreys.

Harold Vorster opened the scoring for the men from Pretoria in the 10th minute after gathering a chip kick and the visitors responded with a maul try by Siba Qoma eight minutes later, with the successful conversion handing them a 7-5 lead.

The match turned in the Bulls’ favour soon after as Johan Grobbelaar scored from a pick-and-go, while the pressure on the Lions mounted as Morne van den Berg was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-down in the build-up.

The hosts took advantage of the numerical advantage, with Cameron Hanekom scoring back-to-back tries within six minutes in the second quarter and Jeandre Rudolph capped a dominant half with their fifth try on the stroke of halftime to hand the team a convincing 31-10 lead.

The men from Pretoria picked up where they left off after play resumed with Canan Moodie stretching over in the 44th minute thanks to a stunning long pass out wide, which increased their score to 36 points but the opposition answered through their pack, with Morne Brandon touching down from a strong maul in the 50th minute.

From there on in the Bulls completely took control despite determined efforts by the Lions to fight back at times, with JF van Heerden crashing over in the 68th minute shortly after Cheswill Jooste was denied a try.

Jooste, however, finally got his five-pointer in the 74th minute by gathering a great cross kick and Sebastian de Klerk completed the rout for the hosts after the hooter from a great step and speed to the tryline to dive underneath a defender, and the two conversions saw them finish the match with a commanding 57-15 scoreline.

Vodacom Bulls 57 (31) – Tries: Harold Vorster, Johan Grobbelaar, Cameron Hanekom (2), Jeandre Rudolph, Canan Moodie, JF van Heerden, Cheswill Jooste, Sebastian de Klerk. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (3), Handre Pollard (3).

10bet Lions 15 (10) – Tries: Siba Qoma, Morne Brandon. Conversion: Chris Smith. Penalty: Smith.

The Stormers delivered an emphatic attacking display against a quality Sharks outfit at the DHL Stadium on Saturday to outscore their opponents six tries to three in an action-packed Vodacom URC encounter in front of their home crowd for the first time this season for a rewarding 39-22 victory.

Their powerful scrum proved to be a weapon for the hosts as they combined strong forward play with sublime running and passing to deliver a standout display.

Both sides entered the match with a point to prove as the Capetonians came off a disappointing 17-13 defeat to Edinburgh in Scotland last week, while the Sharks entered the match as the top team on the standings after recording victories against the Ospreys and Leinster.

The Stormers showed their intent from the outset with Seabelo Senatla crossing the chalk in the sixth minute after they spread the ball from the other side of the field and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu added a penalty minutes later to hand them an 8-0 lead.

The Sharks replied in the 15th minute when Manu Tshituka powered his way over from strong forward play and the scores were level at 8-8 in the 30th minute complements of a penalty by Gianni Lombard, who replaced Vusi Moyo at flyhalf.

The Durbanites suffered a blow minutes later as Matt Romao was sin-binned and this paved the way for Hacjivah Dayimani to force his way over the tryline in in the 36th minute, followed by André-Hugo Venter on the stroke of halftime.

Matters got worse for the visitors as Tshituka received a yellow card in the process reducing them to 13 men as they entered halftime 22-8 down.

This gave the Stormers extra momentum and it took only one minute after play resumed for Leolin Zas to score their bonus point try after picking up at a ruck and diving over to increase their lead to 27-8 and they added another after the KwaZulu-Natalians were restored to 14 men, as Dayimani scored his brace from more forward dominance.

The Sharks fought back with a stunning maul try by Romao and when Phepsi Buthelezi burrowed his way through a few defenders a few minutes later, it was temporarily game on with the score at 34-22 with just under 20 minutes left on the clock.

The Stormers, however, grabbed the match by the scruff of the neck with JJ Kotze forcing his way over for the team’s sixth try, and had it not been for a knock on, they would have held an even bigger lead after Dayimani was denied a hat-trick with just under 10 minutes left to play.

With neither team able to add to their score, the Stormers managed to hold on for the morale-boosting win.

DHL Stormers 39 (22) – Tries: Seabelo Senatla, Hacjivah Dayimani (2), Andre-Hugo Venter, Leolin Zas, JJ Kotze. Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (3). Penalty: Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Hollywoodbets Sharks 22 (8) – Tries: Manu Tshituka, Matt Romao, Phepsi Buthelezi. Conversions: Gianni Lombard (2). Penalty: Lombard.