DHL Stormers join Vodacom Bulls and Hollywoodbets Sharks in Vodacom URC play-offs

The DHL Stormers have booked their spot in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship quarter-finals alongside the Vodacom Bulls and Hollywoodbets Sharks after a good penultimate weekend of league action for the three South African teams.

Unfortunately for the Emirates Lions, their hopes of sneaking into the top eight through the back door were dashed completely as they went down against the Scarlets in Johannesburg on Sunday, leaving them to play purely for pride in the final pool round next weekend.

The Sharks started off Round 17 on a high note on Friday as they defeated the Ospreys 29-10 in Durban; and the Bulls and Stormers followed suit on Saturday as they beat Cardiff 45-21 in Pretoria and the Dragons 48-12 in Cape Town respectively.

All three teams finished the round in the top eight, with the Bulls and Sharks assured of home quarter-finals.

In stark contrast, the Lions saw their faint hopes of a quarter-final spot fall through their fingers as they succumbed to a disappointing 32-19 defeat against the Scarlets in Johannesburg.

These results, combined with the Glasgow Warriors’ surprising 33-7 defeat against to Benetton, saw the Bulls finish the round in second place (63 points) behind Leinster (72), the Sharks in fourth place (58 points) and the Stormers one place behind (50 points). The Emirates Lions are languishing in 13th position (35 points).

All four teams have home games next weekend as the league stages come to a close but the Sharks will hope that Glasgow go down against Leinster and they win their match against the Scarlets to move up to third place, while the Stormers will want to beat Cardiff to finish the pool stages in favourable fifth position.

Scarlets (48), Benetton (46), Munster (46), Cardiff (46), and Edinburgh (44) are still in the Race to the Eight but Munster face Benetton in the final round, which may cost one of these two teams a spot in the quarter-finals.

The Sharks cemented their home quarter-final in the Vodacom URC as they registered a bonus point victory against the Ospreys at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in a competitive encounter on Friday night.

The defeat for the Welsh outfit, however, crushed their hopes of a play-off spot completely with one match remaining against the Lions next weekend.

While the victory certainly satisfied Sharks coach John Plumtree, their performance was not quite at the standard they would have hoped for and there is no doubt the coaches will emphasise the need to lift their quality of play with the play-off stages around the corner.

The team will also be holding thumbs that the loss of their captain Eben Etzebeth to a knee injury in the second quarter is not too serious with the knock-out stages in sight.

Ospreys, who were playing for survival, did their utmost to disrupt the KwaZulu-Natalians in the contact areas and showed fight throughout the match but the hosts dominated possession and territory, and carried the ball more often than the visitors, while they were also more disciplined on the day.

Ospreys earned the first points of the match compliments of a penalty in the first minute but this was cancelled out soon after as Jason Jenkins crossed the whitewash for the Sharks in the 10th minute, with Siya Masuku adding the extras to push them 7-3 up.

They added their second try compliments of Rugby World Cup winning Springbok centre Andre Esterhuizen in the 33rd minute and this time his national teammate Aphelele Fassi slotted the conversion to nudge them into a 14-3 lead at the break.

It took them 10 minutes after play resumed to score again with Ethan Hooker crossing this time and after a few personnel changes, the Ospreys finally earned their first and only try of the match on the stroke of the fourth quarter to reduce their deficit to 21-10.

The Sharks continued to hunt their bonus-point try, and this determination paid off as Phepsi Buthelezi dotted down, with the team wrapping up the win with a penalty by Masuku on the stroke of full-time to secure the 29-10 victory.

Score

Hollywood Sharks 29 (14) – Tries: Jason Jenkins, Andre Esterhuizen, Ethan Hooker, Phepsi Buthelezi. Conversions: Siya Masuku (2), Aphelele Fassi. Penalty: Masuku.

Ospreys 10 (3) – Try: Sam Parry. Conversion: Dan Edwards. Penalty: Edwards.

The Bulls delivered a sterling first-half performance against Cardiff at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday to build up a commanding 31-0 lead, which not only earned them a bonus point, it also paved the way for a rewarding Vodacom URC victory which, by the end of the round, was enough to see them overtake defending champions, the Glasgow Warriors, into second place on the standings.

They will, however, be disappointed with their defensive effort in the second half, in which they leaked three converted tries – two of which were scored in four minutes late in the game – but fortunately for the men from Pretoria, they did enough in the opening stanza to remain in a comfortable lead throughout the match, adding two second-half tries to their four in the first half, to add to an early penalty by Johan Goosen.

The Bulls will be particularly pleased with their scrummaging and the strong running by their backs as they look forward to a home quarter-final and possibly home semi-final over the next few weeks.

Goosen kicked the first points of the match in the third minute and they built on this with a strong showing throughout the half in which Harold Vorster and the Springbok trio of Wilco Louw, Canan Moodie, and Cameron Hanekom scored tries to steer them to a 31-0 lead going into the sheds.

They wasted no time stamping their authority in the second half with Sebastian de Klerk adding their fifth try in the 42nd minute to nudge them into a 38-0 lead but they conceded their first try only three minutes later.

De Klerk secured his brace in the 51st minute, which Keagan Johannes converted after taking over the reins from Goosen, who was forced to leave the field in the 11th minute with a knee injury.

But Cardiff went down fighting as Teddy Williams and Gabriel Hamer-Webb crossed the chalk in the last 10 minutes to inflate their score to 21 points.

While defence will be a key focus area for the Vodacom Bulls as the play-offs approach, Jake White and his charges took enough positives from the encounter to know that if they play to their potential for the full 80 minutes in their remaining matches, they could work their way to a second successive Grand Final.

Score

Vodacom Bulls 45 (31) – Tries: Harold Vorster, Wilco Louw, Canan Moodie, Cameron Hanekom, Sebastian de Klerk (2). Conversions: Johan Goosen, Keagan Johannes (5). Penalty: Goosen.

Cardiff 21 (0) – Tries: Alex Mann, Teddy Williams, Gabe Hamer-Webb. Conversions: Ben Thomas (3).

The Stormers found their rhythm in the second half against the Dragons at a wet DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday, outscoring the visitors seven tries to two, for a memorable Vodacom URC victory after holding a slender 14-0 lead at the break.

The wet conditions contributed to an error-riddled game but the Stormers’ class shone through after a slow first half in which they missed out on a few close try-scoring chances, to score four second-half tries, three of which were scored in a late flourish in the last seven minutes of the match.

The Capetonians started the match with a bang, with a stunning try by Wandisile Simelane in the first minute after dancing his way through the defence and they continued to show enterprise on attack and dominate the scrums but were unable to capitalise on a few their chances, before Seabelo Senatla darted through after receiving a great pass in contact by Joseph Dweba to stretch their lead to 14-0.

Damian Willemse, who made his 100th appearance for the DHL Stormers, broke through in the 38th minute, only for the team to be denied the try and Salmaan Moerat being sent to the sin-bin for a croc-roll before the break, reducing them to 14 men.

The Dragons, who showed true commitment on defence and attack in the game, scored their first try early in the second half but this was cancelled out by a subsequent penalty by Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and tries by Stefan Ungerer and Willemse in the third quarter to extend their lead to 29-5.

The Welsh visitors hit back again with their second try but this fired up the Stormers to finish the match with a bang and they did exactly that with Suleiman Hartzenberg, Paul de Wet and Simelane crossing the tryline within five minutes of one another to seal the comprehensive victory, which nudged them into fifth place on the standings with one pool match remaining against Cardiff in Cape Town.

Score

DHL Stormers 48 (14) – Tries: Wandisile Simelane (2), Seabelo Senatla, Stefan Ungerer, Damian Willemse, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Paul de Wet. Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (3), Damian Willemse (2). Penalty: Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Dragons 12 (0) – Tries: Aaron Wainwright, Dane Blacker. Conversion: Lloyd Evans.

It was a disappointing day for the Lions on Sunday as they saw their play-off hopes officially crushed by the Scarlets, who made the most of their point-scoring chances in their penultimate Vodacom URC pool round at Emirates Airline Park to register a morale-boosting victory.

The Johannesburgers were their own worst enemies in the first half as they dominated proceedings but battled to convert their chances into points, while the Scarlets made the most of their minimal opportunities to score two tries to one by the hosts to add a late drop goal for an encouraging 17-7 lead.

The visitors added two tries and a penalty in the second half to a brace by the Emirates Lions’ Richard Kriel to seal the victory and finish the round in sixth place on the standings to keep them in the race for a quarter-final spot.

The Scarlets started on the back foot early in the game as they received a yellow card in the fifth minute but despite this, they scored the first try of the match with a man down in the 14th minute to take a 7-0 lead.

The Lions had a few opportunities to score as the half proceeded, but mistakes at crucial times combined with the effective defence saw them being denied by the Welsh outfit, who crossed for their second try in the 27th minute for a 14-0 lead.

But the hosts continued to fight and their efforts paid off with Nico Steyn scoring their first try in the 32nd minute after sustained pressure close to the tryline but they found themselves 17-7 down at the break after a drop goal by the Scarlets before the half-time hooter, despite the visitors receiving a yellow card in the build-up to the try.

The Scarlets continued to make their presence felt in the second half, scoring their third five-pointer four minutes after play restarted, as they again spread the ball wide and managed to crash through the defence to stretch their lead to 22-7. But this was cancelled out shortly after by Kriel, who beat two defenders to bash over and reduce their deficit to 22-14.

The Lions suffered a blow soon after as JC Pretorius received a yellow card and after both teams threatened to score, Kriel put the match within range for the home side with his second try in the 62nd minute to trail by 22-19.

Their hopes of a victory, however, were shattered as Scarlets scored their bonus point try in the 71st minute and added a penalty on the stroke of full-time to secure a morale-boosting 32-19 victory.

Score

Emirates Lions 19 (7) – Tries: Nico Steyn, Richard Kriel (2). Conversions: Kade Wolhuter, Lubabalo Dobela.

Scarlets 32 (17) – Tries: Blair Murray (2), Taine Plumtree, Johnny Williams. Conversions: Sam Costello (3). Penalty: Costello. Drop goal: Costello.