Full house for SA teams as Vodacom URC kicks off with a bang

The four South African franchises got their Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaigns off to winning starts this weekend, with the Vodacom Bulls, Hollywoodbets Sharks and DHL Stormers recording bonus-point wins, while the 10bet Lions edged the defending champions.

As one would expect with first round matches, the teams were still a bit rusty but there was more than enough on show to give the four South African coaches reason for optimism.

The Stormers overcame a tricky start to their campaign with a 29-15 victory over Connacht in Ireland on Friday night.

On Saturday, the Lions beat Leinster by 27-26 in Johannesburg; the Sharks were too good for the Ospreys in Durban, where they won 41-24; and the Bulls smashed Zebre Parma by 47-13 in Italy.

Two late tries helped the Stormers to start their URC campaign with a bonus-point victory when they beat Connacht in Galway on Friday night.

Tries by debutants Vernon Paolo and Ezekiel Ngobeni in the last five minutes sealed the deal as the Stormers – disrupted by the late withdrawals of loose forwards Evan Roos (hamstring) and Marcel Theunissen (calf) – finished strong.

Jurie Matthee knocked over an early penalty goal to give the Capetonians the lead and they followed up with a converted try by Warrick Gelant from a lovely grubber by Andre Warner to go into double figures.

The Irish side responded with two tries just before the break to take a 12-10 lead into the break and they stretched that to 15-10 through a penalty goal in the 52nd minute.

A yellow card to the hosts' Paul Boyle, coupled with a number of forward replacements, gave the Stormers momentum and Sazi Sandi's converted try gave the visitors the lead with just over 20 minutes to go, before Paolo and Ngobeni's tries put the result beyond all doubt.

Connacht 15 (12) – Tries: Mack Hansen, Josh Ioane. Conversion: Sam Gilbert. Penalty: Gilbert.

DHL Stormers 29 (10) – Tries: Warrick Gelant, Sazi Sandi, Vernon Paolo, Ezekiel Ngobeni. Conversions: Jurie Matthee (2), Yaqeen Ahmed. goal: Matthee.

A late try by Kelly Mpeku, converted by Chris Smith, ensured that the Lions start the new URC season with a victory over the defending champions, Leinster, in an exciting match in Johannesburg on Saturday afternoon.

The hosts took a 7-5 lead after the opening 10 minutes, with Fintan Gunne scoring the first of his hat-trick and Erich Cronje the first of his brace, to get the scoreboard going.

Smith added a penalty before Gunne and Cronje scored in the 14th and 24th minutes to make it 17-12 to the Lions but the Leinster scrumhalf's third try, in the 39th minute, gave the visitors a two-point lead at the break.

The second half was an arm wrestle, but ultimately a 61st minute penalty goal by Smith, who hit 100% of his kicks at goal and Mpeku's 79th minute try – when Leinster had a player in the sin bin – gave the team from Gauteng an eight–point lead with time up on the clock.

Leinster's Stephen Smyth scored their fourth try deep into injury time, this time with a Lions player in the bin and although it wasn't enough for the win, it meant they leave Johannesburg with two valuable bonus points.

10bet Lions 27 (17) – Tries: Erich Cronje (2), Kelly Mpeku. Conversions: Chris Smith (3). Penalties: Smith (2).

Leinster 26 (19) – Tries: Fintan Gunne (3), Stephen Smyth. Conversions: Caspar Gabriel (2), Harry Byrne.

Junior Springbok stars Luan Giliomee and Vusi Moyo scored a combined 24 points as the Sharks started their URC campaign with a bonus-point victory over the Ospreys in Durban on Saturday afternoon.

With a tackle success rate of 90% and converting their opportunities into points, the hosts were never going to lose this clash, although their Welsh visitors deserve credit for never giving up, and scoring their fourth try late in the match to leave Hollywoodbets Kings Park with a bonus-point.

Four first half tries by the KwaZulu-Natalians – by Nick Hatton, Manu Tshituka, Giliomee, and Litelihle Bester – all converted by Moyo, were ultimately the difference.

The visitors' discipline let them down, allowing Moyo to slot two crucial penalties in the second half to keep the scoreboard ticking over, before Giliomee showed his class by adding a second try on the hour mark to all but seal the deal, despite Iestyn Hopkins’ late try.

Hollywoodbets Sharks 41 (28) – Tries: Nick Hatton, Manu Tshituka, Luan Giliomee (2), Litelihle Bester. Conversions: Vusi Moyo (4), Siya Masuku. Penalties: Moyo (2).

Ospreys 24 (14) – Tries: Luke Morgan, Sam Parry, Liam Wright, Iestyn Hopkins. Conversions: Lawson Creighton (2).

It took them 25 minutes to open the scoring but once the Bulls got going, they were unstoppable as they sealed a comfortable victory in their URC opener against Zebre Parma in Italy on Saturday evening.

The visitors from Pretoria were guilty of early mistakes but managed to weather the storm and gradually took control of proceedings.

Zebre took a 3-0 lead through Tommaso Allan's first penalty but a penalty try awarded against the Italians for illegally stopping a maul made it 7-3 for the Bulls. It was 7-6 soon after when Allan landed his second penalty but that's when things clicked into gear for the visitors.

Late first-half tries by Reinhardt Ludwig and Paul de Wet gave the men from Pretoria a 15-point cushion at the break and when Ruan Vermaak and Harold Vorster added their names to the score sheet, it was effectively game over by the 51st minute. New Bulls flyhalf Curwin Bosch landed all four conversions.

Zebre scored their only try just before the hour mark, but Ludwig's second and a last-gasp five-pointer by Zak Burger meant the Bulls finished the round at the top of the log.

Zebre Parma 13 (6) – Try: Alessandro Fusco. Conversion: Tommaso Allan. Penalties: Allan (2).

Vodacom Bulls 47 (21) – Tries: Penalty try, Reinhardt Ludwig (2), Paul de Wet, Ruan Vermaak, Harold Vorster, Zak Burger. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (4), Willie le Roux.