Smiles all round for SA URC teams

The South African Vodacom United Rugby Championship franchises produced a weekend of rugby to smile about as all four teams emerged victorious in their Round 16 clashes, which saw the Vodacom Bulls and Hollywoodbets Sharks cement their play-off spots and remain in the top four, while the DHL Stormers leapt into sixth place on the standings.

The Emirates Lions also delivered on their promise to fight back strongly after five successive defeats in the Vodacom URC and EPCR Challenge Cup, which saw them outplay Connacht, with the result keeping them in the Race to Eight, although they trail the eighth-placed Benetton by six points with two pool matches remaining.

The Bulls took the field first on Friday night, and despite being outscored three tries to two, they secured a rewarding 26-19 victory over the defending champions, the Glasgow Warriors, in Scotland.

The Lions followed suit in Johannesburg on Saturday by beating Connacht 26-7, while the Stormers thumped Benetton 56-5 in Cape Town, before the Sharks made it four wins out of four as they produced a second-half comeback of note to topple Ulster 22-19 in Belfast.

These results saw the Bulls hold onto third place on the log (58 points) – one behind Glasgow – followed by the Sharks in fourth position (53 points), while the Stormers hopped up into sixth place (45 points), while the Lions remained on the lower end of the table in 13th position (35 points).

With the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup semi-finals playing out next weekend, the SA sides will have a well-deserved break before the Vodacom URC resumes on the weekend of 9-11 May.

The clash between defending champions in the Vodacom URC, the Glasgow Warriors, and last season’s runners up, the Bulls, at the Scotstoun Stadium on Friday lived up to expectations in a match of attrition as both sides ran hard at one another in the first half before the visitors took control in the second half to register a rewarding victory.

The win for the Pretoria outfit – built on massive defensive hits where Springboks Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Canan Moodie led the charge – was not only significant in the sense that it wrapped up a successful tour with three wins in four matches, it also allowed them to bury the heartbreak of going down against the Warriors in last season’s Grand Final in Pretoria.

Both teams showed intent in the first half and missed out on golden opportunities to score tries but Johan Goosen’s three penalties to a solitary converted try by Glasgow in the closing minutes of the first half saw the visitors enter half-time with a handy 9-7 lead.

The momentum shifted in favour of the Bulls in the second half, with Bok hooker Johan Grobbelaar touching down in the 50th minute from strong forward play and David Kriel adding their second five-pointer nine minutes later to add to another penalty by Goosen in between, which pushed them 26-7 up.

The Bulls will, however, be disappointed about leaking two tries in two minutes shortly before the final whistle, which reduced their lead to 26-19 and placed the Glasgow Warriors within bonus-point range.

The visitors were subsequently awarded a penalty but and opted to kick the ball into touch, which handed the hosts a valuable losing bonus point.

Score

Glasgow Warriors 19 (7) – Tries: Jamie Dobie, Kyle Steyn, Stafford McDowall. Conversions: George Horne (2).

Vodacom Bulls 26 (9) – Tries: Johan Grobbelaar, David Kriel. Conversions: Johan Goosen (2). Penalties: Goosen (4).

The Lions returned to winning ways on Saturday as they showed patience on attack and capitalised on their try-scoring chances to outscore Connacht three tries to one for a morale-boosting Vodacom URC victory at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg.

The hosts showed good value for their win despite the match being riddled with handling and other errors and a slow first half, with Man of the Match Renzo du Plessis scoring the only try of half in the 13th minute which Kade Wolhuter backed up with two penalties to hand them an 11-0 lead going into the break.

The Lions, however, were on top for most of the tough battle, as the visitors lacked rhythm in their attacking forays and appeared to feel the effects of playing at altitude.

The Johannesburgers found their mojo in the second half though, after Wolhuter got them off to a strong start with his third penalty but they were dealt a blow soon after as Du Plessis received a yellow card.

Both teams had opportunities to score and were denied by infringements but JC Pretorius finally broke through for the Lions’ second try in the 69th minute, which stretched their lead to 19-0 before the try was cancelled out by Connacht’s Eoin de Buitlear three minutes later.

This fuelled the hosts’ determination to keep fighting for the victory, and it paid off with a late surge which saw Bok speedster Edwill van der Merwe score their final try two minutes after the regular 80 minutes of play, which sealed the victory for the home side.

Score

Emirates Lions 26 (11) – Tries: Renzo du Plessis, JC Pretorius, Edwill van der Merwe. Conversion: Lubabalo Dobela. Penalties: Kade Wolhuter (3).

Connacht 7 (0) – Try: Eoin de Buitlear. Conversion: David Hawkshaw.

It was a welcome return to some pragmatic but also scintillating rugby by the Stormers in what appeared to be an easy victory against Benetton at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday, as they scored an impressive seven tries to one by the Italians.

Springbok Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was in fine form once again, scoring 26 points as he ran the show with ease, slotting six conversions and two penalties, to add to a drop goal and a fantastic try in the final minute of the match.

It was one-way traffic from the outset as the home side led 23-0 after 20 minutes, thanks to tries by Sazi Sandi and Dan du Plessis to add to two conversions, two penalties and a drop goal by Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

The Capetonians added their third try in the 32nd minute by Seabelo Senatla and the successful conversion saw them take a 30-0 lead, which reduced the pressure on them despite Sandi receiving a yellow card minutes before half-time due to repeated scrum infringements.

The visitors hit back with a try by Jacob Umaga immediately after the break but this proved to be their only points of the match as the Stormers kept attacking at will, which saw Marcel Theunissen, Leolin Zas, Paul de Villiers and Feinberg-Mngomezulu add further tries in a one-sided second half in which both teams received yellow cards, which saw the Cape side walk away with the rewarding victory.

With matches against the Dragons and Cardiff at home remaining, the Stormers will certainly back themselves to book a quarter-final berth in the coming weeks.

Score

DHL Stormers 56 (30) – Tries: Sazi Sandi, Dan du Plessis, Seabelo Senatla, Marcel Theunissen, Leolin Zas, Paul de Villiers, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Conversions: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (6). Penalties: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2). Drop goal: Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Benetton 5 (0) – Try: Jacob Umaga.

A classy second-half fightback by the Sharks saw them overturn a disappointing 19-5 half-time deficit into a nail-biting victory against Ulster at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday, earning the Durbanites the bragging rights as the first South African team to earn a win in Belfast.

Making the victory even more significant, the KwaZulu-Natalians managed this incredible feat after having to make last-minute changes to their team following the withdrawal of Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth due to illness.

The Sharks started the match strongly with Bok centre Lukhanyo Am threatening to score in the opening exchanges but this was short-lived as Ulster scored three tries in the opening 29 minutes, thanks to their enterprising attack to take a 19-0 lead.

The visitors fought back with a try by Bok speedster Makazole Mapimpi in 33rd minute after a great break and fantastic team play to spread the ball wide and they had another go at the tryline in the 39th minute when Mapimpi crossed the whitewash once again while Ulster were reduced to 14 men, only to be denied the try due to a forward pass.

The Sharks took the match by the scruff of the neck in the second half as they stepped up the quality of their attack and placed immense pressure on the defence, which paid off with tries by Emmanuel Tshituka and Jurenzo Julius within nine minutes to level the scores at 19 points apiece with 10 minutes left on the clock.

Bok flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse then dealt the killer blow to Ulster’s hopes of a victory or draw in the 77th minute as he slotted the winning penalty in a dramatic finish to the exciting match.

Score

Ulster 19 (19) – Tries: Jack Murphy, Jude Postlethwaite, Nathan Doak. Conversions: Murphy (2).

Hollywoodbets Sharks 22 (5) – Tries: Makazole Mapimpi, Emmanuel Tshituka, Jurenzo Julius. Conversions: Jordan Hendrikse (2). Penalty: Hendrikse.