Three SA teams rooted in Vodacom URC top four

The Vodacom Bulls, DHL Stormers and Hollywoodbets Sharks all recorded good victories in the fifth round of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship to remain in the top four spots on the log as the competition goes into a break for the Nations Championship this month.

Unfortunately, the 10bet Lions went down to the only unbeaten team left in the competition when the Glasgow Warriors won their match by 29-20 on Friday evening.

On Saturday, the Stormers shifted gears after the break to beat Ulster by 33-7 in Cape Town, after which the Bulls finished strongly to dispatch the Scarlets by 54-26 in Pretoria.

The Sharks then made sure it was a Super Saturday for the South African teams with a hard-fought 15-3 victory over Munster in Limerick – only their second win yet in Ireland.

Edinburgh’s 31-12 defeat to Benetton in Treviso saw them slip down the table, with the unbeaten Glasgow Warriors now top on 23 points.

The Bulls are second on 21 points, followed by the Stormers, also on 21 but in third spot due to points’ difference, while the Sharks and Edinburgh have 19 points apiece.

After a strong start, the Lions have slipped down the standings and are now in 13th spot on nine. The URC will resume early next month, with two local derbies on the schedule for Saturday, 5 December when the Lions host the Bulls in Johannesburg and the Stormers travel to Durban to take on the Sharks.

The Lions fought back bravely in their clash against the Warriors in Scotland on Friday night but a late try by the hosts sealed victory, after they led 19-3 at the break.

Glasgow scored three first-half tries – two of them in the final 10 minutes before the break – to take control of the encounter. The visitors from Johannesburg only had a Chris Smith penalty to show for their efforts, even though they had a number of opportunities, while they also lost Etienne Oosthuizen to the sin bin late in the first half.

They refused to give up however and gradually fought their way back into the contest. Tries by Morne van den Berg in the 50th minute and Siba Mahashe a quarter of an hour later gave them momentum and when Morne Brandon went over with 10 minutes to go, the Lions took a 20-19 lead.

Unfortunately, Glasgow found the extra gear and Ollie Smith’s converted try in the 76th minute and an injury time penalty by George Horne, meant the Lions left Glasgow with empty hands, although they would have been largely pleased their second half performance.

Glasgow Warriors 29 (10) – Tries: Fergus Watson, Dan Lancaster, Jack Singleton, Ollie Smith. Conversions: George Horne (3). Penalty: Horne.

10bet Lions 20 (3) – Tries: Morne van den Berg, Siba Mahashe, Morne Brandon. Conversion: Boeta Chamberlain. Penalty: Chris Smith.

The Stormers made a step up to deliver a more polished second-half performance in their valuable home win over Ulster in their round-five clash at the DL Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The win ensured the Cape side maintain their good home run in the early stages of the cross-hemisphere competition but they would have been far from happy with a patchy first-half performance. They did however improve in the second half to see them register an important bonus-point success.

Ulster were first to score when David McCann barged over to hand them a 7-0 lead, which they held until seven minutes before half-time, when JD Schickerling forced his way over next to the poles to open the hosts’ account and level the scores.

Shortly after the restart Springbok flanker Paul de Villiers scored an opportunistic try when he charged down a kick to dot down, allowing the Stormers to take a narrow 12-7 lead into the break.

Five minutes into the second half, Evan Roos scored a wonderful solo try when he ran 60m as the home side built on their momentum to establish a 19-7 lead.

Junior Bok flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed, who was included in the Springbok squad for their Nations Championship tour, then demonstrated his skill and composure to find skipper Ruhan Nel with a pin-point cross-kick out wide. The experienced midfielder displayed impressive arial skills to snatch the ball under pressure and went over for the hosts’ fourth of the afternoon.

Ahmed then ran a strong, flat line to take a pass from former Junior Bok Haashim Pead to dive over as the Stormers secure another vital home triumph.

DHL Stormers 33 (12) – Tries: JD Schickerling, Paul de Villiers, Evan Roos, Ruhan Nel, Yaqeen Ahmed. Conversions: Ahmed (4).

Ulster 7 (7) – Try: David McCann. Conversion: Jack Murphy.

The Bulls raced to a home win over the Scarlets in their clash on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, where the hosts were made to work hard for their 19-12 half-time advantage.

The Bulls eventually outscored their Welsh opponents by eight tries to four in a powerful second-half display at their fortress in the Jacaranda City.

Half of the hosts’ tries came in the final 22 minutes as they opened a big gap on the scoreboard for a comfortable win.

However, they did not have things entirely their own way. After the Bulls gained a 19-0 lead, the Welsh side fought back to briefly level the scores at 26-26 when Joe Roberts got their fourth try during a profitable passage of play in the second stanza, just before the hour-mark.

However, with their scrum setting the tone, the Bulls grew in confidence in the final quarter, committed fewer errors and found another gear to pull clear for a solid win.

Marcell Coetzee led the hosts’ forward charge superbly and went over twice, just like Dylan Maart, while Jeandre Rudolph was equally industrious with his strong carries and was also rewarded with a try.

Vodacom Bulls 54 (19) – Tries: Marcell Coetzee (2), Dylan Maart (2), Jeandre Rudolph, Willie le Roux, Sebastian de Klerk, Johan Grobbelaar. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (7).

Scarlets 26 (12) – Tries: John McKee, Sam Lousi, Archie Hughes, Joe Roberts. Conversions: Carwyn Leggat-Jones (3).

The Sharks grinded out an outstanding victory over Munster in Limerick on Saturday evening to hold onto their spot in the top four of the URC.

It was the KwaZulu-Natalians’ second victory in 13 matches in Ireland, after they had beaten Ulster in Belfast in April 2025. They also became only the second team to get the better of Munster at Thomond Park following in the footsteps of the Bulls, who won there also in April 2025.

Capitalising on Munster’s mistakes, the Sharks led from the 15th minute, when Gianni Lombard scored the first try of the game, until the end. What’s more, they kept a clean sheet, with JJ Hanrahan’s penalty early in the second half the hosts’ only points of the clash.

Lombard extended the Sharks’ lead with a goal in the 54th minute, after which they lost Springbok prop Ox Nche to the sin-bin for an illegal clean-out.

That didn’t deter the tourists though, with a superb run by Nick Hatton leading to Ivan van Zyl scoring the Durbanites’ second try - converted by Lombard – on the hour mark to put some daylight between them and the home team.

The Sharks then hung on for a memorable win at a stadium that’s been notoriously tough for visiting teams.

Munster 3 (0) – Penalty: JJ Hanrahan.

Hollywoodbets Sharks 15 (5) – Tries: Gianni Lombard, Ivan van Zyl. Conversion: Lombard. Penalty: Lombard.