The Bulls and Stormers continued their winning starts to the URC season, while the Sharks and Lions stumbled again.
The Bulls and Stormers head off on their overseas tours on a high, sitting in the top two positions on the United Rugby Championship (URC) log after the opening two rounds of the competition, while the Sharks and Lions languish in the bottom half of the table.
Both the Bulls and Stormers were made to work hard at the weekend, but eventually came away with second straight home wins – 39-31 against Leinster at Loftus, and 26-10 against Ospreys at Cape Town Stadium – which sees the Pretoria side top the log on 10 points, ahead of the Cape side in second place on nine.
This while the Sharks and Lions blew huge chances to pick up vital away wins against teams that finished in the bottom two places on the URC log last season, with the Durban side drawing 17-all against the Dragons in Newport, and the Highveld side being edged 22-20 in a thriller against Zebre in Parma.
Leinster match
In the game against Leinster, the Bulls led 17-10 at halftime, before the visitors fought back to lead 31-27 going into the final 15 minutes, followed by a strong finish from the hosts to earn the bonus point win and keep their perfect start intact.
The Bulls now head overseas on a stiff tour where they will face Irish sides Ulster and Connacht, and Scottish side Glasgow Warriors, in their next three games.
“We will take it (the win). I won’t say it was great, but it is two from two, and it was a tough game. We knew Leinster were going to come hard after last week’s result (a heavy loss to the Stormers),” said a happy looking Bulls coach Johan Ackermann after the match.
“I am glad we are going on tour early because I haven’t been able to spend a lot of time with the players individually and as a team. So far it’s been a lot of work and then I go home. Now I will have some quality time with the players.
“We will also get some of our Springbok players integrating into the team. I haven’t worked with them yet and this will be the first time. We also have a few casualties and have to reassess (our squad).
“But we are looking forward to a tough tour. We know that we are playing against quality teams, and we just have to take it week by week.”
Stormers result
The Stormers had to fight back from a 10-8 halftime deficit, before another strong second half show earned them a deserved 26-10 win, just their second positive result in five games against Ospreys, and they will now take that momentum on their three-game tour.
Stormers director of rugby John Dobson admitted after the match that getting the win was vitally important for their tour, as they had not been strong travellers in the competition, and they will now face Scarlets, Zebre and Benetton.
“If we didn’t beat Ospreys, we would’ve had to win all three games on tour. This was a pressure game. I wouldn’t say we have freedom now, we still have to win at least two games on the road. And winning away is not that easy. But this victory is a relief,” said Dobson.
In the other two games at the weekend, the Sharks will be bitterly disappointed to have drawn against the Dragons, which is a team that they really should be beating both home and away, while the Lions suffered a second straight loss on tour, going down to Zebre in a back-and-forth encounter.
