Weekend of upsets in URC derbies

Saturday’s thrilling South African derby round in the United Rugby Championship delivered victories for the lower ranked teams on the log with the Lions holding out the Stormers in Johannesburg before the Sharks shocked the Bulls in Pretoria.

These victories saw the teams from Johannesburg and Durban make up valuable ground on the standings and blew the race to the SA Shield wide open.

The Lions delivered a quality first-half performance and built up a 24-6 halftime lead against the Stormers at Airline Park, which paved the way for a rewarding 30-23 victory, while the Sharks overcame three yellow cards, resulting in them being reduced to 12 men at one stage early in the second half, to outplay the Bulls for a memorable 29-19 bonus-point win at Loftus Versfeld.

Despite losing, the Bulls remain in third place on the table with 35 points – 17 behind log-leaders Leinster and trailing the second-placed Glasgow Warriors by two points, although the Scottish defending champions could extend their lead over the Pretoria outfit later on Sunday if they register a win against the Dragons in Wales.

Following their full-house of points in Pretoria, the Sharks are now only one point behind the Bulls on 34 after 10 matches, but both these sides still have a game in hand over their Northern Hemisphere counterparts

The 12^th placed Lions, on 23 points after nine matches, reduced their deficit against the 10^th placed Stormers to only one point.

With only four points separating the eighth-placed Scarlets and the Lions, all four SA sides are still well in the race for playoff places later in the season with seven regular pool rounds remaining.

Strong first half seals the deal for Lions 

The Lions delivered a quality performance on attack and defence in Johannesburg on Saturday to hold on for an invaluable 30-23 victory against the Stormers in an enjoyable local URC derby, with a handy 24-6 halftime lead giving them the edge they needed to march on for a vital victory.

The Capetonians showed their intent from the opening exchanges of the match in which they worked their way into strong scoring positions twice in the first 10 minutes, but a combination of mistakes and the tough Lions defence shut them out.

They suffered a blow soon after as Warrick Gelant received a yellow card for an infringement as the hosts made their way close to the tryline, and the Lions capitalised on this immediately with Gianni Lombard kicking a penalty goal, which they followed up with tries by Morne van den Berg and Henco van Wyk within three minutes of one another, with the only points the visitors were able to score being two penalty goals by Jurie Matthee.

The Johannesburgers continued to threaten on attack, and after missing out on a chance to score their third try in the 29^th minute, a brilliant chip kick by Edwill van der Merwe saw Marius Louw touch down in the 34^th minute to nudge them into an 18-point lead at the break.

The Stormers came out with a bang in the second half with Gelant scoring their first try from a fantastic dummy pass and dash through the defence to take their score into double figures, but two further penalty goals by Lombard soon after, saw the hosts stretch their lead to an encouraging 30-13.

The Cape side threw everything they had at the Lions as the half progressed, but once again mistakes and turnovers conceded saw them fail to build on their score.

A yellow card to the home teams’ Richard Kriel gave the Stormers a handy numbers advantage, and they made the most of this with Evan Roos crossing the chalk in the 70^th minute.

They added a late penalty goal on the stroke of fulltime to snatch a losing bonus point from the match, with the final score at 30-23, but they will rue several missed opportunities, which would have surely seen them give the Lions a good go for the victory. 

Scorers:

Lions 30 (24) – Tries: Morne van den Berg, Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw. Conversions: Gianni Lombard (3). Penalty goals: Lombard (3).

Stormers 23 (6) – Tries: Warrick Gelant, Evan Roos. Conversions: Jurie Matthee (2). Penalty goals: Matthee (3).

Gutsy Sharks topple Bulls at Loftus

The Sharks produced a gutsy performance against the Bulls, which included scoring three second half tries, to secure an invaluable bonus-point 29-19 victory against the top-placed SA team, which reduced the deficit between themselves and the men from Pretoria to only one point on the URC log.

The defeat for the Bulls marked only their third in 10 matches in the URC this season and would have surprised most fans based on the home team’s solid form this season.

The match was mostly played between the forwards where the hosts had the upper hand, and while the Sharks’ ill-discipline cost them three yellow cards to one by the Bulls, their backs ran the show with their raw pace and skill, especially in the air.

The visitors lost double Rugby World Cup-winning front rankers Trevor Nyakane and Bongi Mbonambi to injury in the first half, but the injuries did not dampen the Sharks’ spirits as they never stopped showing enterprise on attack.

At the same time, the Bulls were robbed of some momentum when their experienced Springbok playmaker Willie le Roux was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes in the opening stanza, allowing the visitors to take a lead into the break.

The Bulls struck first in the third minute with Jan-Hendrik Wessels touching down, but Ethan Hooker evened the scores for the visitors, which Jordan Hendrikse added to with a penalty goal to hand them a 10-7 lead before the Sharks lost Jason Jenkins to a yellow card eight minutes before halftime.

The visitors, however, did well to maintain their three-point lead going into the sheds. The Durbanites’ ill-discipline continued to cost them in the second half with Corne Rahl receiving his marching orders four minutes after play resumed, which saw them being reduced to 13 men, and the Bulls capitalised on this with Johan Grobbelaar touching down to hand them a 12-10 lead.

Things went from bad to worse for the Sharks as Ntuthuko Mchunu became the third player to receive a yellow card within seven minutes, and soon they were down to 12 players.

But this did not stop them as Hendrikse, Tino Mavesere and Yaw Penxe all scored tries between the 55^th and 71^st minute, and at 29-12 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining to play, the result was all but wrapped up for the visitors.

The Bulls refused to give up and managed to score a consolation try three minutes from the final whistle as Grobbelaar crossed the chalk for his second five-pointer, but it was too little too late and they were forced to settle for a disappointing 10-point home defeat.

Scorers:

Bulls 19 (7) – Tries: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Johan Grobbelaar (2). Conversions: Willie le Roux, Boeta Chamberlain.

Sharks 29 (10) – Tries: Ethan Hooker, Jordan Hendrikse, Tino Mavesere, Yaw Penxe. Conversions: Jordan Hendrikse, Siya Masuku (2). Penalty goal: Hendrikse.