URC Round 13 Review

Vodacom Bulls end Leinster’s winning run right at the death

 

So it’s finally happened, Leinster Rugby have been beaten - but only just!

It looked as though the league leaders were going to make it 13 straight wins in the BKT URC and 17 out of 17 in all competitions this season when fly-half Ross Byrne landed a long range penalty via an upright three minutes from time to put them 20-18 up against the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria.

Victory seemed even more certain when they were awarded a scrum with just two seconds left on the clock.

But, following a reset, they were penalised for collapsing in the face of a huge shove from the hosts who were down to 14 men following a red card for wing Sebastian De Klerk.

So, as a compelling contest moved into the 85th minute, up stepped Vodacom Bulls centre David Kriel who kept his nerve to secure a 21-20 triumph with the last kick of the game.

Praising his match-winner, coach Jake White said: “He’s gold for us. I’m happy for him. As a goal-kicker, those kind of things can add scars if you miss it.”

It’s a result which sees White’s team hold on to third place in the table.

“We had to win to stay in the top four and, even with 14 men, we found a way,” he said.

“I told the players I wanted to see them desperate to get a result for 80 minutes and I’m proud of the way they fought.”

The dramatic ending at Loftus Versfeld was symptomatic of a weekend which saw a series of nail-biting finishes with seven of the eight matches being decided by just one score.

There was a case in point at Scotstoun on Friday night where the second-placed Glasgow Warriors came from behind to beat Munster Rugby 28-25.

They were 11 points down with just 12 minutes to go, but turned the game on its head through late tries from Matt Fagerson and Nathan McBeth.

Their coach Franco Smith said: “We made it hard for ourselves, but we got it done. We were our own enemies for most of it, but I am really happy we could win even if it wasn’t our best performance.

“Credit to Munster. They are a top team, well drilled, well coached. It's not a Mickey Mouse team that we played against, it's a quality group of players and we'll take that compliment in winning any way."

Munster coach Ian Costello commented: “There was a huge amount of effort, work rate, fight, character. We couldn’t ask for more in terms of effort and what the boys put into it.

“We are really gutted we couldn’t finish off the job.

“There were just a few inaccuracies and a couple of naive moments that gave Glasgow momentum and a foothold in the second half.

“They are a quality side, they play really good rugby and they really delivered, especially in the last 20 minutes. We are very disappointed with the result and the outcome.”

Friday night’s other game was also a desperately close affair, with Cardiff Rugby holding on in the face of intense late pressure from the Emirates Lions to win 20-17 at the Arms Park and move up to fifth.

Then Saturday saw Benetton Rugby beat Edinburgh Rugby 21-18 in Treviso thanks to a 78th minute try from flanker Alessandro Izekor who went over shortly after opposing centre Mosese Tuipulotu was red carded.

The Hollywoodbets Sharks also left it late to finally quell a heroic effort from Zebre Parma with Jordan Hendrikse converting Ethan Hooker’s try five minutes from time to snatch a 35-34 victory.

There was another stoppage time nerve jangler in Swansea as the Ospreys kept Connacht Rugby out at the death to win 43-40 and shoot up to seventh, while Ulster Rugby staged a late surge to come from 30-21 down to beat Dragons RFC 34-30 at Rodney Parade.

The only game where the teams were separated by more than a score was in Llanelli where the DHL Stormers defeated the Scarlets 29-17 and that hung in the balance until the visitors claimed their bonus point try two minutes from time.

Sheedy loving his rugby with play-off chasing Cardiff

Callum Sheedy says he is enjoying his rugby more than he has for years as he looks ahead to an exciting end to the season with Cardiff.

It was the fly-half’s place-kicking that ultimately proved the difference in a nail-biting 20-17 victory over the Emirates Lions at the Arms Park, as he landed all four shots at goal, including three real testers.

Cardiff are now up to fifth in the table and right in the hunt for the play-offs, while they are also through to the knock-out stages of the Challenge Cup, with a last 16 trip to Connacht coming up in two weeks time.

“We’ve worked so hard for seven months to put ourselves in a position where we are fighting for something,” said Sheedy.

“The boys who have been here for a while have said they haven’t had that feeling for a few years, where we have got six, seven games to go in the season and we are fighting in the league, we are fighting in Europe.

“We have all been there as players where we’ve been on the other end where it’s kind of dead rubbers and it’s a bit of a dull feeling, whereas the next few weeks are going to be so exciting for us as a group and it’s exactly where we want to be.”

Reflecting on the tense triumph over the Lions, Sheedy said: “Listen, we are not stupid as players. We see the league table, we know how tight it is, so that four points is huge.

“It gives us confidence now going to Treviso next week.

“I am really excited with where we can go this season. I think we are in a great place.”

Cardiff had to dig deep defensively in the dying minutes as the Lions hammered away in search of the winning score, but they held firm to secure the spoils.

“We found ourselves fighting for our life on our line,” said Sheedy.

“It was an unbelievable effort from the boys. It was great fight.”

As for life at Cardiff following his move from Bristol last summer, he says: “I love it here. I am probably enjoying my rugby more than I have for years.

“I am very fortunate to work under Jockey (Matt Sherratt). He’s unbelievable. Wales were very lucky to have him and we are very lucky to have him back.”

Sheedy landed two conversions from wide out, plus a 43 metre penalty amid a perfect display off the tee.

“I know I have missed kicks this season. Trust me, I am my own biggest critic,” said the 29-year-old.

“When I miss kicks, I feel like I let people down and I hate it. All I can do is go back and work harder and be the best version of myself. As long as I do that and I have the respect of my team-mates and the coaches, then I will sleep easy at night.

“The more games I can have like this, it makes those long days worth it, all those hours where you are in on your day off kicking and kicking after sessions.”

Giving his thoughts on the win, coach Matt Sherratt said: “It was a pivotal game. Everyone can see how tight the table is, so to pick those four points up was massive,

“It’s in our hands now, but we’ve still got to keep working hard.”

As for the dramatic finale, he said: “You almost feared the worst when they got five metres out because they are a big side.

“But you could see what it meant to the players in those last few minutes, holding them up over the line twice.

“We have been on the end of a few heartbreakers over the past 18 months, so it was brilliant to see how well we defended at the end.”

Match of the weekend

 

Ospreys 43, Connacht 40

Ospreys coach Mark Jones says the target is to keep on climbing the table now they are up to seventh after coming out on top in a “crazy” 12-try thriller against Connacht.

Jones’ team looked to be heading for a comfortable win when they led 38-14 and then 43-28 as wings Keelan Giles and Dan Kasende both crossed twice.

But Connacht refused to lie down and scored four tries in the mid-section of the second half to set up a grandstand finish, with the hosts having to repel a prolonged late onslaught to claim a bonus point victory which puts them in the play-off positions for the first time this season.

Jones said: “It was a crazy game. We let it get out of control ourselves, we were part of the problem really, but the good thing is we had enough solutions to get the job done.

“I would rather focus on what we did well than dwell too much on what we didn’t. It’s pretty obvious what we didn’t do well and it was on the defensive side. It wasn’t poor all the time, it was just very inconsistent and when you play a very good side like Connacht they will work out pretty quickly where you are vulnerable and go after it and they did and they were very ruthless around that area.

“It’s a good learning for us because there are a lot of tough tests to come, a lot of good attacking teams to come, so we are going to need to make sure we are back to what we have been previous to this game.

“We will be better for this performance. It was good in parts, but we are going to need to be better with the challenges that are coming because we got out of jail a little bit.

“There were loads of positives in the game. We scored some lovely tries. It’s just a case of can we try and win a game without having to score 43 points!”

Reflecting on his team moving into the top eight, Jones said: “If you want to jump up five places in the league, there is a lot of effort involved.

“The table doesn’t lie. It tells you how competitive the league is, it tells you how good the players in the league are.

“We have been chipping away at our results over the last 8-10 weeks and hopefully the boys are in a position now where we have got something we can really get our teeth stuck into and try and stay up there if we can and keep climbing.

“We are right in there and we are going to go toe to toe with the other teams for as long as we can. We'll just have to see how far that will take us.”

Connacht assistant coach Colm Tucker agreed it was a “crazy” contest, adding: “I’m sure it was a brilliant game to watch for the neutral, with outstanding tries on both sides.

“The boys showed incredible resilience and spirit to come back and keep fighting to the death. We were very unlucky not to come away with five points. There are loads of positives for us to take out of that game.”

Player of the weekend

Jack Walsh (Ospreys)

The USA-born, Aussie-raised Walsh produced just about as complete a performance as you could wish to see in the Ospreys’ 43-40 victory over Connacht in Swansea.

He crossed for one try, provided assists for four more and played in two pivotal positions, starting at full-back and then switching to fly-half.

There were two scoring passes for Keelan Giles, a break out of his own half to pave the way for Kieran Hardy going over and a kick along the touchline for Dan Kasende to dab down.

His coach Mark Jones said: “Jack was very good. He played particularly well.

“We know he’s a player that can bring our game alive with the ball. He’s got great feet, he’s deceptively quick, he’s very fit and he’s got a good skill set, so he joins our game up around trying to get the ball to the edge or playing through the middle.

“What I was particularly impressed with was his work-ethic, his back field cover. He made good decisions there. So he had an all-court game.”

Quote of the weekend

Dragons captain Aneurin Owen after his team lost 34-30 at home to Ulster after leading 30-21 with 15 minutes to go: “It was definitely an opportunity missed. It’s one that got away. This has been our season. We do so well, but just in key moments towards the end of games we let it slip. There have been about eight or nine of them this season where we should be on the other side. It’s tough.”

What’s coming next?

It’s the west Wales derby next weekend with the Scarlets hosting the in-form Ospreys, who have only lost one of their eight matches under new head coach Mark Jones.

There’s also a big derby clash in Ireland with Connacht taking their meeting with Munster to Castlebar’s MacHale Park in a ground-breaking move.

Elsewhere, league leaders Leinster continue their tour of South Africa by travelling to Durban to face the fourth-placed Sharks.

Glasgow - now nine points behind in second - entertain the Lions, while the third-placed Bulls are home to Zebre, with the other Round 14 fixtures being Benetton v Cardiff, Edinburgh v Dragons and Ulster v Stormers.