URC WRAP: Some scares along the way but SA surge continues

There are two Scottish teams at the top of the Vodacom URC log as the competition heads into the fifth round next weekend and then the November international break and it is up to the 10Bet Lions and Benetton to change the order.

With the Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers in third and fourth position, both on the same number of log points, 16, but separated just by points difference, a place in the top two would be where they stand to finish this phase if one or both of the Scottish teams lose and they win their games against Scarlets and Ulster respectively.

Glasgow host the Lions on Friday night and Edinburgh travel to Treviso, where Benetton showed much improved form in only losing by four points to Glasgow at the weekend.

And as an indication that they are indeed showing intent to keep pace with their neighbours, the Hollywoodbets Sharks have enough momentum after their excellent win over Cardiff in round 4 to challenge Munster in Limerick in the final game of the next round and current phase on Saturday night. Should they do that and the Stormers or Bulls stumble at home in the earlier games on Saturday, they will displace them.

Having three teams in the top five is indicative of how the season has gone so far for SA in the competition and there should be confidence that the challenge will be maintained once we get to December and then beyond that into the business end of the season.

OVERCAME SCARES BUT BANKED FULL POINTS

Yes, the Stormers and Bulls gave themselves scares by appearing to pay for their complacency at various times in their games against the Scarlets and Ulster respectively. In fairness, for the Stormers there was more to it than just complacency and the looseness that becomes apparent sometimes when you know you are better than your opposition and are chasing a big score.

A freaky slew of injuries during the game left the Stormers severely disrupted and even led to the referee having to call uncontested scrums for more than a quarter of the game. That robbed the Stormers of one of their big strengths at a time when they were having to dig deep after the backline and pack had to effectively be rejigged.

Young new players like flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed used that opportunity to show they could take some control at times of severe pressure, and Stormers director of rugby might well have welcomed the unexpected litmus test of his team’s nerve.

Ahmed came through, scoring two tries at the death to wrap the game up after the scores had been deadlocked at 40-all and given that he is set to start against Ulster on Saturday that should have been great for his confidence. And Dobson’s.

At the same time, the Stormers will know after Ulster pushed the Bulls all the way at Loftus that they are in for a tough game. Ulster looked out of it halfway through the game when the Bulls held a substantial lead, but like at DHL Stadium, where the Scarlets recovered from 33-14 in the third quarter, Ulster fought back and at times had the Bulls defending for their lives.

Ultimately though the Bulls should have won by more, and despite the tenaciousness of Scarlets, it would be reasonable to assume the Stormers would have won by more in Cape Town were it not for the uncontested scrums. That did have a big impact. Both teams banked five log points.

SHARKS THE STAND OUT LOCAL TEAM

The Sharks were the local performers of the weekend with their win in Cardiff, with the players’ willingness to play for each other and the better shape to the Sharks game again much in evidence, like it was the previous week when they scored their last gasp win over Lyon.

Zekhethelo Siyaya was a deserved man of the match award choice but it could just as easily have been 2025 Junior Bok World Championship winner Matt Ramao, who was outstanding throughout and seems to be growing in stature with each passing week.

And ultimately that is the big positive for SA rugby as Rassie Erasmus, preparing for the away leg of the Nations Championship, counts the potential injuries that are racking up to threaten his plans. On one hand he has injuries to some established players to worry about, but at the same time he should be pleased with the talent coming through.

Andre Esterhuizen ended up in a moon-boot in Cardiff after an injury sustained in the first 30 seconds, Deon Fourie left the field injured in Cape Town, as did Andre-Hugo Venter, and there were other injuries across the teams on an unexpectedly attritional weekend.

Three of the four teams though hit the target - you can’t do better than five log points - so it shouldn’t be necessary to go into too much over-analysis of what might have gone wrong for the Bulls and Stormers. When you get a full house of log points any hiccups you experience in the process of doing it can be seen as learnings.

LIONS NEED TO CORRECT AWAY FORM

The odd team out of course is the Lions, who lost by an unexpectedly wide margin in Edinburgh. The loss was anticipated, and last week must have been a really tough one for the Lions once the emotion around Hyron Andrews’ sudden death shown in the La Rochelle game had passed and the reality of the situation had dawned.

The Lions have lost two games in a row in the URC by wide margins after a strong start at Ellis Park and what is crystal clear is that it is their away form that needs to improve. That’s going to be hard to do against Glasgow on Friday but a win will help both themselves and their fellow SA teams.

Round 4 results Vodacom United Rugby Championship

Cardiff Rugby 21 Hollywoodbets Sharks 36

Connacht 48 Zebre 27

Edinburgh 31 10Bet Lions 10

Vodacom Bulls 34 Ulster 26

DHL Stormers 52 Scarlets 40

Benetton 20 Glasgow Warriors 24

Leinster 24 Munster 18

Round 5 fixtures

Connacht v Leinster (Galway, Friday 9:45pm)

Glasgow Warriors v 10Bet Lions (Glasgow, Friday 9:45pm)

DHL Stormers v Ulster (Cape Town, Saturday 2:45pm)

Vodacom Bulls v Scarlets (Pretoria, Saturday 5pm)

Benetton v Edinburgh (Treviso, Saturday  5pm)

Munster v Hollywoodbets Sharks (Limerick, Saturday 7:30pm)

Dragons v Zebre (Newport, Saturday 7:30pm)

Ospreys v Cardiff Rugby (Swansea, Saturday 9:45pm)