URC WRAP: Dominant wins for Bulls, Stormers showed where SA teams' strengths lie ahead of Europe

With the season’s focus turning to an unfamiliar European angle this week, it wasn’t surprising that the past weekend’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship derbies confirmed some long-held beliefs in local rugby circles.

The dominance shown by both the Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers in their respective wins over the the 10bet Lions and Hollywoodbets Sharks respectively went a far way to confirming what we already knew - where the bulk of South Africa’s challenge will come this season.

Both teams bounced back from uncharacteristic defeats away from home the week before. The Stormers had their lineout disintegrate against Edinburgh while the Bulls conspired to defeat themselves against Munster.

But the return to their happy home hunting grounds was more than the elixir they needed to put in statement performances on a Saturday afternoon where both again confirmed their pedigrees and will now look forward to their opening Investec Champions Cup fixtures with a lot of confidence.

COLLISION WINS WERE KEY

Key to both the Bulls and Stormers wins was not only the return of their Springboks - who slotted in easily into the work their team-mates had put in earlier in the season, but also the way they won the collisions.

Rugby is a collision sport, they say, and in this case the old rule holds true - if you don’t win the collisions - especially in a brutal local derby, there is no way you will come out on top on the scoreboard.

Yet there was more than that in the play of both sides. Both played with confidence and freedom to run the ball when they were on attack, and both used their transition plays to good effect to score when they had the chance.

And underpinning it all was the fact that both had solid setpieces, and a dominant rolling maul. The Stormers had three of their tries come from this, and when the review is done this week there will be a lot of smiling faces among the forwards and scrum coaches of both sides.

So what does that mean for the Sharks and Lions? To put it plainly, a lot of hard work still needing to go into their finalised product.

Both have shown some flashes in winning their opening two games of where they can be, and both are works-in-progress, although that line for the Lions is probably wearing thin now after seven seasons of Ivan van Rooyen’s coaching.

Both will feature in the top eight and will know it was a battle lost, and if they are clever, will take the lessons learnt and adapt, knowing there are a few more derbies to come in the season where they can have another crack.

SHOWED WHERE ALL FOUR TEAMS WERE AT

Simply put, the weekend’s derbies exposed where all four teams are at. The Bulls and Stormers are a lot closer to where they need to be to have a go at the title, the Lions are growing, but at a much slower pace than they would want, and the Sharks still struggle when Eben Etzebeth is off the field.

The Durban side, though, are very much in a transition phase and perhaps got ahead of themselves a bit when they won their opening two games. The URC is, after all, a marathon rather than a sprint, and they would do well to take this setback in their stride and work on everything that went well for them.

BULLS BRING THE HEAT AT LOFTUS VERSFELD

It is often thought that a lunchtime kickoff in the heat at Loftus Versfeld is one of the most brutal things any touring team can encounter. Even if that team lives across the Jukskei and should be used to it.

But the 32 degree heat initially didn’t seem to bother either side, until the collisions started taking their toll. At Loftus Versfeld it was the yellow card that took its toll as the Bulls exploited a weakness out wide - the Lions had lost Erich Cronje, probably their player of the year so far - last week and Paul de Wet and Canan Moodie found enough space to exploit, with De Wet being hauled in close to the line. Springbok Morne van den Berg stuck out a hand in desperation and knocked the ball out of De Wet’s hand, earning himself a yellow card for the move.

And in a flash the scoreline went for 12-7 to 24-10 in the time he was off the field. But more than that, the Bulls had taken control and weren’t going to look back.

By the time the dust settled they had scored nine tries, but it was their defence under pressure that was impressive, as they kept the Lions - normally a team that doesn’t struggle to score - down to two tries themselves. That has been a feature of all three games this season and while the tries grab the headlines, the Bulls will be very satisfied with a defensive performance that never took a step back.

The sight of Cameron Hanekom’s brutal hand-off of Richard Kriel probably summed up the game. The Bulls were rampant and the Lions simply had no answer.

SCRUM SURPRISES IN CAPE TOWN

The most surprising aspect of the Cape Town derby came early on, and as expected, it was going to be fireworks in the scrums when two Bok front rows were set to collide.

But while a close contest was expected, what wasn’t expected was the impressive performance by Nthuthuko Mchunu, who won four of the first five scrum penalties against Thomas du Toit - with the fifth going the other way around.

While the Sharks will argue the calls - which mostly came from the assistant referee while the Morne Ferreira was watching Wilco Louw and Ox Nche have a titanic battle - were incorrect, the result was the same.

The Stormers never really needed the help, but the scrum did give them the dominance they needed early on and it showed on the scoreboard. Their pack was everywhere, and certainly looked unstoppable from the maul.

The Sharks losing both Etzebeth and Springbok flyhalf Vusi Moyo to injury early on didn’t help, but this was a game where the Stormers pack took control and set a platform for man of the match Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to star.

While Hacjivah Dayimani should have probably scored a hat-trick, his brace was important and his link as a forward who pops up in the backline is a luxury few sides have. The pushover try (did he score it?) was just reward for the Stormers pack to take the bragging rights.

One caveat though - the Sharks loose forwards were exceptional and the work put in by Phepsi Buthelezi, Matt Ramao and Manu Tshituka got them the reward of a try each on the afternoon.

But at the same time the yellow cards Ramao and Tshituka received were devastating for their hopes of parity with the Stormers. Ramao was the first recipient locally of a yellow for a knee drop tackle - something that has been illegal for some while but World Rugby reiterated last week - while Tshituka was unfortunate in being pinned for collapsing a maul as the Stormers scored.

They were beaten on the day, but there is certainly enough there for the Sharks to build on, and they will be back

SA COACHES STILL UNBEATEN UP NORTH

In the rest of the competition, there are only two sides still unbeaten as Edinburgh top the log with Sean Everitt’s side beating Zebre Parma 29-12 and Franco Smith’s Glasgow Warriors smashing Connacht 36-19.

Ulster - who haven’t won in six games before the weekend - fought back for a plucky draw against Munster while Leinster returned to the RDS Stadium for a dominant win over Cardiff.

Even for the two losing sides on the weekend, the Lions and the Sharks, the log looks pretty decent with Edinburgh and Glasgow the early front runners, followed by the Bulls and Stormers level in third on 11 points. The Sharks are a point behind in fifth and the Lions another point back in seventh.

But it really is early days and a lot can still happen this season. So while the Stormers and Bulls will enjoy their wins, and the Lions and Sharks lick their wounds, the focus is now on Europe for a week before the URC battle resumes.

Weekend Results

Friday

Glasgow Warriors 36 Connacht 19

Dragons 31 Ospreys 38

Saturday

Vodacom Bulls 57 10bet Lions 15

DHL Stormers 39 Hollywoodbets Sharks 22

Zebre Parma 12 Edinburgh 29

Scarlets 27 Benetton 26

Ulster 26 Munster 26

Leinster 29 Cardiff 5

This coming weekend’s European action for SA teams

Investec Champions Cup

Saturday

Vodacom Bulls vs Stade Francais (Pretoria, 2pm)

DHL Stormers vs Bristol Bears (Cape Town 4.15pm)

La Rochelle vs 10bet Lions (La Rochelle 6.30pm)

EPCR Challenge Cup

Saturday

Lyon vs Hollywoodbets Sharks (Lyon 2pm)

Sunday

Bayonne vs Toyota Cheetahs (Bayonne 2pm)