URC PREVIEW: Both Stormers and Sharks have frontiers to cross

Just under a month ago the Hollywoodbets Sharks broke through a new frontier when they recorded their first ever Vodacom United Rugby Championship win over the DHL Stormers.

The closest they’d come to beating their coastal rivals in the URC before that was when the two sides drew in Durban in the inaugural season so when they got home by six points it was a reason to celebrate. However, that the Stormers aren’t easy to beat in a derby was underlined by the way the game finished - the visitors were well out of it with three minutes to go when they trailed by 13 points and at that point a losing bonus point should have been the most they could hope for.

It very nearly didn’t work out like that. Given a chance to win the game off the last move when they were awarded a penalty try, the Stormers went for it. And for a moment it looked like they’d achieved their objective as Manie Libbok jetted over near the posts after an attack that went coast to coast. The conversion to win the game was going to be a formality.

But before Libbok could kick it the TMO did his check, and spotted a small knock-on at the genesis of the sustained long range attack. The try was cancelled out and the Sharks survived to win another close one, a habit they continued against the Bulls last week as they completed a four win home sequence in the competition that accounted for three URC champion teams as well as the side that has been beaten in two of the three finals.

The Sharks under the coaching of John Plumtree have spoken a lot about establishing their home base as a fortress and while not a completed mission, they have travelled a good way towards pulling it off.

DURBANITES FACE DIFFERENT CHALLENGE AWAY

However, winning trophies is not just about winning at home, and the Sharks do have another enticing frontier to cross in Saturday’s big return coastal derby in Cape Town - they need to show that they can be as effective away from home and there is no better team to provide that litmus test than the Stormers. You have to go back to December 2021 to when last the Stormers lost at DHL Stadium.

They sent out a reminder about just how impregnable their own fortress is becoming with the comparative ease (for a derby game) with which they saw off the challenge of the Emirates Lions last week. It was though, as coach John Dobson put it afterwards, just half the job done. For the Stormers also have a frontier to cross, that being the one that separates the top challengers from the also rans.

A win over the Sharks on Saturday will make it four wins in eight starts for the Stormers in the URC and stabilise their campaign by lifting them into the top eight. Defeat will make it three in eight and they will remain rooted to the bottom part of the log. There is a big difference, and it is arguably the difference between being in contention and not being in contention when 2025 arrives next week.

A QUASI KNOCK-OUT GAME FOR DOBSON’S MEN

So it is in effect a quasi knock-out game for the Stormers, who will be looking to cross the frontier that will set them up as proper challengers in the competition. The Stormers’ next URC game after this one is the away clash with formidable Leinster on 25 January, so there’s a lot on the line for them in the coastal derby.

They arguably do need the win more than the Sharks do, just like the Sharks needed the win last week in Durban more than the Bulls did. Much will hinge in this game on what team the Sharks send to Cape Town. If it is one weakened by injury, or if Plumtree decides to give his top players Christmas off so they can be properly refreshed for the visit of mighty Toulouse for an Investec Champions Cup game on 11 January, then the Stormers should be too strong at home.

If not, and Eben Etzebeth for once gets to play against his former team, then all bets are off and it is anyone’s game - although the Stormers as hosts would still have a slight edge. The Cape team did have a significant edge in the forward battle in Durban four weeks ago, and they’ve strengthened since then with the return of Frans Malherbe, Deon Fourie and Salmaan Moerat to the selection mix.

The Stormers will also receive a significant boost if, as expected, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is available to wear the No 12 jersey after he limped off with a hip pointer injury against the Lions last Saturday.

STORMERS CAN’T AFFORD TO BE CHARITABLE

If the Stormers are to reverse the result of the Durban game they will have to be imbued with less of the Christmas spirit than they were on that occasion, and be be more clinical and ruthless. The Stormers would have had confidence boosted by their win over the Lions, but it was still an error-ridden performance. They would have won in Durban had they been even just slightly better with their finishing.

But they are up against a team that even when depleted by injury still has enough experienced players to hold the unit together and which, most crucially, has now discovered a winning habit.

This round of URC fixtures, which is the ninth for the overseas teams and the eighth for the two SA sides because of the postponement of the first round derbies in September, will be spread out until Wednesday (New Year’s Day), when there will be a Welsh derby double header.

Apart from the Cape Town game, the key fixtures should be the return 1872 derby between Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors in front of what should be a big crowd at Murrayfield, and Friday night’s Irish derby between arch-rivals Munster and Leinster in Limerick. Like the Stormers against the Sharks, it is a must win game for Munster.

WEEKEND VODACOM UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES AND PREDICTIONS

Munster v Leinster (Limerick, Friday 21.35)

Prediction: Leinster to win by 10

DHL Stormers v Hollywoodbets Sharks (Cape Town, Saturday 17.00)

Prediction: Stormers to win by 7

Zebre v Benetton (Parma, Saturday 17.00)

Prediction: Benetton to win by 8

Edinburgh v Glasgow Warriors (Edinburgh, Saturday 17.00)

Prediction: Glasgow to scrape it by less than 7

Connacht v Ulster (Galway, Saturday 21.35)

Prediction: Connacht to scrape it by less than 7

Cardiff Rugby v Ospreys (Cardiff, Wednesday 17.00)

Prediction: Cardiff to win by 10

Scarlets v Dragons (Llanelli, Wednesday 19.15)

Prediction: Scarlets to win by 12