Bulls against ‘Ireland’ highlight of crucial URC phase

The Vodacom Bulls will be wary of a potential banana peel in the form of the Dragons in Newport this coming weekend but if they negotiate it their clash with a quasi-Ireland international team could be a season-defining moment in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign.

There are two weeks of URC rugby to look forward to before the two competing South African teams, the Bulls and the DHL Stormers, go into their Investec Champions Cup round of 16 home clashes with Lyon and LaRochelle respectively. While there is sure to be a massive buildup to the game between the Stormers and LaRochelle in particular, what comes before is no less important.

For the Bulls, they could have a chance of finishing top of the overall log if they win these next two games. For the Stormers, a top-four place beckons if they win against Edinburgh and Ulster, both of them home games. And the Hollywoodbets Sharks can help both them and the Bulls when they face Ulster this week and then follow up with what could be an appetising clash with an Edinburgh team coached by former Sharks mentor Sean Everitt.

NOT TO FORGET THE LIONS

That’s not to forget the Lions. They are still within touching distance of a top-eight spot, which signifies both playoff qualification and entry into next season's Champions Cup. But they won’t be if they don’t win at least one of their games, but preferably both against Connacht and Ospreys on a tricky two-match tour. Both of those are also teams that are competing for top-eight spots, so you can see the significance.

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Connacht have yet to lose to a South African franchise team at The Sportsground (they did lose there to the Springboks in a preparation game for the 2007 World Cup) and the Ospreys beat the Lions in Johannesburg in an EPCR Challenge Cup game earlier in the season. That’s how difficult their task is.

But the Lions’ ask might pale into insignificance in comparison to what the Bulls will face in their second match on tour. Leinster will probably bleed their returning Irish internationals in slowly, meaning they won’t play in this week’s game against Zebre. They shouldn’t need to, that’s the luck of the draw for Leinster.

TWO THIRDS OF IRELAND STARTERS FROM LEINSTER

But by the following week, and with a round of 16 Champions Cup game looming, you’d expect Leinster to be very close to full strength when the Bulls arrive in Dublin. And let’s not forget that Leinster owe the Bulls one, actually two - it was the Bulls who knocked them out of the URC on their last visit to Dublin for a semifinal in the 2021/2022 season, and an admittedly understrength Leinster team was smashed by a record score by the Bulls at Loftus last year.

Let’s get this out of the way - we know that the Ireland international team is captained by Peter O’Mahoney, who is from Munster. The flyhalf Jack Crowley also plays for Munster, and inside centre Bundee Aki is from Connacht and is often Ireland’s best player.

But there were 10 Leinster players in the Ireland team that clinched back-to-back Guinness Six Nations triumphs with their win over Scotland at the weekend. That makes it at least a shadow Ireland team that could be facing the Bulls. And then you can add in six players who were among the reserves for this last game: 16 out of 23 were Leinster players. And that makes it more than a starting team.

It’s a massive challenge then for the Bulls, but one that their coach, Jake White, will be eager to embrace after coming through a significant litmus test in beating the Bulls’ arch-rivals, the Stormers, in the recent Pretoria derby. His men have done it before in Dublin, and will take that confidence with them into the game.

RIVALRY HAS DEVELOPED BETWEEN STORMERS AND ULSTER

That same weekend the Stormers will be engaged in a game with equal significance for them. They should get the better of Edinburgh even though the Scots are ahead of them on the log when the teams clash in Cape Town, but Ulster have been a more thorny issue for John Dobson’s men in the first two years of the URC.

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Indeed, there’s a quite testy rivalry that has developed between the teams following two close games in the inaugural season of the URC. It will be remembered that the Stormers’ narrow win in Cape Town in the league game was hotly contested by Ulster’s then-coach Dan McFarland, and then came a semifinal that the Stormers won with a last-gasp Manie Libbok touchline conversion.

Ulster, who of course now have former Stormers captain Steven Kitshoff as one of their kingpins, didn’t have any players involved in the Ireland match day 23 against Scotland and the lack of Ulster representation has been a talking point in Ireland. Ulster’s recent form, which saw McFarland sacked, has also been a talking point.

And yet Ulster remain strongly in contention for a place in the top four, something also coveted by the Stormers. The Stormers can do themselves a favour by keeping their unbeaten home record against Ulster intact on the last Saturday of March, but they will be hoping the Sharks can do the same when they host Ulster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday.

The Sharks have nothing but pride to play for in the URC now, but a win over Ulster will give them some confidence to take into their Challenge Cup round-of-16 clash. Winning the Challenge Cup is their only remaining possible route into next year’s Champions Cup.

The next two weeks of Vodacom URC fixtures

Weekend of 22 to 24 March

Glasgow Warriors v Cardiff Rugby (Friday, 9.35pm)

Ospreys v Munster (Friday, 9.35pm)

Hollywoodbets Sharks v Ulster (Saturday, 3pm)

Scarlets v Benetton (Saturday, 5pm)

DHL Stormers v Edinburgh (Saturday, 5.05pm)

Connacht v Emirates Lions (Saturday, 7.15pm)

Dragons v Vodacom Bulls (Saturday, 9.35pm)

Zebre v Leinster (Saturday, 9.35pm)

Weekend of 29 to 31 March

Leinster v Vodacom Bulls (Friday, 9.35pm)