URC WRAP: Northern teams have reason to feel bullish

The Vodacom United Rugby Championship weekend was much less satisfactory from a South African viewpoint than it was expected to be but the two northern teams at least rose above the generally poor refereeing to make their respective statements and keep the flag flying.

While the two coastal teams both received alarming wake-up calls in big defeats that do have differing contexts that require discussion, the Vodacom Bulls sent out a strong message that they could well be the top South African challenger in the competition again this year.

In the first half of their opening tour match against the Ospreys, they were so good at transferring their form from Loftus, where they do have an obvious advantage and have played their best rugby, to the northern hemisphere, that it should almost have prompted viewers to check that the game was indeed being played away from home.

They clinched their bonus-point try long before halftime and would probably have gone on to win by a big score to rival the one at home against Ulster the previous week were it not for the way a disturbing trend in overseas URC games came through, as it did in the earlier game featuring the DHL Stormers and the one on Sunday featuring the Emirates Lions.

BULLS AND LIONS WON DESPITE THE REFEREEING

What the Bulls and Lions got right that the Stormers didn’t was that they won despite the referee. In the Sunday game between the Lions and the Dragons, it appeared at times that only one team was being reffed at the breakdown, while in Swansea the Bulls’ charge was held up by a referee (and TMO) who appeared to get too easily swayed by the crowd. It was fortunate for the Bulls that they were so far ahead when the cards started flying, and it did all conspire to make the Ospreys look far more competitive in the game than they actually were.

The win with the bonus point means the Bulls have dropped just one point in three games so far, and ditto the Lions, who understandably weren’t quite as imperious in the execution of their attacking game in Newport as they were at home on the Highveld. There is a distortion to the log because the South African sides have played one game less than the other teams, but together with leaders Leinster, they are the only unbeaten teams in the competition.

Leinster continued to show they mean business in the competition this year as they easily dealt with arch-rivals Munster in Dublin, and champions Glasgow Warriors have recovered well from their loss to Ulster in their opening game to take up second position and confirm they will challenge strongly for the trophy they won at Loftus in June.

But the Lions and Bulls, third and fourth respectively with a game in hand on the other teams, have made a dream start to the competition and, at the moment, are making a strong fist of their challenge for the top-four finish that would secure home ground advantage in the playoffs.

CRITICAL JUNCTURE FOR COASTAL TEAMS

Of course, the URC is far more of a marathon than a sprint, which should console the Hollywoodbets Sharks and the DHL Stormers. Both teams have now lost twice in three starts, but they are in good company.

They return home after disturbingly one-sided defeats to face the two champion teams of the most recent editions of the competition, Munster and Glasgow, at home over the next two weekends. They will both be tough teams to play, even at home, and for both coastal sides, this could be a defining point of the season.

Defeat in both games for either team will certainly leave them with a lot of catching up to do, and they will be looking to win both. The Sharks should be boosted by the return of a phalanx of Springboks for their game against Glasgow at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday, but the Stormers look set to wait another week before reintroducing the smattering of Boks - I count just Manie Libbok and Frans Malherbe - who aren’t currently injured.

Stormers director of rugby John Dobson told the post-match press conference after his team’s defeat to Edinburgh that the Boks have been given three weeks off as part of the national resting protocols. This means they won’t be facing Munster this week, but making their return for the last game in this phase of competition against the Warriors a week later.

The Stormers Boks currently on the injured list include Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Salmaan Moerat, Evan Roos and Steven Kitshoff, and they are also still awaiting the return to the playing field after a long injury layoff of their talisman flanker Deon Fourie.

ROBBED BY REF

Dobson didn’t appear to know what to think after the Edinburgh game, and it is understandable - while his team undeniably conspired against themselves by not protecting their possession and being too loose, with their best passages of play being when they were tighter on the ball, they were also robbed by referee Ben Whitehouse.

Apart from all the 50/50 calls that went against the Stormers, Whitehouse made an incomprehensible error in failing to spot the hands in the ruck that led to Edinburgh winning the turnover that led ultimately to the killer try heading into the final quarter at The Hive. Whitehouse’s bosses should also be asking him how he managed to initially award Grant Gilchrist the try that would have been the first in the game had the TMO not intervened.

Gilchrist was palpably short of the line when he jammed the ball down but Whitehouse somehow saw something different and awarded it. This was an occasion where we can say thank heavens for the TMO. Not that the northern TMOs are much better than the northern referees and the frustration that supporters must feel at the repeat refereeing flaws that are showcased every week surely switches off eyes and is a blight on an otherwise good competition.

SHARKS PAID ON TOUR FOR WINNING CURRIE CUP

Talking of poor decision-making, the Sharks can probably feel aggrieved at the one that saw them play three tough Currie Cup games before their URC campaign started. They just weren’t at the races against Benetton and while he is reluctant to make excuses, the Sharks coach John Plumtree did mention fatigue as a factor in his post-match interview.

Fatigue this early in the season? Well, yes, if you start off the season with six tough games and one of them is a domestic semifinal that goes to 100 minutes, then there will be fatigue. That certainly appeared to be the case with the Sharks, who looked sharp enough at the start but then just appeared to become more and more listless.

Plumtree was targeting a better start to his URC campaign but will probably be the first to admit that when his team made the domestic final, which they were duty-bound to go all out for once they made it, it might have negative repercussions during his team’s tour. The game in Treviso, plus the last part of the game against Connacht, when the Sharks looked out on their feet, both confirmed Plumtree’s worst fears.

The good news for the Sharks is that they should have Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi, Bongi Mbonambi and company in tow against the champions on Saturday. They will be a different team, and after six tough weeks on the road, the side that fronted in Treviso did look like it was on its last legs.

Of course, the Lions were also committed throughout the Currie Cup playoff phase and they have won their first three URC games, but the context there is that their final Currie Cup league game was at home to the Griffons and they were able to field a second-string team, and then all the subsequent games, until Sunday’s in Newport, were also at home.

That does make a big difference, but they weren’t always that flush in beating the Dragons. Their commitment to winning the Currie Cup, something they just fell short of doing, which demanded long shifts from players who effectively didn’t have much of an off-season, may well come back to bite them later.

Weekend Vodacom United Rugby Championship results

Glasgow Warriors 33 Zebre 3

Cardiff Rugby 19 Scarlets 25

Benetton 38 Hollywoodbets Sharks 10

Edinburgh 38 DHL Stormers 7

Leinster 26 Munster 12

Ospreys 19 Vodacom Bulls 29

Ulster 32 Connacht 27

Dragons 19 Emirates Lions 23

UPCOMING FIXTURES  (18/19 October)

Ulster v Ospreys (Belfast, Friday 20.35)

Scarlets v Vodacom Bulls (Llanelli, Friday 20.35)

Zebre v Emirates Lions (Parma, Saturday 13.30)

Hollywoodbets Sharks v Glasgow Warriors (Durban, Saturday 15.45)

DHL Stormers v Munster (Cape Town, Saturday 18.00)

Edinburgh v Cardiff Rugby (Edinburgh, Saturday 18.15)

Dragons v Benetton (Newport, Saturday 20.35)

Connacht v Leinster (Galway, Saturday 20.35)