Ben Stokes has as England test cricket captain started to reinvent the wheel in the format and there are some coaches in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship who are doing a good job of doing something similar in their sport.
When two of those coaches see their teams come up against each other you get a thriller, and that was how the latest round of the URC ended - with a pulsating, absorbing and at times quite spectacular game between the Glasgow Warriors and the DHL Stormers coming to an exciting end.
Sebastian Cancellieri’s last gasp try not only won it for his team, it also propelled the side coached by former Springbok assistant coach (and of course Italy and the Cheetahs head coach) Franco Smith to within touching distance of the top four on the URC log as the competition breaks for a fortnight of European rugby.
WARRIORS LEARNT FROM THEIR OPPONENTS
The Warriors were well beaten by the Stormers in Cape Town last year and after that game their then coach marvelled at the Stormers’ offloading ability and willingness to attack from almost anywhere. He said that his team was working on getting to that point. Well, under their new coach they have already made a great fist of getting to where the Stormers are, with some of their tries coming right out of the John Dobson coaching book.
The Glasgow intent to play attacking rugby was telegraphed at the point a few years back that they decided to have a 4G synthetic pitch installed at Scotstoun. And while there are still detractors of that surface, and according to Dobson there is a debate over it currently raging in the Scottish media, Sunday night’s game was a good advert for it.
The rain fell in the second half but it didn’t prevent the game being played at high speed. The Stormers will feel they were wanting on defence, perhaps too narrow, with Glasgow making a lot of ground every time they got the ball to the tramlines of the field. At the same time though, they should feel encouraged that they were still the stronger team for much of the second half even though several of their individual players had horrible off days.
BULLS BACK IN THE SHIELD RACE
The Stormers’ second defeat in the competition, and remember they also drew with Ospreys, means that although they are still in the pound seats in the South African conference and in the battle to retain the Shield they won as a prelude to the main trophy last year, the Vodacom Bulls, who were the only local team to win this weekend, are back in the race.
It means that Dobson might have to rethink his plan to go under-strength to Ulster in a few weeks time to get around the big travel challenge that prompted the Cell C Sharks to pretty much concede their game against Connacht at the weekend. Is Galway a difficult place to play? Yes, it is, and the conditions were what were feared by the visiting team.
But is Connacht a team that a full-strength Sharks side would not have beaten away? No. Given how competitive the Sharks were, it is reasonable to assume that had Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Curwin Bosch and Lukhanyo Am etc been present, they would have walked away with full points.
What has become clear over the festive period is that the local coaches are realising they have to choose their battles as they confront the challenge of the travel and playing in two competitions. The Sharks are targeting the Heineken Champions Cup, with the decision to leave their stars at home for the trip to Galway made so they can emphasise Saturday’s HollywoodBets Kings Park return clash with the Bordeaux Begles.
WHITE’S TEAM TARGETING URC
Jake White’s Bulls are targeting the URC, as was shown when his response to the travel challenge back in December was to send an understrength team to Exeter Chiefs. He did the same the previous week in his team’s first Champions Cup game against Lyon. It didn’t work out for White in the derbies against the Stormers and Sharks, but given the short turnaround between Exeter and the Stormers game (a Saturday to a Friday), it probably wouldn’t have happened anyway if he’d sent his strongest team to England.
The Stormers give the impression they are thinking through the challenge of playing in two competitions on the hoof, but privately there does seem an acknowledgement that a place in the last 16 is the best they can hope for in the Champions Cup. That is because all the playoffs in that competition, from quarterfinal through to the final, will be played overseas.
But compromising in the URC in order to do well in Europe might prove costly, and if I was Dobson, I’d seriously consider not throwing the Full Metal Jacket at the return game against Clermont Auvernge in two weeks time. Instead rest the top players then and get them ready for the trip to Ulster, who are now definitely in a low, and lost to Benetton at the weekend.
The Bulls’ good win over the Dragons lifted them to third on the overall log ahead of Ulster, who are now seven points behind the Stormers after the same number of games (11). The Bulls have played 12 games, with the game in hand that Ulster have on them being the clash with the Sharks that was postponed in October because of a stomach bug but will now be played in February.
WHY ULSTER GAME IS SO IMPORTANT TO STORMERS
So the Ulster game, which is the next one the Stormers play in the URC, is important. A win for the Stormers at Ravenhill will make a big dent on the Ulster chances of finishing ahead of them, and also re-establish the Stormers’ control of the Shield race.
What is clear now though is that catching Leinster, who are unbeaten and did a good fist of overcoming a strong challenge from the Ospreys in Swansea in another excellent game played this past weekend, is unlikely. They are unbeaten after 12 games, and have only missed out on four try scoring bonus points.
The Stormers do have a game in hand on them, but with Leinster enjoying an 11 point gap, they are quite close now to going over the hill and far away from the chasing pack. What the Stormers are doing right though is picking up bonus points when they lose, something they did on Sunday. And they managed two in their only other URC defeat to Cardiff earlier in the season. Those could prove significant, both in the SA Shield and the overall log, when the competition has been done and dusted.
WEEKEND VODACOM UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS:
Munster 33 Emirates Lions 3
Dragons 14 Vodacom Bulls 29
Benetton 31 Ulster 29
Edinburgh 24 Zebre 17
Cardiff Rugby 22 Scarlets 28
Connacht 24 Cell C Sharks 12
Ospreys 19 Leinster 24
Glasgow Warriors 24 DHL Stormers 17