After a calamitous two months of derby action where all the South African teams effectively took turns to hurt each other’s Vodacom URC hopes, it would be easy to draw on that old analogy of crayfish or lobsters dragging each other back into the net.
You know the one - the crayfish are trying to get out of the fisherman’s grasp, but their friends pull them back in. The DHL Stormers might feel a bit like that after suffering three successive defeats to local teams. It was once true that the Stormers used the derby phase to leverage themselves back into contention after starting poorly against overseas sides, but this season it has been the reverse.
What was a comfortable position safely ensconced at the top when they went into their first of two back to back games against the Lions on 24 January, with eight wins in eight fixtures, has now turned into a not so comfortable fifth. The Stormers do have a game in hand on those around them, but that game in hand is the 14 March clash with the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus - definitely not a gimme.
INTENSE PRESSURE NOW ON CAPE TEAM TO WIN AT LOFTUS
But the pressure on the Stormers to win that game has now ratcheted up a few notches following their defeat to the Fidelity SecureDrive Lions, who celebrated their new sponsorship with the company headed up by former Transvaal, Natal and Springbok flanker Wahl Bartmann, with a deserved and heroic win in the early Saturday game.
In the later game the Bulls did what they were expected to do against a Hollywoodbets Sharks team that was shorn of a few star players by the Springbok resting protocols. That gave the Lions the SA Shield, and deserved winners they are too, clutching the trophy for local supremacy in the derby phase from under the noses of the Durbanites, who looked almost certain winners two weeks ago.
The Sharks have been hurt in the last two games almost as much as they hurt the Stormers in their two coastal derbies in Cape Town and Durban. There was rightfully talk of a turnaround after those two wins, but that is suddenly looking a bit premature as the Sharks have been as woeful in the last two games as they were before the two Stormers games.
The appointment of JP Pietersen as permanent coach always looked a bit unnecessarily rushed to me. It’s not like Leinster or Glasgow were likely to offer him a head coaching job, so a bit more time could have been taken in assessing if it was the right call to make him permanent coach. I think it could be, but we will know more once the Sharks have gone through the six remaining league fixtures that they have to win if they are to finish in the top eight.
There’s been such a revolving door policy when it comes to coaches at the Sharks over the past 12 years that they really do need to make absolutely sure their next one is the right one. Being Sharks coach is a tough gig, not least because of a contracting policy that has made them too top heavy with Boks, which means when the national players rest the Sharks there is big change to the team. And the loss to the Lions in particular last week showed us that there’s still plenty to work on when it comes to depth.
FOUR SA TEAMS IN TOP EIGHT IS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE
If you are going to field an almost international strength team when at full muster, then you have to ensure that the alternative team is good enough. Back when the URC was still the PRO14, it used to be said that the Leinster second team would come second on the log if they competed separately.
But that’s not the case any more, and their defeat to Cardiff at the weekend is why the crayfish pulling their mates back into the net analogy doesn’t really quite work this time. For the reality is that while the Stormers’ strong challenge has certainly been hurt, the upsets that happened this weekend have presented a scenario where we could see this turn out to be the best ever URC from a South African perspective.
Result secured. Roots showing 🏉🌿
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) February 28, 2026
The Race to the Eight is heating up 🔥@Vodacom #URC | #OriginRound pic.twitter.com/9odjP8C2UR
Four SA teams in the top eight, meaning in the playoffs, is now entirely possible, and we could even see at least two local sides in the top four.
The Stormers’ latest defeat was at least partially offset by the Leinster, Glasgow and Ulster losses, while the top eight scenario for the Sharks was also helped by Benetton being held to a draw by the lowly Dragons.
This latest round was of course played during a bye weekend in the Guinness Six Nations, which explains the strange results. Leinster were without 18 Irish internationals, Glasgow were without 15 Scotland internationals, and Ulster were missing six Ireland test players. Benetton would have been down to the bare bones as well.
So maybe it wasn’t entirely unpredictable that the games would go like they did, and the Glasgow defeat was called in our supersport.com preview. Leinster’s game against Cardiff was always going to be close, and the upshot of the narrow Cardiff win in inclement conditions is that they displace the Stormers from the top four.
SOON IT WILL BE TIME TO HURT OVERSEAS CHALLENGE
However, Cardiff still have to come to South Africa to face the Bulls and the Sharks, as do Munster, while Glasgow have a tour here in their future too. As Schalk Burger said in his role as Supersport television analyst recently, we should look forward to the current internecine rivalry coming to an end and watching the local teams hurt the overseas teams instead.
Origin Round shook things up.🫨🔥
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) March 1, 2026
Here's the table standings. @Vodacom #URC | #OriginRound pic.twitter.com/4PL9s1mi2a
There is still the Pretoria derby to come, but it is certainly at this point the Lions that have gained most from the derby phase, with two wins over the Sharks and one apiece over the Stormers and Bulls propelling them into a position where, despite still being only seventh on the log, they are now just win away from being in the top four on the log.
And with some of the other contenders like those already mentioned set to come to South Africa next, and the Lions looking forward to a long spell of successive games at home, there’s a real prospect of the Lions getting into the top four. And with the Stormers set for a home run too, and this season anyway them being better against overseas teams than their derby rivals, it doesn’t necessarily have to be at the expense of the Cape team.
But then the Bulls are also hovering, and if they beat the Stormers in Pretoria 12 days from now, they will be on the cusp of the top four themselves and only a few points behind the Cape side. Nope, this hasn’t been a period where doomed crayfish have been ensuring a similar fate for their mates, for none of the SA teams are doomed. At least not yet. As their captain Andre Esterhuizen said after the Loftus game, the Sharks do probably need to win every game from here onwards, starting with their clash with Munster in Durban three weeks hence. They should be at full strength by then, and Eben Etzebeth’s return from suspension is imminent too.
Weekend Vodacom URC results
Cardiff 8 Leinster 7
Edinburgh 24 Scarlets 19
Fidelity SecureDrive Lions 24 DHL Stormers 10
Connacht 15 Glasgow Warriors 10
Vodacom Bulls 41 Hollywoodbets Sharks 12
Munster 21 Zebre 7
Dragons 15 Benetton 15
Ospreys 21 Ulster 10