It may seem fanciful to suggest that either the Vodacom Bulls or the Hollywoodbets Sharks could still make it into the top four on the Vodacom URC log. Still, then, it would have been considered fanciful a few weeks ago to suggest both teams would turn around their seasons as they have.
In proving that the turnaround that was telegraphed in Cape Town the week before was no mirage, the Sharks’ second emphatic win over the DHL Stormers in the space of seven days saw them briefly enter the top eight. That changed later in the evening when the Ospreys beat the Dragons to push them to ninth, but 10 log points in two games have completely changed the Sharks’ outlook.
Indeed, they should be kicking themselves for the poor game management that enabled the Lions to steal a last-gasp win in Durban in the URC clash that preceded the back-to-back games against the Stormers. Had they gotten home with the win there, they’d be comfortably ensconced in seventh and just two wins behind the six teams in the logjam battling for a top-four finish.
Still, it’s a much better outlook for the Sharks as they head into a three-week break ahead of the next important derby against the Lions in Johannesburg than seemed likely when they were rooted to 14th on the log heading into the Cape Town game.
BULLS’ GAME CORRECTION SOUNDED LOUD WARNING
While the Bulls started as favourites against the Lions at the weekend, few would have predicted just how comprehensively the visitors would win. The rout of their neighbours was a loud warning to the rest of the teams in the competition because it signified that they had now got their game right.
It’s not dissimilar to what has happened to the Sharks, actually, and can be summed up by one word - balance. After being forced to go to a more pragmatic template to win two games overseas, and breaking a seven-match losing sequence in so doing, the Bulls accidentally stumbled upon the way that works.
There was more running with the forwards, more good tactical kicking, and less of the frenetic run-everything approach that they appeared to adopt in their Loftus defeats to the Lions, Bordeaux-Begles and Bristol Bears.
Obviously, they’ve also been getting a bit of help from the Springbok coaches, and some might ascribe the improvement of their defensive game to that, but the switch to a better balance to their approach is also a contributor.
SHARKS PROFITING FROM THE GOOD DECISIONS OF TWO COACHES
When it comes to the Sharks and comparing their performances now to before, what immediately hits you is just how much they are playing for their coach and the jersey. There has been a long sequence of poor decisions from the people at the very top of the Durban club. But just recently, there have been some really good ones from people lower down - former coach John Plumtree for giving JP Pietersen a chance he would not otherwise have had to prove his capability at this level, and Pietersen for installing Andre Esterhuizen as the captain.
Pietersen also appears to be backing Nick Hatton, who did well as his leader in two successive Carling Currie Cups, and there may be some genius in that, in that it ensures a continuity between the phases when the Boks are or aren’t present that was missing before.
While the Stormers helped the Sharks by conspiring against themselves to a large extent in the previous game in Cape Town, the story in Durban wasn’t about the Stormers’ failings but about how good the Sharks were.
They still need to work on their attacking shape, that much is obvious, but their physical commitment and all-around connectedness is light years away from where they were. One word of caution, though, before we all get too carried away - the Sharks have won big derbies before.
Indeed, in their supposedly poor season under their previous coach last year, they won the SA Shield, beat the Stormers at home and came within minutes of doing it in Cape Town a few weeks later, and beat the Bulls home and away.
HOW BULLS AND SHARKS CAN HELP EACH OTHER AND STORMERS
Perhaps there is a litmus test in the Sharks’ future - 21 March is their next home game, and it is against Munster. If they can bring the same level of commitment to a game against an overseas team that they do to the intense derby rivalries, that might be the last box ticked in completing the turnaround.
If they play against overseas teams in the psychologically and physically-amped manner they did against the Stormers over the past two weekends, it will end up pleasing the team that they vanquished. The last time the Stormers were near the top of the log was in 2023, when they were hurt by the Sharks, who unexpectedly lost in Durban to Ulster. Perhaps there’s less chance of that happening now, although it won’t be Ulster they will be hurting as they won in Durban in October.
While the two defeats have seen the Cape side drop from first to third on the log, they have a game in hand on the teams that are also involved in the battle for top spot, and can do with all the help from their fellow South African teams that they can get.
It’s not really a battle for top spot; the quest is for top two, meaning a home quarterfinal and semifinal, or top four, and the Stormers can both help themselves and be helped by the Sharks (and Bulls) in their quest.
Munster travel to Loftus the week after they are in Durban - if both SA teams play like they did this weekend, that is two defeats for Munster, and their claim for a top-four spot ahead of the Stormers will be considerably weakened.
Also still due in this country are the high-flying Glasgow Warriors, who play the Stormers and Lions in Cape Town and Johannesburg, respectively.
And the same fate could await Cardiff, who are proving irritants in the top-four chase and are currently level on log points with the Stormers. They face the Bulls in Pretoria on the same day as Munster are in Durban, and then Cardiff go to Durban the following weekend.
BOTH STILL HAVE AN OUTSIDE CHANCE OF TOP FOUR
It does follow naturally that while the gap between the two local sides and the top four bracket is still a large one, 10 points between sixth-placed Munster and seventh-placed Bulls, it can be whittled away if they carry on winning. If Munster lose twice in SA, that is virtually 10 points made up by the Bulls (and Sharks).
But that’s assuming they keep winning, and both of them won’t because they are destined to crash into each other in what should be a massive Loftus derby at the end of this month. The Stormers will be in Johannesburg the same day, looking to avoid a third successive defeat, which would be really hurtful to their top-four quest, and then two weeks later, they are in Pretoria.
In a north/south derby, just like a coastal derby, anything can happen, and the bottom line is that SA teams can still hurt the challenges of their fellow local sides, just like the Sharks have done to the Stormers. As Schalk Burger said in his role as one of the Supersport analysts at Kings Park, roll on the end of the derby phase and the start of the phase where the form of the local teams can start hurting the challenge of the overseas teams.
REMAINING GAMES IN THE SA DERBY PHASE:
21 February - Lions v Sharks (Johannesburg).
28 February - Lions v Stormers (Johannesburg), Bulls v Sharks (Pretoria).
14 March - Bulls v Stormers (Pretoria)
Weekend Vodacom URC results
Benetton 20 Scarlets 20
Glasgow Warriors 31 Munster 22
Vodacom Bulls 52 Lions 10
Hollywoodbets Sharks 36 DHL Stormers 24
Zebre 15 Connacht 31
Leinster 28 Edinburgh 20
Ulster 21 Cardiff 14
Ospreys 19 Dragons 13
Log positions: 1. Glasgow Warriors 44 points after 11 games; 2. Leinster 40 points after 11 games; 3. DHL Stormers 36 points after 10 games; 4. Ulster 36 points after 11 games; 5. Cardiff Rugby 36 points after 11; 6. Munster 35 after 11; 7. Vodacom Bulls 25 after 10; 8. Ospreys 25 after 11; 9. Hollywoodbets Sharks 24 after 11; 10. Lions 24 after 10; 11. Benetton 21 after 11; 12. Connacht 21 after 10; 13. Edinburgh 18 after 10; 14. Dragons 18 after 11; 15. Scarlets 15 after 10; 16. Zebre 12 after 11.