The four South African franchises got their Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaigns off to a winning start, with the Vodacom Bulls, Hollywoodbets Sharks and DHL Stormers recording bonus–point wins, while the 10bet Lions edged the defending champions.
The teams may have been slightly rusty, as one would expect with first-round matches, but there was more than enough on show to give the four South African coaches reason for optimism.
The DHL Stormers overcame a tricky start to their campaign with a 29-15 victory over Connacht in Ireland on Friday night.
On Saturday, the 10bet Lions beat Leinster by 27-26 in Johannesburg; the Hollywoodbets Sharks were too good for the Ospreys in Durban, where they won 41-24; and the Vodacom Bulls smashed Zebre Parma by 47-13 in Italy.
DHL STORMERS START WITH A BANG IN GALWAY
Two late tries helped the DHL Stormers to start their Vodacom URC campaign with a bonus–point victory when they beat Connacht by 29-15 (halftime 10-12) in Galway on Friday night.
Tries by debutants Vernon Paolo and Ezekiel Ngobeni in the last five minutes sealed the deal as the DHL Stormers – disrupted by the late withdrawals of loose forwards Evan Roos (hamstring) and Marcel Theunissen (calf) – finished strongly.
Jurie Matthee knocked over an early penalty goal to give the Capetonians the lead and they followed up with a converted try by Warrick Gelant from a lovely grubber by Andre Warner to go into double figures.
The Irish side responded with two tries just before the break to take a 12-10 lead into the break, and they stretched that to 15-10 through a penalty goal in the 52nd minute.
A yellow card to the hosts' Paul Boyle, coupled with a number of forward replacements, gave the DHL Stormers momentum and Sazi Sandi's converted try gave the visitors the lead with just over 20 minutes to go, before Paolo and Ngobeni's tries put the result beyond all doubt.
Scorers:
Connacht 15 (12) – Tries: Mack Hansen, Josh Ioane. Conversion: Sam Gilbert. Penalty goal: Gilbert.
DHL Stormers 29 (10) – Tries: Warrick Gelant, Sazi Sandi, Vernon Paolo, Ezekiel Ngobeni. Conversions: Jurie Matthee (2), Yaqeen Ahmed. Penalty goal: Matthee.
10BET LIONS LEAVE IT LATE AGAINST LEINSTER
A late try by Kelly Mpeku, converted by Chris Smith, ensured that the 10bet Lions started the season with a 27-26 victory (halftime 17-19) over the defending champions, Leinster, in an exciting match in Johannesburg.
The hosts took a 7-5 lead after the opening 10 minutes, with Fintan Gunne scoring the first of a hat-trick of tries and Erich Cronje the first of his brace, to get the scoreboard going.
Smith added a penalty goal before Gunne and Cronje scored in the 14th and 24th minutes to make it 17-12 to the 10bet Lions, but the Leinster scrumhalf's third try, in the 39th minute, gave the visitors a two-point lead at the break.
The second half was an arm wrestle, but ultimately a 61st-minute penalty goal by Smith, who hit 100 per cent of his kicks at goal, and Mpeku's 79th-minute try – when Leinster had a player in the sin bin – gave the team from Gauteng an eight–point lead with time up on the clock.
Leinster's Stephen Smyth scored their fourth try deep into injury time, this time with a 10bet Lions player in the bin, and although it wasn't enough for the win, it meant they left Johannesburg with two valuable bonus points.
Scorers:
10bet Lions 27 (17) – Tries: Erich Cronje (2), Kelly Mpeku. Conversions: Chris Smith (3). Penalty goals: Smith (2).
Leinster 26 (19) – Tries: Fintan Gunne (3), Stephen Smyth. Conversions: Caspar Gabriel (2), Harry Byrne.
HOLLYWOODBETS SHARKS TOO STRONG FOR OSPREYS IN DURBAN
Junior Springbok stars Luan Giliomee and Vusi Moyo scored a combined 24 points as the Hollywoodbets Sharks started their Vodacom URC campaign with a bonus-point 41-24 victory (halftime 24-14) over the Ospreys in Durban on Saturday afternoon.
With a tackle success rate of 90 per cent and converting their opportunities into points, the hosts were never going to lose this clash, although their Welsh visitors deserve credit for never giving up and scoring their fourth try late in the match to leave Hollywoodbets Kings Park with a bonus-point.
Four first-half tries by the KwaZulu-Natalians – by Nick Hatton, Manu Tshituka, Giliomee, and Litelihle Bester – all converted by Moyo, were ultimately the difference.
The visitors' discipline let them down, allowing Moyo to slot two crucial penalty goals in the second half to keep the scoreboard ticking over, before Giliomee showed his class by adding a second try on the hour mark to all but seal the deal, despite Iestyn Hopkins’ late try.
Scorers:
Hollywoodbets Sharks 41 (28) – Tries: Nick Hatton, Manu Tshituka, Luan Giliomee (2), Litelihle Bester. Conversions: Vusi Moyo (4), Siya Masuku. Penalty goals: Moyo (2).
Ospreys 24 (14) – Tries: Luke Morgan, Sam Parry, Liam Wright, Iestyn Hopkins. Conversions: Lawson Creighton (2).
VODACOM BULLS OVERPOWER ZEBRE PARMA IN ITALY
It took them 25 minutes to open their scoring, but once the Vodacom Bulls got going, they were unstoppable as they sealed a 47-13 victory (halftime 21-6) in their Vodacom URC opener against Zebre Parma.
The visitors from Pretoria were guilty of early mistakes but managed to weather the storm and gradually took control of proceedings.
Zebre took a 3-0 lead through Tommaso Allan's first penalty goal, but a penalty try awarded against the Italians for illegally stopping a maul made it 7-3 for the Vodacom Bulls. It was 7-6 soon after when Allan landed his second penalty, but that's when things clicked into gear for the visitors.
Late first-half tries by Reinhardt Ludwig and Paul de Wet gave the men from Pretoria a 15-point cushion at the break, and when Ruan Vermaak and Harold Vorster added their names to the score sheet, it was effectively game over by the 51st minute. New Vodacom Bulls flyhalf Curwin Bosch landed all four conversions.
Zebre scored their only try just before the hour mark, but Ludwig's second and a last-gasp five-pointer by Zak Burger meant the Vodacom Bulls finished the round at the top of the log.
Scorers:
Zebre Parma 13 (6) – Try: Alessandro Fusco. Conversion: Tommaso Allan. Penalty goals: Allan (2).
Vodacom Bulls 47 (21) – Tries: Penalty try, Reinhardt Ludwig (2), Paul de Wet, Ruan Vermaak, Harold Vorster, Zak Burger. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (4), Willie le Roux.