Crucial weekend for South African URC teams

We are only four games into the competition but this coming week’s round is shaping up as one that could play a big role in determining the prospects of the South African teams going forward in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

All with the exception of the DHL Stormers have registered one win from the first three tour games, and the Stormers, after their draw with Edinburgh last week and losing bonus point against Benetton in round one are rightly arguing that they could still end this initial four match tour breaking even in terms of the minimum requirement in terms of log points.

A bonus point win for Salmaan Moerat’s team against Dragons at Rodney Parade in Newport on Friday night would indeed give them eight points from their first two games, which is the equivalent of two wins. And that was what the Stormers, like the rest of the South African teams, left home feeling they needed to ensure that they would be in a position where they could feel confident when they return for their first home leg.

That home leg, comprising two matches straddling the last weekend of November and the first weekend in December, looks like it could still be played in Italy even though it was announced this week that vaccinated spectators will be allowed back into venues.

That does throw a spanner in the works, though logically you’d imagine the South African franchises would fight tooth and nail to have the games played at their home venues as, apart from the questions around the integrity of the competition if it happens any other way, they do need the money.

You need to have some kind of prospect of home matches with fans coming back in order to inspire potential season ticket buyers and hospitality suite purchasers with confidence, and two matches at home before the end of the year might be necessary to do that.

After experiencing the vibe of having crowds back, even if at away venues, over the past few weeks the South African players will also now be impatient for the opportunity to play in front of their home fans, even if those numbers are still limited due to Covid considerations.

PLENTY MOTIVATION BUT ALSO PRESSURE

Regardless of what decision is taken, however, the more than a month break the local teams now have before they play again is a carrot for them to give it their all in their respective last tour games. There should be plenty of motivation, and pressure too, as it is crucial that they end on the right side of the result as less than two wins, or eight points, from the opening four games won’t be good enough to make them feel confident of about their play-off or Championship aspirations.

There is certainly a lot more confidence flowing through South African veins now than was the case a week ago, and Scotland’s new South African born prop Pierre Schoeman would probably have many assenters to his view that his former countrymen will learn and adapt quickly. They already are.

With a bit of luck all four South African teams could have ended on the winning side, as the Stormers and the Emirates Lions had their opportunities to win and might have done so were they a bit more experienced. Experience is something that Schoeman feels the players need, and will get over the next two years, to make them a really formidable force not only in the URC but also in Europe, meaning the Champions Cup.

But in the here and now it is the Irish teams that are setting the pace in the URC, with Leinster, Munster and Ulster all having won their three games. It will be a lot tougher for them when they come to South Africa - another reason for the November/December games to be played here and not Italy - and they may have their wings clipped when they do so, but for the South African challengers to be in with a realistic chance of catching them they must win this weekend.

SHARKS AND BULLS HAVE BEST CHANCE

The Cell C Sharks and the Bulls would appear to have the best chance as they come up against Cardiff Blues and Edinburgh respectively. The Bulls got their first taste of the synthetic 4G pitch last week so they won’t need to go through the adjustment the Sharks and the Stormers did in the initial part of their games at the DAM Health Stadium adjacent to Murrayfield and could just have too much at forward for their opponents.

The Bulls showed the Sharks how to beat Cardiff with their second half performance at Arms Park last week and they go to the Welsh capital with the confidence of having quite easily outplayed the Ospreys in Swansea last time out.

The Stormers have vowed to leave nothing on the field against the Dragons and if they play their best rugby over 80 minutes they will have a great chance of winning. However, the Dragons showed by beating Connacht in Galway last week that they are not going to be an easy obstacle to overcome and they have several Welsh national players on their books, particularly in the pack.

Although they did not get over the line as winners last week, the Stormers should have had a confidence boost from leaving Edinburgh with the two points for the draw, for Edinburgh is not an easy place to visit. they need to tighten their discipline, improve their lineout and make better use of platforms set up within the opposing team's 22.

The toughest challenge faced this weekend by a South African team, the one that is least likely to be successful, is the Lions’ visit to Belfast to play Ulster at Kingspan Stadium. Ulster may sometimes operate in the shadow of their Irish rivals, Leinster and Munster, but they have been consistent PRO14 challengers and played in the 2019/2020 final. Their form in the early part of the season has been impressive and should be too strong for a Lions team that has acquitted itself well on tour and should last week have added the Glasgow Warriors scalp to the Zebre one they picked up in the opening game to the competition.

FIXTURES

Ulster v Emirates Lions (Belfast, Friday 20.35)

Dragons v DHL Stormers (Newport, Friday 20.35)

Zebre v Glasgow Warriors (Parma, Saturday 14.00)

Benetton v Ospreys (Treviso, Saturday 16.00)

Edinburgh v Vodacom Bulls (Edinburgh, Saturday 18.15)

Leinster v Scarlets (Dublin, Saturday 18.15)

Cardiff Blues v Cell C Sharks (Cardiff, Saturday 20.35)

Munster v Connacht (Limerick, Saturday 20.35)