After the upsets of the previous week it was a case of order being restored for the local teams in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, with the Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers re-fortifying their fortresses while the Emirates Lions confirmed their inconsistency.
The three local teams that lost last week all won, including the Hollywoodbets Sharks, who will be the big local focus in the coming days as they are the only side seeing action in the semifinal round of the EPCR competitions to be played at the weekend. They ‘host’ the French club Clermont-Auvergne at the Stoop in London in their Challenge Cup quarterfinal on Saturday.
The Sharks just needed to win so they could take some momentum into a clash that has massive significance for them as winning the Challenge Cup is the only route left open to them into next season’s prestigious Investec Champions Cup. The five points picked up by the Durbanites at Parc Y Scarlets made little impact on the battle for the top eight, with the Durbanites still 13th on the log, and 21 points behind the current eighth-placed team, Benetton. In other words, a top-eight finish is mathematically impossible.
However, the Sharks could still be spoilers in the competition, and their form could be worrying to the Bulls, who were back at their imperious best in proving to the Ospreys that winning two games on one tour in South Africa, and beating the Bulls and Stormers in successive weeks, is a bridge too far.
SIX POINTS SEPARATE THE TWO TOP SA TEAMS
The Stormers’ five points picked up against Leinster means the Cape side are six points behind the fourth-placed Bulls in fifth, and with Munster continuing on their winning way, it is the Bulls who are more vulnerable to the Stormers’ ambitions of still sneaking into the home quarterfinal bracket. The next Bulls game could be decisive in that regard - they host the new log leaders, Glasgow Warriors, at Loftus on 11 May. If they win that, a minimum of fourth place would be assured.
Lose and they will be just two points ahead of the Stormers, who should beat the Dragons the night before, and the trip they will make to Hollywoodbets Kings Park for the final game could be a tricky one. The Stormers, who also play a tricky opponent in Connacht on their two-match tour, will host the Lions in the final round.
It is starting to look more and more like the Bulls and Stormers are on a collision course - again. Last year the Stormers’ third-place finish meant that the sixth-placed Bulls had to go to Cape Town for their quarterfinal. As it stands, with fourth hosting fifth, that game will be re-enacted in June, only this time at the reverse venue.
The Bulls did break their drought against the Stormers when the sides met at Loftus at the beginning of March, but it is hard to imagine Jake White preferring a South African opponent, and particularly one that outside of the last visit has a decent recent record in Pretoria, to an overseas one that would have to fly across the equator. Likewise, as was the case with the Bulls last year, when they went to Cape Town, the Stormers would prefer the two-hour flight across South Africa to one across the whole of Africa and significant parts of the Middle East and Europe for their quarterfinal.
At least the Stormers have a solid chance of making the quarterfinal round after their comfortable win over a Leinster side that was a mixture between second and third string and got the result that their selection merited. But for a 15-minute period in the second half, before the Stormers reserves swung the momentum back the home side’s way, the Stormers were always comprehensively better than their opponents and at one stage looked likely to gun their score well beyond the 50 mark.
NOTHING VULNERABLE ABOUT THE STORMERS THIS TIME
Before the weekend, the Stormers’ quest for a top-eight finish, with the qualification for the Champions Cup being arguably an even more important prize than a place in the playoff rounds, was starting to look a bit vulnerable. But there was nothing vulnerable about the Stormers after a dominant first half that saw them lead 23-0 at halftime and could easily have been more.
The Stormers have suffered a bit of white-line fever in the opposition 22 recently, so full marks to Stormers captain Salmaan Moerat for his decision to apply scoreboard pressure by kicking the three-pointers that might have been eschewed in recent matches.
“It is very frustrating if you work hard to get into the opposition red zone and you don’t come away with any points so we decided to change that in this game and make sure we got three points from our visits if the opportunities presented themselves,” said Moerat.
The lock was himself back to his barnstorming best form, which is good for the Stormers as they head into the final three games of the league phase. Ruben van Heerden is as good at the moment as Moerat is, while Neethling Fouche, the tighthead prop, won the man of the match on a day when the Stormers scrum was at its destructive best.
Behind the scrum, the standout was undeniably Damian Willemse, who was praised for his effort by head coach John Dobson afterwards. With the Springboks going on tour this time, which makes this trip different to the one in November, the Stormers will be confident of success at a time of year in the UK and Ireland where the conditions should be very different to what they were in the northern autumn.
HOME RUN GIVES BULLS DISTINCT ADVANTAGE
The Bulls, of course, don’t have to go anywhere until they head to Durban which gives them a distinct advantage over their South African rivals, with the back three showing just how dangerous they can be when playing on the fast surfaces of the highveld. Add the altitude to that and it becomes a tough ask for a visiting northern hemisphere team, and Glasgow coach Franco Smith, who knows a few things himself about the altitude, should be concerned their game at Loftus is scheduled for 2pm. On a hot day, that could be a killer to his side’s hope of retaining their top spot on the log from what is sure to be a resurgent Leinster after the break for the Champions Cup.
The key thing though is that most of the teams still have everything to play for. Connacht’s win over the Dragons in their last game ensured they jumped from 10th to 11th, while Ulster’s close win over Benetton at Ravenhill saw them climb back into the top eight. They are seventh with three games to go.
It’s arguably Munster who are flying the best right now, with their winning run in South Africa extended by their impressive win over the Lions in Johannesburg. They have a tough derby against Connacht up next followed by an away trip to Edinburgh and then a massive derby against Ulster so they are not completely assured of a top-four finish but their current form would suggest they are gaining momentum again at just the right point of the season.
Weekend Vodacom United Rugby Championship results
Ulster 38 Benetton 34
Scarlets 27 Hollywoodbets Sharks 32
Zebre 9 Glasgow Warriors 40
Vodacom Bulls 61 Ospreys 24
Cardiff Rugby 7 Edinburgh 24
Emirates Lions 13 Munster 33
DHL Stormers 42 Leinster 12
Dragons 27 Connacht 34