The South African challenge is flying in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship but a tough period starts this coming weekend that will tell us a lot more about where the local challenge is placed in the quest to sustain the success achieved last season.
The moment of truth will be provided in particular by Leinster, currently top of the log, when they host the Cell C Sharks in Dublin on Saturday, but also Edinburgh, who return home from a winless tour of South Africa with a desperate need to flex their muscles when they host the surging Emirates Lions.
Likewise, the Bulls as they head away from the highveld for the first time this season and get set to play a Glasgow Warriors team that is under early pressure.
But let’s not be churlish, for while it is true that the big tests are still to come, the Lions’ opening derby defeat is still the only blemish on the South African record halfway through the first block of five Vodacom URC games, and that is in direct contrast to the scenario faced at a similar stage of last season.
RUNNING FROM THE FRONT
Whereas in the inaugural season the South African sides ended up having to chase, and the Bulls qualified for the final having come from what wasn’t far off from being the URC equivalent of last place on the Grand Prix grid, this year all four teams are creating a platform to do the running from the front.
The Bulls are second after three wins in three starts. This time last year they’d lost twice already and were second last. Even the two coastal teams, the DHL Stormers and the Cell C Sharks, are in the top five despite the fact that both of them have played a game less than the other teams.
Of course, you do have to factor in that the Bulls and Stormers have only played at home so far. But there have already been four wins on the road in four starts from the other sides, with the Lions proving the revelation so far as they back up coach Ivan van Rooyen’s pre-season contention that they will benefit from having had a proper preparation phase this year.
The Lions won late against the Ospreys in Swansea the previous week but there was something highly impressive about their win over Cardiff, who just a fortnight ago beat Munster. The Lions look well drilled and organised, and while they have lost players in the off-season, the ones they’ve gained are shining.
Former Sharks centre Marius Louw in particular shone like a beacon at Cardiff Arms Park, with his carrying, passing, offloading and defensive work all being exemplary as he walked away with the deserved official man of the match award.
EMERGING DEPTH AT FLYHALF
But as Louw himself expressed it in the post-match interview, it was the forwards who set up the win and any number of them could also have walked away with the award. Flyhalf Gianni Lombard also showcased the depth that is suddenly starting to emerge in a position where South Africa most need it.
Lombard has been out injured for so long that it became easy to forget about him. In his absence, the other young No 10 on the Lions’ books, Jordan Hendrikse, started to get talked about as a future Bok. But Lombard showed in Cardiff that he too belongs in that bracket, not that it would be wise to rush anything on that front just yet.
Talking of flyhalves, it was good to see Johan Goosen back in the mix at the Bulls, and he will add to Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber’s options for the forthcoming end-of-year tour to Ireland, France, Italy and England.
But back to the Lions. One of their big problem areas in recent seasons was their defence. But the decision to recruit former Lions and Bok star centre Jaque Fourie, who himself was an outstanding defensive organiser in his playing days, as defence coach has paid off handsome dividends for the Johannesburg franchise.
Although the Lions took control with their forwards and just exerted excellent control of the game in the second half as they dominated possession and territory, it was effectively the defence that won them the game as Cardiff had enough dominance in the first half to be much further than three points ahead at halftime.
SAMENESS ABOUT THE TOP THREE SA CHALLENGERS
In that sense, the Lions game wasn’t dissimilar to the one in Cape Town, where the Stormers, like the Bulls and Sharks, appear to be continuing just where they left off last season. With Christmas and the start of the new year no longer being the demarcation period between seasons, perhaps it is understandable that there is a feeling of sameness, both in a good way and a bad way, in the performances of the local teams that qualified for the playoffs and the Champions Cup in 2021-22.
For the Stormers, there was definitely a sense of de javu with their most recent game at the DHL Stadium, the URC final in June, when they held a dominant Edinburgh in the first half hour and then started to change the momentum in the last 10 minutes of the half. The Edinburgh failure to convert pressure was very similar to the Bulls in last season’s decider, and so was the Stormers’ ability to withstand that pressure.
By halftime, it was possible to say with some confidence, as it was at halftime in the final, that the Stormers were going to win even though they were still trailing at that point. The game had changed, the momentum had shifted, and when Deon Fourie went over for his team’s first try on the stroke of halftime, it looked like Edinburgh were already out on their feet.
GOOD AND BAD HABITS PERSIST
Drifting in and out of games was of course one of the Stormers’ bad habits last year, and that is still with them. Ditto the Bulls, who against both Edinburgh and Connacht over the last two weeks looked set to put their opponents away good and proper, only to allow their opponents back in the game in the second half. Well, Connacht were never really back contending for the win, but at halftime, they didn’t look set to lose by just 14 points.
That tendency to fade in the second half will no doubt concern their coach Jake White, particularly when it happens on the highveld. The Bulls, when they do get the bit between their teeth, look highly impressive and the smart money should be on them, staying pretty close to where they are now on the log for most of the URC season. If they want to go all the way and win it, however, they need to put together those patches of dominance over 80 minutes.
The Sharks’ performance against the Dragons was easily the least impressive of those turned in by South African teams at the weekend, but for them, there is a caveat or two that needs to be added - they still have half their team missing as the Boks get afforded some much-needed rest, while the refereeing at the Rodney Parade ground was peculiar, to say the very least.
They were also up against a Dragons team that had their confidence boosted by their unexpected win over Munster the previous week. The Dragons will in fact be kicking themselves for not winning, for they had plenty of opportunity to do so. It was also a fortunate intercept try from scrumhalf Grant Williams that got the Sharks back into the game.
But then there is truth in that old saying that you make your own luck, and it was also a good read from Williams. Striking back from 13 down at an away venue showed great character from the Sharks, who have new recruits like Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Carlu Sadie already showing their value, as did lock Justin Basson.
It is too early though to say whether the Sharks are set to fly like people expect them to given the money they have behind them, and like the Bulls and Stormers, they retain their bad habit of drifting in and out of games. There again, it is early days in the new campaign, and they’re all winning, which wasn’t what we were able to say this time last year.
LEINSTER MADE A STATEMENT
Talking of this time last year, Leinster topped the log for most of the way, and they may well be set to do it again following their hard-fought win in a rain-impacted derby against Ulster at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast.
The win was sweet revenge for Leinster for last season’s two shock defeats at the hands of the Ulstermen and sets them up as the side most likely to rival the South African challenge in the coming months.
Munster got off their duck but it wasn’t a comprehensive enough win over Zebre in Limerick for the Stormers not to be wary of that team when they visit Parma this coming weekend. Likewise, the Ospreys suddenly appeared to get their Mojo back when they easily beat Glasgow Warriors, who under their South African coach Franco Smith now have a record that reads played three and lost two. And they face the Bulls next.
Weekend Vodacom United Rugby Championship results
Vodacom Bulls 28 Connacht 14
Munster 21 Zebre 5
Ulster 13 Leinster 20
Cardiff Rugby 18 Emirates Lions 31
DHL Stormers 34 Edinburgh 18
Benetton 34 Scarlets 23
Ospreys 32 Glasgow Warriors 17?
Dragons 19 Cell C Sharks 20