South African sides flex muscles in United Rugby Championship

The South African sides recorded another perfect round of results in the United Rugby Championship (URC), as three of the local teams made a strong push into playoff contention with the knock-out stages creeping closer.

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It was the second consecutive weekend of four victories for the South African teams, and the Sharks, Stormers and Bulls all occupy spots in the top-eight on the standings, while the Lions helped their compatriots with a superb 23-21 win over Irish giants Munster on Saturday.

The local sides also stepped up their attack and defence this weekend. Last week, they scored 19 tries and conceded eight, but this weekend they upped that to a combined 22 tries while conceding only five.

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The Bulls bagged nine five-pointers in their 57-12 thrashing of Scarlets on Friday evening, and the Sharks and Stormers kept clean sheets. The Durbanites beat Zebre Parma by 38-6 in on Saturday, and the Capetonians were too strong for Cardiff, winning by 40-3 on Sunday.

The Sharks are now in sixth position on 36 log points, followed by the Stormers in seventh on 34, and the Bulls in eighth on 32 – but they have a game in hand on most of their closest rivals. The Lions won their fourth game of the season and moved up to 13th spot with 21 log points.

Next weekend, the Lions host the Ospreys from Wales in Johannesburg (Friday, 19:00), the Stormers welcome Irish powerhouse Ulster to Cape Town (Saturday, 15:00), the Sharks take on Scottish club Edinburgh in Durban (Saturday, 17:05), and the Bulls face Welsh club Dragons in Pretoria (19:15).

Resolute Bulls smash Scarlets in Pretoria

The Bulls kept alive their United Rugby Championship playoff hopes with an emphatic 57-12 victory (half-time 31-7) over the Scarlets in Pretoria on Friday evening, with Marcell Coetzee and Johan Grobbelaar bagging two tries each.

The hosts outscored the Welsh club by nine tries to two, bagging the bonus-point in the 25thh minute as they varied their play well and had the men in red under the cosh from the start, exerting pressure on attack and defence which led to a host of mistakes from the visitors.

The Bulls were keen to keep the scoreboard ticking over and they scored five great tries in the first half, with the visitors struggling to keep up with their hosts’ intensity, pace and power, before adding another four after the break.

Scorers:

Bulls

Tries: Canan Moodie, Marcell Coetzee (2), Cyle Brink, Johan Grobbelaar (2), Elrigh Louw, Ruan Nortje, Robert Hunt

Conversions: Chris Smith (5), Morne Steyn

Scarlets

Tries: Sione Kalamafoni, Rob Evans

Conversion: Rhys Patchell

Strong second half steers Lions to valuable win against Munster

The Lions delivered a strong second half performance in a tense United Rugby Championship match against Munster in Johannesburg to overturn a 21-10 half-time deficit into a nail-biting 23-21 victory on Saturday.

The win at Ellis Park marked their second in a row in the competition and will certainly boost their confidence as they look forward to a few more home games after a disappointing start to the season.

The Irishmen scored three first-half tries to a converted try and a penalty goal by the Lions for an 11-point lead at the break, but the hosts fought back with intent in the second half, denying the visitors a single point, while they scored a try and more two penalty goals to edge to the victory in the dying minutes.

Scorers:

Lions

Tries: Edwill van der Merwe, Wandisile Simelane

Conversions: Jordan Hendrikse (2)

Penalties: Hendrikse (3)

Munster

Tries: John Ryan, Josh Wycherley, Fineen Wycherley

Conversions: Jack Crowley (3)

Sharks outplay Zebre Parma to maintain unbeaten home run

The Sharks earned their fourth straight win and kept their unbeaten home run in the United Rugby Championship intact as they scored five unanswered tries against Zebre Parma in Durban on Saturday, for a comprehensive 38-6 victory.

The first half was a tight tussle with only one try being scored, compliments of Sharks flank Henco Venter in the seventh minute, although the hosts will rue missed opportunities due to handling errors at crucial times.

The only other points scored in the opening stanza were by a penalty goal by Sharks flyhalf Curwin Bosch, and two by Zebre Parma’s Antonio Rizzi (flyhalf), which saw the Italians enter the break trailing 10-6.

The second half, however, was dominated by the Durbanites who scored four unanswered tries as they ran hard and showed enterprise on attack, which saw them seal the rewarding win.

Scorers:

Sharks

Tries: Henco Venter, Bongi Mbonambi, Khutha Mchunu, Grant Williams, Curwin Bosch

Conversions: Bosch (5)

Penalty: Bosch

Zebre Parma

Penalty goals: Antonio Rizzi (2)

Stormers too strong for Cardiff in the CT heat

The Stormers consolidated their position in the top eight of the United Rugby Championship log with a 40-3 victory (half-time 19-3) over Cardiff on a hot Sunday afternoon in Cape Town.

The Capetonians were in control for most of the encounter and scored six tries without reply, again defending very well, but they stuttered at times and squandered a number of opportunities.

Three tries on each side of the break – including a flurry of five-pointers just after the hour mark of the match which all but sealed the win – were more than enough though as the Stormers, whose discipline was also very good, moved up one spot on the log to seventh.

Scorers:

Stormers

Tries: Ruhan Nel, Leolin Zas, Manie Libbok, Junior Pokomela, Evan Roos, Rikus Pretorius

Conversions: Libbok (4), Tim Swiel

Cardiff

Penalty: Jarrod Evans