SA teams records wins in the URC
It was a rewarding weekend for the South African franchises in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) as all four sides secured valuable home wins in what could mark the start of a strong resurgence by the domestic teams up the table.
The Cell C Sharks were the first side to make the most of their home ground advantage as the European teams played on local shores for the first time this season, beating the Scarlets 37-20 in Durban on March 11 where they bagged a full house of points in the process.
The Vodacom Bulls built on this with a hard-fought 29-24 victory against Munster in Pretoria on Saturday, where they found themselves hanging on with everything they have in the dying minutes after Bismarck du Plessis (replacement hooker) was red-carded.
In the end flyhalf Chris Smith’s accurate goal kicking with five penalty goals and two conversions saw them snatch the victory.
The Emirates Lions racked up their first win of the year on Sunday after building on a 24-13 halftime lead against Cardiff in Johannesburg to earn a bonus-point 37-20 victory, and the DHL Stormers wrapped up the full house of victories shortly after as they cruised to a 55-7 win against Zebre Parma in Cape Town thanks to a nine-try romp. This included a hat-trick by wing Seabelo Senatla.
These results saw the Cell C Sharks power their way into sixth place on the log (with 31 points), the DHL Stormers finished the weekend in the eighth position (29 points) and the Vodacom Bulls in 10th place (27 points), while the Emirates Lions are in 14th position (17 points).
With the SA teams snatching a combined total of 19 out of 20 log points over the weekend, there is no doubt that this will boost their confidence with another five rounds of home matches remaining against their European counterparts in the seven remaining weekends of round-robin play.
