URC wrap: Bulls and Sharks secure top four spots as Lions and Stormers falter

The Bulls and Sharks secured their spots in the United Rugby Championship (URC) top four for the next few weeks after impressive wins, over the Lions in the Jukskei derby and in Wales over high flying Cardiff, respectively.

The Bulls, backed by their Springbok laden bench, stunned the Lions with a second half salvo to clinch a bonus point 35-22 win at Ellis Park, after trailing 11-10 at halftime, which moved them up to third on the URC log.

It was a top effort from the Bulls who started well, racing into a 10-0 lead, before the Lions came flying back and could have led by more at the break after eighthman Francke Horn was stopped right on the tryline, and flyhalf Sam Francis missed a kickable penalty on the halftime hooter.

But the Bulls class was fully shown in the second half as Springbok fullback Willie le Roux stepped in at flyhalf for Boeta Chamberlain and proceeded to pull the strings, while Canan Moodie, along with former Boks Nizaam Carr and Akker van der Merwe made huge impacts off the bench.

The win did however come at a cost as the Bulls lost captain Ruan Nortje to an injury in the first half, followed by co-captain Elrigh Louw to a very serious looking knee injury early in the second half.

Really proud

“All I can say is I’m really proud we stayed in the fight. To lose such important players after 45 minutes, teams usually capitulate,” said Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White after the match.

“I got a message from Elrigh saying, ‘well done’. He’s already gone to the hospital, so it’s a very serious injury. Today was an expensive game.

“It’s probably the best we have finished a game in the last two or three seasons. We are very happy the bench understood this was a game they had to make an impact, they had to be accurate.

“To go from losing the game to getting a bonus point means a lot to the team. We said at half time, don’t panic, our bench is going to win us this game.”

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen pointed to the Bulls experience being the deciding factor in the match after his team were unable to handle their bench in the second half.

“It’s obviously difficult to speed up learning with 205 caps, I think that was the Bulls’ caps today. Bok caps was about 205,” said van Rooyen.

“Bringing Willie off the bench, you see the big difference he made, Canan (Moodie) made a big difference. You can’t buy experience immediately. So we have to stick to what we want to and make sure everybody aligns with what we want to do.”

Sharks and Stormers

The Sharks produced a stunning effort to power to a 42-22 win over Cardiff to lift themselves to fourth place on the log.

Heading into the match Cardiff were in good form and third on the URC log, but the hosts didn’t have an answer as the Sharks took a 21-10 lead into halftime.

It was then a thrilling second half as the visitors extended their lead with a converted try, only for Cardiff to hit back with two scores of their own to make it 28-22, before the Sharks stepped on the gas at the end to pull away.

The other SA team in action was the Stormers and it was a bitterly disappointing weekend for them as they were thoroughly outclassed 36-12 by Leinster in Dublin, which leaves them rooted in the bottom half of the URC log along with the Lions.