‘Off-loading rugby may be way to go for SA teams in URC’

The opening rounds of the United Rugby Championship have been watched by record television audiences and those figures should soar even further once the South African teams have adjusted and started to bring their own bag of tricks to the competition.

On Saturday we saw several instances of that when the Stormers produced a rousing offload game in shooting to a 15-0 lead against Munster at Thomond Park, but the home team eventually took control of possession and territory and won fairly comfortably.

Stormers skills coach Labeeb Levy reckons that the exposure many of the South Africans had to the Kiwi offload game in Super Rugby has given them a gift that perhaps isn’t replicated to the same extent in the European players and teams.

“The overseas teams are more polished than us, but if you are comparing what we are facing now to what we got used to playing against when we played New Zealand teams, it is not as flashy, there are not many offloads,” said Levy.

“The teams we play are well drilled and rely a lot on kicking into the 22 and mauling. Their maul systems are very good, and for us to become competitive we are going to quickly have to get used to that.

“But while European teams are very good at what they do, they are not overly exposed to that (offload) style. It is an area that we can definitely work on to see how we can make it work to our advantage.”

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Let’s not forget that the Sharks, Bulls and Stormers are not near to full strength at this point.

The one team that is at full strength, the Lions, were responsible for a commanding first half performance against Zebre in the opening round that laid down a marker on what could be achieved if the SA teams worked at bringing the width and all-round attacking game that had their opponents floundering.

It may in fact not be entirely a coincidence that the most disappointing SA team to this point in terms of what the expectations were, the Bulls, are the local side who are the closest replica of what the Irish sides mostly are.

It could be that what has made the Bulls relatively easy pickings for Leinster and Connacht is that those teams have been playing against a game strategy they know. That’s not to say the Bulls aren’t going to get better and in time perhaps establish the same authority over opponents in the URC that they do in domestic competition.

Over the coming weekend the Stormers will have to adjust to the 4G synthetic surface which they will be experiencing for the first time against Edinburgh.

The Bulls will also be determined to atone for their two defeats when they play the late Saturday game in Cardiff, while on the evidence of the Welsh team’s form in recent seasons, the Sharks should fancy their chances in Swansea against Ospreys on Friday.

The Lions could have challenged for a second win had it not been for their indiscipline late in their game against Scarlets and as a team that enjoys tempo they might have a liking for the 4G surface at Glasgow’s home ground of Scotstoun in the other Saturday game.