Highveld sides on top, coastal sides struggling in URC

As the United Rugby Championship (URC) breaks for the November Internationals, with the competition a third of the way through, South African sides have had a mixed bag so far.

Highveld rivals the Bulls and Lions have enjoyed strong starts and are firmly placed in the top half of the table, while the Coastal sides, the Sharks and Stormers, sit in the bottom half.

All four SA teams however have a game in hand over all other sides in the URC, after their opening round of fixtures was postponed due to the Currie Cup final, which sees them having played just five rounds, and the rest six.

The Bulls on 19 points and Lions on 18 are thus very well placed at third and fourth on the URC log respectively, and both teams have lost just one game so far.

Strong starts

The Bulls started their campaign with good home wins over Edinburgh and Ulster before setting off on their first overseas tour of the season.

It has been a relatively successful tour overall, with them heading back home with two wins and a loss from their three games, after having some poor refereeing decisions go against them in their first two games.

Against Ospreys in Swansea and Scarlets in Llanelli the Bulls were given red cards to David Kriel and Johan Grobbelaar, with both being overturned on appeal, and although they emerged with a 29-19 win over Ospreys, they slipped to a 23-22 loss against Scarlets.

Having Kriel available for their final tour game against Benetton then proved vital as he slotted a touchline conversion in the 80^th minute of the match to give them a tight 17-15 win over their Italian hosts.

With four wins from five games overall the Bulls will hope to kick on when the URC resumes at the end of November as they prepare to face Connacht in Ireland next.

For the Lions, they picked up impressive bonus point wins over Ulster and Edinburgh in their first two games at home, before heading off on tour.

They faced trying conditions in their three matches but continued their great start with a 23-19 win over Dragons in Newport, before edging Zebre 10-9 in monsoon-like conditions in Parma.

Their unbeaten start to the season was finally ended in their last tour game over the past weekend as they fell to a 24-6 defeat against Irish giants and table toppers Leinster.

They face another tough away game in Ireland after the November Internationals, against struggling Munster in Limerick, where they will hope to seal an upset win.

Bottom half

The Sharks and Stormers are currently sitting ninth and 13^th respectively on the URC log, with the Durban side having won three and lost two games so far, while the Cape side has lost two and won three.

Both teams started their URC campaigns with overseas tours and struggled, losing two games and winning one, before returning home.

The Sharks went down 36-30 to Connacht in Ireland, before bouncing back with a last gasp 33-30 win over Dragons in Newport, and ended their tour with a thumping 38-10 loss against Benetton in Italy.

They turned things around, however, with the return of their Springboks at home, beating defending champs Glasgow Warriors 28-24, and thumping Munster 41-24 in Durban to head into the international break with confidence.

The Stormers started off with a 37-24 loss against Ospreys in Swansea, thrashed Zebre 36-5 in Parma, and ended their tour on a low note with a heavy 38-7 defeat to Edinburgh in Scotland.

They seemed to turn the corner back on home soil with a strong 34-19 bonus point win over Munster in Cape Town, but they followed that up with a poor 28-17 defeat to Glasgow Warriors in Stellenbosch.

The two Coastal teams will now go head to head after the international break in the first local derby of the season in Durban.