The Sharks and Stormers in action during the only local URC derby to have taken place so far this season, at the end of last month. Picture: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images
After a harrowing experience in the EPCR Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, South African teams return to United Rugby Championship (URC) action with a couple of local derbies taking centre stage this weekend.
The Sharks host the Bulls at Kings Park in Durban, and the Stormers welcome the Lions to the Cape Town Stadium, with both games being held on Saturday, in what should be two thoroughly entertaining derby match-ups.
All four teams will also be gunning for morale boosting wins after a difficult past two weekends in the EPCR.
The Lions will arguably be the happiest of the four SA teams, after clinching a bonus point 43-35 win over Section Paloise at home in the Challenge Cup on Saturday, to bounce back from their opening loss against Ospreys in Wales.
The Sharks also won’t be too despondent after they won their Champions Cup opener against Exeter Chiefs in Durban, but suffered a thumping 56-17 loss to Leicester Tigers over the past weekend, so will be eager to rectify that.
The Bulls and Stormers will be the most desperate teams to get back to winning ways, after they lost both their EPCR games, at home and away, and thus have a mountain to climb to reach the competition knockouts.
The Bulls went down 27-5 to Saracens in London, and 30-21 to Northampton Saints at Loftus, while the Stormers lost 24-14 to Toulon in Gqeberha and 53-16 to Harlequins in London.
The Sharks and Bulls clash will be an interesting one, as the Highveld side have been the best SA team in the URC so far, winning five of their six games to sit third on the URC log and they should still be confident, despite their struggles in the EPCR.
But the hosts have turned things around after a tricky start to the URC and are at sixth on the log, and if they are back to close to their full complement of Boks for the Bulls game they will fancy picking up a win.
The Lions and Stormers game is also a tough one to call, as the Cape side has struggled immensely this season, which should open the door for the Highveld team to get a rare away win over them.
But the hosts could be welcoming back a host of star players for the match, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu set to return from concussion, while Deon Fourie, Frans Malherbe, Ben-Jason Dixon and Manie Libbok could all also be available for the clash.
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