SA teams’ URC form on the road a major concern

South African teams need to improve their away form in the United Rugby Championship (URC), especially if they want to start realistically challenging for the title each season.

The SA sides have struggled on the road in the URC since the inaugural season in 2021-22, where they started their foray in the competition with a difficult away leg that set the tone for how they would fare abroad over the following seasons.

Although they slightly improved away from home during their second season in the URC, the SA sides seem to have gone backwards after a disastrous start on the road in this, their third season.

Poor start

In the opening season of the URC, South Africa’s teams started with a tough away tour that saw them suffer a combined 11 losses, while picking up just four wins and a draw.

Although they improved slightly away from home over the rest of the season with five wins and three losses, they still finished with nine wins, one draw and 14 losses in the 24 away pool games played by the four SA franchises abroad.

In the second season of the URC, the SA teams improved slightly, finishing with 10 wins, two draws and 12 losses from their 24 away pool games.

Disastrous

The start to their third season has, however, been disastrous with seven losses and one win in their eight games away so far.

The Sharks have accounted for three of those losses, the Lions two and the Bulls and Stormers one each, while the Bulls are the only SA team to have won on the road so far this season.

The reason for the need to win more of their away matches is to have a favourable standing on the log when the competition hits the knockout phase.

Stormers

The Stormers have shown how important home ground advantage is in the URC knockouts, having won the inaugural edition and finished runner-up in last season’s competition, with them having hosted all of their knockout games over the first two seasons.

This was due to finishing second on the log in the first season and third on the log last season, which was thanks to their dominance over their fellow South African sides that saw them pick up 13 wins, one draw and one loss over the first three URC seasons, up to now.

The Stormers can count themselves lucky though, with the Bulls upsetting Leinster away in the semis in the first season, while it was Connacht upsetting Ulster and Munster upsetting Leinster last season that allowed them to host a second consecutive final, although Munster still beat them in the end.

If the South African sides can up their game on the away front it will make life much easier for them when it comes to the knockouts later on and that is what they should all be focusing on going forward.

The Sharks have one more chance to get an away win on their opening away tour this season, as they face Zebre in Italy this coming weekend before they head back home.

The Lions still have to face Scarlets and Ulster, the Bulls Cardiff and Edinburgh, and the Stormers have to take on Benetton, Munster and Cardiff on the road before they head back to SA.