PJ Botha in action for the Lions against Ospreys. Picture: Getty Images
It ended up being the perfect weekend for South African United Rugby Championship (URC) teams after the Lions upset Ospreys 28-27 in Swansea, Wales on Saturday night to make it full house of wins for SA sides.
The Lions’ stunning result followed on from the Stormers kicking their URC campaign off with a thumping 38-15 bonus point win over Connacht in Stellenbosch, while the Bulls edged Edinburgh 33-31 at Loftus in the other Saturday afternoon clash.
The Sharks had kicked off the weekend with a tight 42-37 victory over Zebre in Parma, after stifling a late fightback from the hosts, to start their URC campaign with a bonus-point win.
In the match in Swansea the Ospreys scored three first-half tries – two converted – while the Lions responded with two penalties from the boot of flyhalf Gianni Lombard and a converted try to eighthman Francke Horn, with the score 19-13 at the break in favour of the home team.
An unconverted try and penalty to the hosts in the second half was offset by a two tries to the Lions, one to man of the match Sanele Nohamba and another to winger Edwill van der Merwe, while Lombard slotted one conversion and a penalty which was enough for the one point win.
For the Stormers it was a superb second half, assisted by a red card to Connacht centre Bundi Aki, that powered them to an impressive opening win after they led 13-8 at the break thanks to a brilliant Evan Roos try and the boot of Manie Libbok.
Tries to Andre-Hugo Venter, Hacjivah Dayimani and replacement Marcel Theunissen, plus two more penalties from Libbok, against a converted score to Connacht completed the second half scoring.
The Bulls triumphed in a see-saw match after flying into a 15-0 lead, before reaching the break with just a point lead after Edinburgh responded with two converted scores.
The second half was then a ding dong battle that saw the Bulls score and Edinburgh replay, which led to the visitors taking a 31-30 lead with 11 minutes to play, but home legend Morne Steyn stepped up to knock over a 79th minute penalty, followed by Edinburgh missing one to win it on the full time hooter.
The Sharks, like Leinster a week before them, almost threw away a win against a resurgent Zebre on Friday night.
The Sharks powered into a 28-3 lead after 27 minutes, which became 31-3 shortly after halftime, before Zebre fought back brilliantly, scoring three quick tries to reduce the deficit to 31-22.
Another penalty to Boeta Chamberlain, followed by an unconverted Dan Jooste try moved the Sharks 39-22 up, with Zebre again hitting back with two quick tries to make it 39-34, before the two flyhalves traded penalties to end the match.
The SA sides will be very happy to have secured a perfect weekend early in the competition, especially with two of those results coming on the road.
