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After a difficult weekend in the URC the Bulls are comfortably in third place, the Sharks fourth, Stormers 10th and Lions 14th.
Bulls scrumhalf Zac Burger happily runs his way to the try line during their thumping URC win over Zebre at Loftus on Saturday afternoon. Picture: Johan Orton/Gallo Images
The Bulls were South Africa’s shining light on a difficult weekend in the United Rugby Championship (URC) as they were the only team to win, with the Stormers, Sharks and Lions all falling to defeat.
It was a scintillating performance from the Bulls as they produced a nine try to three 63-24 rout of Italian visitors Zebre at Loftus, to strengthen their place in the URC top three, moving onto 50 points and stretching their lead over the fourth placed Sharks to five points.
In the match the Bulls flew into an early 14-0 lead, before Zebre fought back to trail 14-10, before the hosts dotted down twice more to seal the bonus point in the first half and take a 28-10 lead into the halftime break.
The second half then saw both teams trading early tries, as Zebre fought back to trail 35-24 after 55 minutes, but it was then all the Bulls as they ran in four unanswered tries to power away to a massive win.
It was a great result as it gives the Bulls a good 11 point buffer over the chasing pack outside the top four, which could be crucial as after the next two weekends of EPCR action, they head off for a two game URC tour to Ireland and Scotland where they face fifth placed Munster and second placed Glasgow Warriors.
The Sharks will be absolutely kicking themselves for letting a golden opportunity to beat a weakened Leinster team slip through their fingers, as despite a strong forward showing they fell to a 10-7 defeat at Kings Park.
It was a game bereft of many scoring opportunities, and in the end it was an error ridden performance from the hosts, as their lineout in particular misfired, allowing the Irish giants to sneak a win they probably shouldn’t have.
Leinster capitalised on a yellow card to Sharks scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse to score the only try of the first half, before scoring a second in the 47th minute to take a 10-0 lead, which became 10-7 when Bongi Mbonambi dotted down at the back of a maul in the 52nd minute.
On Friday night the ill-disciplined Stormers were edged 38-34 in an entertaining encounter against Ulster in Belfast, which saw them slip out of the URC top eight, to 10th, but still well in the playoff mix.
The Stormers will feel they could have won the match, after tearing into an 17-0 lead after just seven minutes, but poor discipline allowed the hosts to fight back, as Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was yellow carded in the first half and Neethling Fouche early in the second.
Ulster thus took a 38-27 lead into the final 10 minutes, but conceded their own late yellow card which saw the Stormers make it a four point game with five minutes left, but were unable to complete the comeback.
The Lions were whitewashed 42-0 by ruthless URC defending champs Glasgow Warriors on Saturday night, which has dropped them to 14th on the URC log, and they will now lament their loss to Cardiff a week earlier even more, as they should have won that match.
It was a dismal performance from the visitors as they couldn’t come to terms with a strong wind that they played against in the first half, conceding all six of their tries in that period, but then couldn’t utilise it in the second with it at their backs as they were unable to score.
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