URC wrap: Clean sweep for SA teams

South African teams officially kicked their United Rugby Championship (URC) seasons into high gear with a clean sweep across the board on their second weekend of action in the competition.

On the first weekend home teams, the Lions and Bulls, won, while the Stormers and Sharks lost on the road, but this weekend the Highveld sides backed that up with good wins again, while the coastal sides picked up their first wins of the competition in Italy and Wales.

What was even more impressive was that they all picked up bonus points, which will boost their prospects on the URC log going forward.

The Lions were again the most impressive SA team in action, as they enjoyed a record breaking first half, before sealing a thumping 55-21 win over Edinburgh at Ellis Park, with wing Rabz Maxwane dotting down a hat-trick.

They ran in seven first half tries to take a 48-0 lead into the break, which was the biggest halftime lead in URC history, before the visitors fought back at the start of the second half to make sure it wasn’t a completely one-sided hammering.

“We had a really good week of prep and did really well in the first half, but there are good lessons to be learned. We need to know how to keep the pressure on and close out games when we’re in control,” explained Lions captain Francke Horn after the match.

“We’ll take those lessons onto the tour. We’re happy with the points at home, but we haven’t won anything yet. Now we aim to take as many points as possible on tour.”

Bulls in control

At Loftus the Bulls were always in control as they cruised to a 47-21 win over Ulster, after taking a 21-7 lead into the halftime break.

They then powered into a 40-7 lead after 60 minutes, before two quick Ulster tries saw them briefly fight back, only for the Bulls to seal the win with their seventh try at the death.

The Stormers got their campaign up and running with a well built 36-5 win over Zebre in Parma on Saturday night.

The Cape side are usually guilty of playing too much, but on this occasion built good scoreboard pressure by taking their penalties early, with flyhalf Jurie Mathee slotting three in the first half, before a late converted try gave them a 16-0 lead at halftime.

Another Mathee penalty early in the second half extended that lead, with them then managing three tries over the final 21 minutes to secure the bonus point.

The Sharks were the luckiest SA team on the weekend as it took a try from replacement hooker Fez Mbatha well after the fulltime hooter to secure a tight 33-30 win over Dragons in Newport.

The hosts enjoyed a strong first half and looked to be taking a 22-5 lead into halftime, when the Sharks crucially struck on the hooter to make it 22-12 at the break.

It was a cracking start to the second half for the Sharks as two converted scores saw them take a 26-22 lead, only for Dragons to battle back ahead 30-26 after 58 minutes, with the game then going down to the wire in the end.