Eyes Down for a Full House

The four South African Vodacom United Rugby Championship franchises showed guts and determination in their 13^th round this past weekend to register a full house of bonus point home victories at a crucial stage of the tournament.

Three of the four sides – the DHL Stormers, Fidelity SecureDrive Lions and Vodacom Bulls – remained in the top eight while the Hollywoodbets kept their playoff dreams alive in an exhilarating weekend for SA’s diehard rugby fans.

The Vodacom Bulls sparked one of the best weekends in the competition for the local franchises on Friday as they thumped Cardiff by 40-7 in Pretoria.

On Saturday, the Fidelity Securedrive Lions built on this with a rewarding 54-17 victory against Edinburgh in Johannesburg, followed by a flawless 45-0 win by the Hollywoodbets Sharks against Munster in Durban.

The DHL Stormers wrapped up the weekend on a high note on Sunday as they shut out the Dragons for a 29-21 win in Cape Town to also walk away with five points from their match.

These results saw the Stormers finish the weekend in second place on the standings (46 points) behind log-leaders, the Glasgow Warriors (50 points), who beat Leinster, with the Lions in seventh position (38 points), the Bulls in eighth position (35 points), while the Sharks remained in 11^th place (29 points), with five pool matches remaining.

Bulls bulldoze Cardiff in Pretoria

The Vodacom Bulls made a strong statement of their intent in the business end of the Vodacom URC on Friday as they overcame an early try by Cardiff to completely outplay the Welsh outfit by 40-7, scoring an impressive six tries in the process – five of which in the first half – to secure the invaluable bonus point and keep them in the top eight on the standings.

Cardiff started the match with a bang, when Harri Millard scored their first and only try in the third minute, and the successful conversion handed them a 7-0 lead.

The visitors received a yellow card a few minutes later, which reduced them to 14 men, and the Vodacom Bulls hit back immediately with two effective lineout drives within minutes, which paved the way for Marcell Coetzee and Johann Grobbelaar to touch down and take a 12-7 lead.

They continued to run riot on attack, which saw Kurt-Lee Arendse get the ball out to David Kriel for their third five-pointer in the 26^th minute.

Embrose Papier followed suit soon after from a well-timed pass by Arendse, before Elrigh Louw gathered a perfect soccer style cross kick by Nizaam Carr for their fifth try a minute before the break to hand them an encouraging 33-7 halftime lead.

Mistakes by the Vodacom Bulls at crucial times saw them add only one score in the second half, by Ruan Vermaak, despite the team dominating territory and possession, which saw Cardiff do everything in their power to stop the flood on defence, while they battled to make their presence felt on attack, and this saw the men from Pretoria walk away with a rewarding bonus-point victory.

Scorers:

• Vodacom Bulls 40 (33) – Tries: Marcell Coetzee, Johann Grobbelaar, David Kriel, Embrose Papier, Elrigh Louw, Ruan Vermaak. Conversions: Handre Pollard (4), Kriel.
• Cardiff 7 (7) – Try: Harri Millard. Conversion: Callum Sheedy.

Lions fend off Edinburgh with eight-try romp in Johannesburg

The Fidelity SecureDrive Lions continued to thrive at Ellis Park as they delivered another dominant display on attack and defence despite boasting less than 40% of the territory and possession in the match to register a memorable bonus-point 54-17 Vodacom URC victory against Edinburgh, in which they scored an impressive eight tries to three by the visitors.

The Johannesburgers started the match with a bang and earned their bonus point by the 26^th minute after Ruan Venter, Francke Horn, Darrien Landsberg, and Morne van den Berg – playing in his 100^th game for the Lions – all made their way over the chalk, and they continued to stamp their authority until the final minute of the half as Bronson Mills touched down to give them an assailable 35-0 halftime lead.

This brilliant first-half effort left Edinburgh with a mountain to climb in the second stanza, but with the home team’s tails and confidence up, it was always going to be an insurmountable challenge for the visitors despite their best efforts.

Despite this, the Scots were charged up in the second half, and opened the scoring with their first try minutes into the second half, but this was cancelled out shortly after by Fidelity Securedrive speedster Angelo Davids.

The rest of the match proved to be a ding-dong battle as Edinburgh struck again early in the fourth quarter, followed by Davids for his brace, and then another five-pointer by the visitors with minutes left to play.

Despite Edinburgh’s desperate attempts to take control of the closing minutes of the match, a late try by Haashim Pead shortly before the final hooter took their try tally to eight, and saw them walk away with the well-deserved 54-17 victory, which marked their third home win in a row.

Scorers:

• Fidelity Securedrive Lions 54 (35) – Tries: Ruan Venter, Francke Horn, Darrien Landsberg, Morne van den Berg, Bronson Mills, Angelo Davids (2), Haashim Pead. Conversions: Chris Smith (7).
• Edinburgh 17 (0) – Tries: Ewan Ashman, Freddy Douglas, Matt Currie. Conversion: Cammy Scott.

Sharks keep Munster scoreless in rewarding Durban victory

The Hollywoodbets Sharks showed their potential and determination to deliver one of their best performances of the season on Saturday as they outplayed Munster for a comprehensive 45-0 bonus-point Vodacom URC win at Hollywoodbets Kings Park.

It was a memorable day for double Rugby World Cup-winning wing Makazole Mapimpi, who finished his 100^th game for the franchise with a brace of tries within two minutes in a fitting finish to the match.

The victory was built largely on scrummaging, where the front row decimated the opposition, which gave halfbacks Grant Williams and Jordan Hendrikse space and options, and simultaneously earned them penalties to dictate play with ease.

Phepsi Buthelezi got the scoreboard ticking for the home side with a try in the seventh minute, but Munster fought gallantly and made them work hard for their second try, which came over 20 minutes later, to give them a 12-0 lead, which they managed to hold onto going into the break.

The Hollywoodbets Sharks, meanwhile, dominated the second half as they capitalised on their try-scoring chances at will, leaving Munster shell-shocked, as Phatu Ganyane, Emile van Heerden, Le Roux Malan, and Mapimpi left the visitors stunned with five second-half tries, which saw the hosts dominate the stanza and take full control of the match for the overwhelming victory.

The Durbanites will take massive pride in their defence, in particular, after denying the visitors a single point – something they will look to build on with five pool matches remaining to keep themselves in the running for a possible quarter-final berth.

Scorers:

• Hollywoodbets Sharks 45 (12) – Tries: Phepsi Buthelezi, Luan Giliomee, Phatu Ganyane, Emile van Heerden, Le Roux Malan, Makazole Mapimpi (2). Conversions: Jordan Hendrikse (3), Jean Smith (2).
• Munster 0 (0)

Stormers hold off determined Dragons for bonus-point win

The DHL Stormers continued to make a strong statement of intent for a possible home Vodacom URC playoff match in the next few weeks as they held off a strong challenge by the Dragons at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Sunday for a bonus-point 29-21 victory.

The first half was competitive as both teams tried to create opportunities on attack, but while the Dragons battled to gain momentum, the DHL Stormers did well to capitalise on their two try-scoring chances with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu touching down twice within 10 minutes to hand them a 14-0 lead.

The Dragons gave everything to stay in the game, but mistakes on attack combined with the effective defence saw them score only one try in the 25^th minute from a well-gathered pass and dash to an open tryline to reduce their deficit to seven points going into the sheds.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu added a penalty goal minutes into the second stanza to keep the scoreboard ticking, and the DHL Stormers continued to capitalise on their chances as Evan Roos crossed the tryline for their third try in the second quarter, which nudged them 24-7 ahead.

But this was short-lived as the Dragons hit back soon after with a well-worked forward try of their own to make it a 10-point game with 17 minutes to play.

Wandisile Simelane extended the Capetonians’ lead shortly before the fourth quarter for their bonus-point try, which was enough to place the Dragons under immense pressure going into the closing stages of the match.

The Welsh outfit responded strongly with a set lineout move to narrow their deficit to eight points with as many minutes to play, but their hopes of a losing bonus point and an unlikely victory were dashed as the hosts threatened to score in the dying minutes, which was enough to seal the valuable victory.

Scorers:

• DHL Stormers 29 (12) – Tries: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2), Evan Roos, Wandisile Simelane. Conversions: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (3). Penalty Goal: Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
• Dragons 21 (0) – Tries: Seb Davies, Thomas Young, Rio Dyer. Conversions: Angus O’Brien (3).