Lions Remain Unbeaten in Vodacom URC

The Emirates Lions, Hollywoodbets Sharks, and DHL Stormers made it a Super Saturday for the South African franchises in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship with all three teams bagging valuable victories to make it a full day of wins.

The only disappointing result for the local teams was the Vodacom Bulls’ heart-breaking 23-22 defeat against the Scarlets in Llanelli on Friday evening, after a late red card for the visitors saw the Welsh side overturn the Pretoria outfit’s nine-point halftime lead for the win.

All the teams delivered the desired results on Saturday with the Emirates Lions edging Zebre Parma 10-9 in atrocious weather conditions in Italy, while the Hollywoobets Sharks defeated defending champions the Glasgow Warriors 28-24 in Durban, and the DHL Stormers fought until the end for a rewarding bonus-point 34-19 victory against Munster in Cape Town – their first win over the previous champions in five attempts.

These results saw the Emirates Lions and Vodacom Bulls finish the round in the top four on the log, while the DHL Stormers and Hollywoodbets Sharks crept up to 12^th and 13^th place respectively thanks to their first home wins.

Red card and missed chances cost Vodacom Bulls against the Scarlets

A red card for a dangerous tackle by Springbok hooker Johan Grobbelaar in the 65^th minute and a string of missed opportunities cost the Vodacom Bulls dearly in their clash against the Scarlets in Llanelli on Friday as they suffered a heart-breaking 23-22 defeat, which marked their first defeat of the Vodacom URC season.

The Pretoria outfit started the match with a bang with Springbok wing Canan Moodie scoring their first of three tries in the first minute and they controlled proceedings for the opening exchanges of the match before the hosts hit back with their first try in the 11^th minute to level the scores at 7-7.

The Vodacom Bulls followed this up with two more tries in the first half by Zak Burger and Kurt-Lee Arendse, while the did well to shut out the tenacious hosts on defence and limited them to only a penalty goal for the rest of the half, which saw them enter the break 19-10 up.

The Scarlets hit back strongly with a try in the first minute of the second half and they did well to apply defensive pressure on the Vodacom Bulls who came close to the tryline on a handful of occasions, with these efforts denying the visitors a possible three possible tries in the third quarter.

Boeta Chamberlain added a penalty goal for the visitors to stretch their lead to 22-15 in the 49^th minute, but the Vodacom Bulls were dealt a massive blow with 13 minutes left to play as Grobbelaar received a red card, and this paved the way for the Scarlets to scrape through with the match-winning try in the 71^st minute after taking advantage of the space out wide for the vital 23-22 victory.

Scorers:

• Scarlets 23 (10) – Tries: Josh Macleod, Blair Murray, Tom Rogers. Conversion: Ioan Lloyd. Penalty goals: Lloyd (2).
• Vodacom Bulls 22 (19) – Tries: Canan Moodie, Zak Burger, Kurt-Lee Arendse. Conversions: Boeta Chamberlain (2). Penalty goal: Chamberlain.

Emirates Lions hold out determined Zebre to remain unbeaten

The Emirates Lions delivered a tenacious second-half defensive effort to shut out a resolute Zebre Parma outfit at Stadio Sergio Lafranchi in Parma on Saturday for a nail-biting 10-9 victory, which saw them remain the only unbeaten South African team in the competition with four victories under the belt.

Both teams battled to build momentum and make their presence felt in atrocious weather conditions where the rain poured down on an already waterlogged field, making it no surprise that only one try was scored in the match by Springbok speedster Edwill van der Merwe.

The Johannesburgers entered the break with a narrow 7-6 lead after the try by Van der Merwe in the 27^th minute, which was the result of great patience on attack close to the tryline before spreading the ball wide – although they will be disappointed that they failed to capitalise on a few more possible chances to score tries. The hosts’ only points in the half, meanwhile, were compliments of two penalty goals.

The second half was looser with Zebre Parma running hard in the final quarter, in particular, in an attempt to breach the defence, but the Emirates Lions stood their ground firmly to hold them out, resulting in the penalty goals slotted by each team being the only points scored in the half.

Scorers:

• Zebre Parma 9 (6) – Penalty goals: Giovanni Montemauri (3).
• Emirates Lions 10 (7) – Try: Edwill van der Merwe. Conversion: Sanele Nohamba. Penalty Goal: Nohamba.

Hollywoodbets Sharks survive late fightback by Glasgow for vital home win

Bolstered by a string of returning Springboks, the Hollywoodbets Sharks survived a late fightback by defending Vodacom URC champions, the Glasgow Warriors, in Durban to snatch a vital 28-24 victory in their first home game of the season after a three-week tour, despite being outscored four tries to three.

The first half was competitive as both teams threw everything at one another, with an early penalty goal by Springbok flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse being the difference on the scoreboard at halftime as both teams scored two tries, with Bok captain Siya Kolisi and his national team-mate Aphelele Fassi touching down for the Durbanites, as they entered the sheds 15-12 ahead.

Had it not been for errors at vital times by the KwaZulu-Natalians, they could have added two more tries before Hendrikse added his second penalty goal in the 45^th minute to push them into a 18-12 lead.

The Glasgow Warriors were then dealt a big blow in the 65^th minute as they were reduced to 14 men following a yellow card for a dangerous tackle, and the hosts took full advantage of the transgression to add another penalty goal and a fantastic try by Bok scrumhalf Grant Williams for an encouraging 28-12 lead with 10 minutes to play.

With their backs against the wall, Glasgow fought back with intent and ran hard on attack, which saw them score two tries in as many minutes at the end of the match to snatch two bonus points from the match, for scoring four tries and going down by fewer than seven points.

Scorers:

• Hollywoodbets Sharks 28 (15) – Tries: Siya Kolisi, Aphelele Fassi, Grant Williams. Conversions: Jordan Hendrikse (2). Penalty goals: Hendrikse (3).
• Glasgow Warriors 24 (12) – Tries: George Horn (2), Rory Darge, Johnny Matthews. Conversions: Horn, Adam Hastings.

DHL Stormers fight until dying seconds for bonus point win against Munster

The DHL Stormers fought until the dying seconds in a competitive clash against Irish giants Munster in Cape Town to secure an invaluable bonus-point 34-19 victory in what marked their first Vodacom URC home game, with the team scoring their bonus point try at the end of the regular 80 minutes of play.

It was a competitive clash from the outset with both teams throwing everything at one another on attack and defence, and this showed on the scoreboard with the Capetonians holding a narrow 14-12 halftime lead, thanks to tries by Suleiman Hartzenberg and Marcel Theunissen, with Springbok Damian Willemse slotting the two conversions to only one by the visitors to take a narrow two-point lead.

The hosts, however, could have held a bigger lead had it not been for a few possible try-scoring chances that they missed out on shortly before the break.

The second half was tight as both teams ran hard at one another and backed this up with solid defence, forcing errors on both sides at crucial times, but a brace by Ruhan Nel – in the 46^th and 82^nd minute respectively – to only one try by Munster, to add to penalty goal and drop goal by Willemse, saw them claim the 34-19 victory.

Scorers:

• DHL Stormers 34 (14) – Tries: Suleiman Hartzenberg, Marcel Theunissen, Ruhan Nel (2). Conversions: Damian Willemse (4). Penalty Goal: Willemse. Drop goal: Willemse.
• Munster 19 (12) – Tries: Tom Farrell, Eoghan Clarke, Gavin Coombes. Conversions: Jack Crowley (2).