URC wrap: SA teams well placed after dramatic changing round

The Vodacom Bulls and Hollywoodbets Sharks would have felt they’d dropped the ball when they lost their derbies last weekend, but then other results conspired in their favour and it all ended with a dramatic round of upsets in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship leaving all the South African teams well placed.Well placed, when the DHL Stormers are still only 12th after winning their tight rain impacted north/south derby in Pretoria? Yes, because 12th doesn’t really mean what it looks like when you look at the points situation on the log table and note that the team lying eighth, which is now Connacht, only has one point more.The Lions, lying ninth after their excellent 38-14 win over the Sharks in Johannesburg, are on the same number of points (28) as the Stormers – as are 13th-placed Benetton.The 14th-placed Ulster are just one point further back from the five teams all bunched on 28, and even Zebre, who were involved in one of the most interesting games of the weekend, are still in it even though they lie second last.Their 25 points is just four off the top-eight bracket that represents URC playoff qualification and participation in next season’s Investec Champions Cup.It is a reflection of how competitive the URC is that there is such a tight logjam and that after 12 rounds there are 15 teams out of 16 that still have a chance of winning the competition (well theoretically that is the case as any team that makes the playoffs has a chance and right now 15 teams can make it).The Bulls and Sharks would have felt they’d dropped the ball and lost ground in their quest to catch the Glasgow Warriors and move into a top two position that will make all the difference to their chances of going all the way to the trophy.But that was before Glasgow themselves dropped the ball by losing 31-32 at home to the Ospreys in the last game of the weekend.This result means that with both teams having six games to play, the Warriors are still just three points ahead of the Bulls. And the teams still have to play each other.Admittedly that will be an away game for the Bulls, but hopefully the Bulls will have some of their injured players back by then and they do have time to work on their game, as do the Stormers, in the three week break that they go into now before they next play.The Lions and Sharks don’t have three weeks because they meet in Durban in the only game of this coming weekend, a clash that is not only about the Sharks’ quest to keep in the mix for a top two finish and the Lions’ quest for a top eight finish but also about determining the winners of the South African Shield.– SuperSport.com

URC wrap: SA teams well placed after dramatic changing round

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Republikein 2025-04-04

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URC wrap: SA teams well placed after dramatic changing round

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