It was a rewarding final United Rugby Championship pool round for the Bulls and Stormers as they cemented their places in the quarter-final, with the Pretoria side sealing home ground advantage in a thrilling weekend of derbies.
The Bulls – who also secured the SA Shield for the first time – registered a bonus-point 26-14 victory against the Sharks in Durban to finish second on the log to book a home quarter-final at Loftus Versfeld against Benetton. Victory in this match will see the team from Pretoria host a semi-final.
The Stormers overcame a red card to earn a 29-24 victory against the Lions for fifth spot on the table, which will see them face the Glasgow Warriors in Scotland in their playoff match next weekend.
Unfortunately for the Lions, they were edged out of the top eight after Ospreys recorded a bonus-point win over Cardiff in the final pool match of the season, while Munster’s win over Ulster dashed the Bulls’ hopes of finishing the season as the top team.
The Bulls will host Benetton at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday at 15h30, while the Glasgow Warriors will welcome the Stormers to the Scotstoun Stadium a few hours later at 20h35.
The two other quarter-finals are between Munster and Ospreys in Limerick on Friday evening (20h35), while Leinster will host Ulster in Dublin on Saturday (18h00).
Stormers edge Lions after strong comeback
The Stormers produced an admirable second-half comeback despite the team being reduced to 14 men in the third quarter to claw their way back from a 21-12 halftime deficit for a rewarding 29-24 Vodacom URC victory against the Lions at Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town.
The win sealed their fifth-placed ranking on the log to cement their spot in the quarter-finals.
The first half was closely contested with both teams throwing everything at one another, but the Lions had the upper hand on the scoreboard thanks to three penalty goals by Jordan Hendrikse to add to tries by Francke Horn and JC Pretorius, while they limited the Stormers to two tries, by Andre-Hugo Venter and Angelo Davids.
Hendrikse opened the scoring in the second minute with a penalty goal, but this was cancelled out minutes later as Venter forced his way over the chalk from a rolling maul. The Lions struck back with Hendrikse’s second penalty goal and a subsequent try by Horn, who received the ball out wide to dart over the line.
The Stormers continued to show their fighting spirit for their second try by Davids thanks to some good interplay close to the tryline for a narrow 12-11 lead, but the last minutes of the half belonged to the visitors as Pretorius touched down, while Hendrikse extended their lead in the last minute of the half with his third penalty goal to nudge them into an encouraging 21-12 lead going into break.
The Stormers made a strong statement of their intent when play resumed with Springbok flyhalf Manie Libbok adding their first and only penalty goal.
The match then took a turn as the Lions’ Marius Louw received a yellow card in the 48th minute for retaliation after a dangerous tackle by Davids, which saw the former Blitzbok speedster receive a red card, reducing the Stormers to 14 men for the rest of the match.
Despite being a man down they scored once again with Evan Roos crashing through a few tackles to give the home team a 22-21 lead.
Hendrikse put his charges within striking distance of winning the match with his fourth three-pointer in the 73rd minute to make it 24-22, but their hopes of a victory were dashed with four minutes left on the clock as Adre Smith scored the hosts’ bonus point try to hand them a 29-24 lead, which they managed to hold onto for the valuable win.
Scorers:
Stormers: Tries - Andre-Hugo Venter, Angelo Davids, Evan Roos, Adre Smith b Manie Libbok (3) Pen. - Libbok
Lions: Tries - Francke Horn, JC Pretorius Conv. - Jordan Hendrikse b Hendrikse (4)
Bulls bank bonus point win in Durban
The Bulls snatched a significant 26-14 bonus point victory against a determined Sharks outfit at Kings’ Park in Durban on Saturday to ensure that they secure the second spot on the Vodacom URC table.
The win also means the Bulls are the new holders of the SA Shield after the Stormers won it in the last two season, as the men from Pretoria outscored the hosts four tries to two in an entertaining match.
The crucial victory ensured that they finished above Leinster on the table and placed them at the top of the log temporarily before the last two pool matches, but Munster’s 29-24 victory against Ulster saw the defending champions finish the pool stages top of the log, pushing the Bulls to second.
The Pretoria outfit made a strong statement in the first half attacking at will and they created several chances to score, although mistakes at crucial times combined with the determined Sharks defensive effort limited them to two first half tries to one by the Sharks.
The newly crowned EPCR Challenge Cup winners got the scoreboard ticking first with Siya Masuku scoring the first try of the game in the 15th minute after taking advantage of an error by the visitors close to the line, which saw him scoop up a loose ball to touch down.
The Bulls, however, found their rhythm soon after, paving the way for them to score two tries in eight minutes – the first by David Kriel out wide, and the second by Johan Grobbelaar from some good forward play, which pushed them 12-7 ahead.
The visitors continued to apply pressure as the late stages of the half, but they were unable to capitalise on their opportunities, although they maintained the five-point lead going into the sheds.
The Bulls came out strongly in the second half, and they soon had the luxury of an extra player for 10 minutes after Vincent Tshituka received a yellow card three minutes after play restarted, and although they were unable to add to their score in that time, they kept applying pressure on attack and this paid off with Akker van der Merwe crashing over the chalk in the 55th minute for a 19-7 lead.
The Sharks fought back with a try by Dylan Richardson with 13 minutes left on clock to reduce their deficit to five points, but their hopes of creating one of the biggest upsets of the weekend were dashed as Van der Merwe scored his brace – sealing the bonus point try for his team in the process – from a rolling maul in the dying minutes to push a victory out of reach for the Sharks.
With neither team able to add to their score, the Bulls claimed the 26-14 victory, which marked their 13th win in the competition, and allowed them to build winning momentum going into the playoff stages.
Scorers:
Sharks: Tries - Siya Masuku, Dylan Richardson Conv - Masuku (2)
Bulls: Tries - David Kriel, Johan Grobbelaar, Akker van der Merwe (2) Conv - Johan Goosen (2), Chris Smith
