South African teams dispatched in post-Rugby World Cup URC losses

While the Springboks’ Rugby World Cup celebrations continue in South Africa, the results in the United Rugby Championship (URC) on Friday evening were dire for the Stormers and Sharks.

Both sides got their overseas tours off to poor starts, with the Stormers handed their first defeat of the season, falling to a 20-9 loss to Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium, while the Sharks were defeated 19-5 by the Ospreys at the Twickenham Stoop in London.

The duo failed to impress without their Springbok stars, and while it was the first defeat of the season for the Stormers, it is now three on the trot for the Sharks under new head coach John Plumtree.

Glasgow Warriors scored three first-half tries in their victory over the Stormers.

A Sione Tuipulotu score and then two from Johnny Matthews gave Franco Smith’s side a 20-9 half-time lead, their situation helped by Stormers having two men sin-binned in quick succession.

The South Africans poured on the pressure once restored to full strength but could not break down a resolute Glasgow defence that held firm to claim a statement victory against the team that reached the last two URC finals.

After a cagey opening period, Sebastian Cancelliere’s run from his own half carried Warriors into the Stormers’ 22. Tom Jordan was waiting on his shoulder to finish, but Cancelliere’s pass failed to find the fly-half, and the opportunity was lost.

Stormers moved in front through a Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu penalty after Ollie Smith had been penalised for not releasing.

Glasgow replied through a Tuipulotu try after George Horne had fed Stafford McDowall from the back of the scrum, who in turn found Tuipulotu, who burst under the posts. Horne converted.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu knocked over another penalty before the Warriors landed another score. This time, it came from the line-out drive, with Matthews scoring from the maul. Horne could not make the conversion but did knock over a penalty shortly afterwards after the Stormers were punished for not rolling away.

Glasgow errors, though, were keeping the visitors in the game, and Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked a massive penalty after another Oli Kebble infringement to reduce the deficit.

The Stormers were then reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes after Evan Roos tackled Matt Fagerson to the ground off the ball and was shown a yellow card. That quickly became 13 when Joseph Dweba was penalised for a dangerous tackle on Greg Peterson and joined his team-mate in the sin bin.

Glasgow were quick to take advantage, with Matthews diving over in the corner for his second try of the game.

Stormers were soon back to their full complement and started to put the home defence under a period of sustained pressure. But some stout defending kept the visitors at bay in a scoreless second half.

⚔️ THE GLASGOW WARRIORS HAND THE STORMERS THEIR FIRST DEFEAT OF THE #URC SEASON! #GLAvSTO pic.twitter.com/N3gHXhutyc

— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) November 3, 2023

The Ospreys celebrated their first URC excursion to London with a 19-5 win over Sharks at the Stoop.

A crowd of 7,183 saw Ospreys record a deserved victory as the Sharks fell to their third consecutive defeat as a result of a number of unforced errors.

Jack Walsh, Max Nagy and Keiran Williams scored Ospreys’ tries, with Walsh adding two conversions.

A try from Phepsi Buthelezi gave the Sharks a third-minute lead after the home defence was exploited in the wide channels, but that was as good as it got for the Durban side.

Ospreys’ response was impressive as they built up a sustained period of pressure, but it was not immediately rewarded, with TMO replays ruling out a try for Ethan Lewis as the hooker lost possession before grounding.

It mattered little as the Welsh region continued to pen the Sharks in their own 22, and they drew level when Walsh darted through a gap to race over.

Ospreys suffered an injury blow when fly-half Owen Williams was forced to leave the field to be replaced by Max Nagy, but they overcame this setback to take the lead.

Sharks centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg ripped the defence apart with a clean break, but instead of passing, he kicked, and it was charged down by Nagy, who raced an unopposed 55 metres.

Van Rensburg’s night became worse when he was yellow-carded for leading with his forearm to catch Harri Deaves in the face. The Sharks were immediately punished as Aphiwe Dyantyi failed to deal with a ball in goal, and Keiran Williams was on hand to touch down and give his side a 19-5 interval lead.

Eight minutes after the restart, Van Rensburg returned, but despite having the better possession and territory, his side could not make it count as the second half remained scoreless.

Walsh was off target with a 30-metre penalty, but it made no difference as the Sharks never looked like clawing back the deficit.

⚫️ THE OSPREYS DEFEAT THE SHARKS IN THE FIRST #URC MATCH PLAYED IN LONDON! #OSPvSHA pic.twitter.com/jSzPVzUcCp

— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) November 3, 2023

Glasgow Warriors v Stormers

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ollie Smith, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 13 Sione Tuipulotu, 12 Stafford McDowall (c), 11 Kyle Rowe, 10 Tom Jordan, 9 George Horne, 8 Sione Vailanu, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Greg Peterson, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Johnny Matthews, 1 Oli Kebble
Replacements: 16 Angus Fraser, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Alex Samuel, 21 Henco Venter, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Duncan Weir

Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Ben Loader, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Evan Roos, 6 Willie Engelbrecht, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Ben-Jason Dixon, 3 Neethling Fouche (c), 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Gary Porter, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Clayton Blommetjies

Ospreys v Sharks

Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Luke Morgan, 13 Keiran Williams, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Toby Fricker, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Morgan Morris (c), 7 Harri Deaves, 6 James Ratti, 5 James Fender, 4 Rhys Davies, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Ethan Lewis, 1 Garyn Phillip
Replacements: 16 Lewis Lloyd, 17 Rhys Henry, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Lewis Jones, 20 Morgan Morse, 21 Luke Davies, 22 Max Nagy, 23 Luke Scully

Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Francois Venter (c), 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Cameron Wright, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Phepsi Buthelezi, 6 James Venter, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Corne’ Rahl, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Dylan Richardson, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu
Replacements: 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 George Cronje, 21 Zee Mkhabela, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Murray Koster

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