The Vodacom United Rugby Championship kicked off with two wins from four for the South African teams, with the DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls victorious on home soil while the Hollywoodbets Sharks and Lions lost on the road.
The DHL Stormers delivered an impressive performance in the opening round of the Vodacom URC by gaining a comprehensive 35-0 bonus-point victory over reigning champions Leinster at DHL Stadium on Friday evening. Next weekend, DHL Stormers host Ospreys in Cape Town in a 19h00 Friday fixture, while the Hollywoodbets Sharks will be in action from 21h05 against the Dragons in Wales.
The Hollywoodbets Sharks opened their Vodacom URC campaign with a 35-19 defeat to the Glasgow Warriors at the Scotstoun Stadium in Scotland, as a decisive late rally from the hosts secured a deserved bonus-point victory.
The Vodacom Bulls kicked off the new Vodacom URC season with a 53-40 victory over Welsh side Ospreys at Loftus Versfeld, marking a successful start to the era of new head coach Johan Ackermann.
Cardiff delivered a clinical performance to defeat the Lions 33-20 in a wet Vodacom URC opener at the Arms Park in the Welsh capital on Saturday night. The hosts looked sharper as the game progressed, while the Lions struggled with the conditions, including the bounce of the ball on the synthetic pitch and committed several unforced errors.
Saturday’s big fixture sees the Vodacom Bulls face Leinster at 18:30 (SA Time) in Pretoria in a rematch of last season’s final, which the Irish outfit won comfortably in Dublin to lift the Vodacom URC title for the first time. The weekend’s fixtures conclude on Sunday in Italy, where the Lions face Zebre Parma at 16:00 (SA Time).
