The South African Franchises are struggling to cope with the demand from European Rugby as their supporters were made to endure another disappointing weekend. Only the Cell C Sharks won while the rest will return to South Africa with little to show.
Several reasons for the struggles were mentioned before, however, if SARU is serious about making our franchises credible contenders, they will have to scrap all the restrictions currently in place.
The Cell C Sharks snuck through for a 22-19 victory in their Round 13 Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash against Edinburgh at the DAM Health Stadium on Saturday, with a penalty goal separating the teams on the scoreboard.
It was a gripping game from start to end, but the visitors' determination, despite a later yellow card, saw them through for the vital victory.
The first half was thrilling with the Cell C Sharks scoring two converted tries for a 14-0 lead before Edinburgh fought back strongly with three back-to-back tries to take a 19-14 lead.
The second half provided more of the same excitement, and while the Durbanites added a third try, it was a penalty goal by Cell C Sharks flyhalf Curwin Bosch that proved to be the difference on the scoreboard in the end.
Irish province Connacht recorded their sixth win of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship as they beat the Emirates Lions by 43-24 on a cold and windy night at the Sportsground in Galway, with Caolin Blade grabbing a hat-trick for the hosts.
The result, their fourth straight defeat in the Vodacom URC at the back-end of a four-week tour of the Northern Hemisphere, was a big blow to the Johannesburgers' aspirations of reaching the quarter-finals and although they are not yet out of the running, this loss has left them nine points adrift of the Cell C Sharks, who are in eighth spot on the log after their win over Edinburgh earlier on Saturday.
The Emirates Lions, disrupted by a late change to their starting side with Ruhan Straeuli coming in for Emile van Heerden, were on the back foot for most of the match, with Connacht almost scoring at will in a match that delivered nine tries.
The hosts enjoyed 64% possession and 70% territorial advantage, while the men in red were forced to make almost double the number of tackles to their opponents.
Ulster was in superb form as they beat the DHL Stormers by 35-5 (half-time 21-0) in a difficult Vodacom United Rugby Championship outing for the South African team on a cold night at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast.
The hosts scored five converted tries as the DHL Stormers, disrupted by a number of injuries, struggled to find their rhythm, and they were without of possession and stuck in their own half for large parts of the match against one of the top sides in the league.
The Capetonians were forced into late changes due to injury, Junior Pokomela and Clayton Blommetjies were ruled out before kick-off, replaced by Marcel Theunissen and Kade Wolhuter, with Connor Evans and Andre-Hugo Venter coming onto the bench, and to compound matters, they lost JJ Kotze in the fourth minute, with Scarra Ntubeni coming on for his first appearance since April 2022.
Ulster made the most of their opponents’ lethargic start, with tries by Nathan Doak and Ben Moxham in the first 20 minutes as they kept the DHL Stormers pinned in their own half and starved them of any meaningful possession.
The Vodacom Bulls fell short against the Scarlets in their 13th round Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash at Parc Y Scarlets in Llanelli, going down 37-28 in a disappointing result for the men from Pretoria in the northern hemisphere showpiece.
The victory for the Scarlets marked only their fourth in 13 matches, while it was the Vodacom Bulls’ fifth defeat this season.
Scarlets got the better of the visitors from South Africa in the first half, scoring three tries to two, which handed them a handy 27-14 lead going into the sheds.
The second half was tight as both teams threw everything at one another, and this saw both sides earn their bonus point tries, although the hosts emerged victorious.
