The DHL Stormers and Cell C Sharks reaffirmed their status as South Africa’s leading teams in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship while at the top of the combined log only two points separate the top four clubs.
The victory for the DHL Stormers saw them leap from 10th place on the log to seventh on 23 points from nine games, while the Cell C Sharks advanced from 11th to ninth place (21 points). The Vodacom Bulls are 12th with 18 points and the Emirates Lions 14th on 12 points, but the four SA teams still have the luxury of a game in hand against most of their rivals further up on the standings.
The win for Glasgow Warriors over Munster on Friday evening saw them moving into the second position on the log with 35 points while Leinster moved to third with 34 points after their convincing win against Edinburgh who is now placed fourth with 34 points too. Ulster still leads the overall race with 36 points, however, Leinster has played one game less than that of the other three top-ranked teams who all already played 10 matches.
Leinster climb above Edinburgh with bonus-point victory in Dublin.
Max Deegan’s 70th-minute try delivered maximum points for Leinster in a 26-7 United Rugby Championship win over Edinburgh at the RDS. Converted scores from Scott Penny and Nick McCarthy had the hosts leading 14-0 at half-time, with Edinburgh counting the cost of a Connor Boyle yellow card.
Leo Cullen’s men, who lost at Cardiff last time out, struggled for momentum until replacement Vakh Abdaladze and Deegan crossed during the final quarter.
Argentinian winger Emiliano Boffelli burst over late on for the Scots, who sat second coming into the match, but Leinster has leapfrogged them in the overall table.
Young flanker Martin Moloney came in for his first Leinster start, a late replacement for Rhys Ruddock (quad), who handed the captaincy to Ross Molony.
Glasgow Warriors edge Munster in hard-fought Scotstoun battle.
Glasgow Warriors emerged with a 13-11 victory following a hard-fought battle with Munster at Scotstoun.
Playing into the light wind in the first half, Glasgow had the better of most of it after edging ahead with a penalty from fly-half Duncan Weir.
They struggled to make further inroads, however, with a scything break from Sam Johnson - back from Scotland duty after playing in last week’s win over England - the highlight of a frustrating period.
It all turned in the final seconds of the half when first Munster drew level with a Ben Healy penalty after a rare period of pressure, whereafter Scott Cummings charged a Neil Cronin kick down to score the first try of the match.
The second half turned out to be more of the same, though this time it was Munster, now playing into the wind, who had more of the game.
They were helped by some sloppy kicking from Glasgow, who put the ball out on the full several times, scuppering their plan to play for territory.
Munster scored after the time was up, unfortunately for them, the replacement flyhalf missed the conversion to level the scores.
Superb DHL Stormers continue fine form in Johannesburg.
The DHL Stormers continued their fine form in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship as they outplayed the Emirates Lions 32-10 for a valuable bonus-point win, which saw them extend their unbeaten run matches to four this year.
The only try scored in the first half was a pearler by DHL Stormers No 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, who made a great breakthrough in the defence and stepped on the gas to touch down to add to a conversion and penalty goal by Manie Libbok (flyhalf), while the Emirates Lions’ only points were compliments of a penalty goal by flyhalf Tiaan Swanepoel, which saw the visitors take a 10-3 halftime lead.
The Cape side picked up where they left off in the second half with Libbok adding his second penalty goal, and they built on this with tries in quick succession by Seabelo Senatla and Sergeal Petersen (both wings) and later man-of-the-match Deon Fourie.
The Emirates Lions refused to give up and scored their only try compliments of Morne van den Berg (replacement scrumhalf), and Jordan Hendrikse’s (replacement flyhalf) conversion pushed their score into double figures for 10 points, which saw them settle for a 32-10 defeat.
Solid Cell C Sharks shut out 14-man Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria.
The Cell C Sharks returned to winning ways in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship when they scored a bonus-point 29-22 victory (half-time 19-5) over a 14-man Vodacom Bulls team after flyhalf Morne Steyn was ordered off the field with a red card for a needless tackle that was high and late on Cell C Sharks captain Lukhanyo Am (centre) in the 11th minute of the match.
The Durbanites were full value for the win, making the most of their opportunities to score four tries at Loftus Versfeld even though the men in blue dominated territory and possession.
After the Cell C Sharks took a 14-0 lead courtesy of tries by Henco Venter (flank) and Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi, the hosts fought back bravely and were rewarded for their resilience when Cornal Hendricks (right-wing) touched down in the right-hand corner. Their joy was short-lived though as Am regathered the next restart, grubbered ahead and fell on the ball to restore his team’s 14-point lead at the break.
The Vodacom Bulls reduced the deficit early in the second half when their captain and flank, Marcell Coetzee, scored a power-try, but 15 minutes later, the Cell C Sharks’ lead was back at 14 points when Springbok speedster Makazole Mapimpi scored the easiest of tries from an attacking scrum.
The men from Pretoria kept hammering away, especially after Grant Williams (scrumhalf) was red-carded for the visitors for a dangerous tackle on Chris Smith (flyhalf), and with playing numbers even, Simphiwe Matanzima (replacement prop) and Madosh Tambwe (left-wing) found holes in the visitors’ defence, and although it ensured they got two bonus points from the game, it was too little, too late for the Vodacom Bulls.
