Two teams from what you could refer to as the Vodacom United Rugby Championships’ big five are in South Africa ahead of two-match tours that could prove decisive to the local challenge for prime positions on the final log.
Ulster’s coach Dan McFarland has been able to call up seven of his eight current Ireland internationals for his team’s matches against the DHL Stormers in Cape Town this weekend and the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria the following week. Edinburgh coach Mike Blair has called up a quartet of Scotland internationals for his team’s matches against the Cell C Sharks this week and then the Emirates Lions.
In Blair’s case, you get the impression the timing of the end of the Six Nations and his team’s tour to the southern hemisphere might not have been as perfect as he’d like it to have been. While he has four players in Blair Kinghorn, Pierre Schoeman, Mark Bennett and Hamish Watson in his squad who featured for Scotland against Ireland at the weekend, he’s also had to leave several top players at home because of resting protocols.
“It’s a difficult thing to manage, this period, going to South Africa straight after the Six Nations,” said Blair to the Scottish media. “We’ve got certain directives or players that we have to manage over this three-game period - the two South African games and then the Pau game [in the Challenge Cup on April 8].
“It’s a little bit about the individuals’ needs and a little bit about the team’s needs. For example, we are a little bit light in the back row at the moment, so that’s where (British and Irish Lion) Hamish comes in.
“We’re keen to get Blair [Kinghorn] a run of games where we can, especially after him starting the game against Ireland as well. There’s no real fixed rule - we’ve just tried to find the best way around everything.”
Edinburgh play the Lions in Johannesburg seven days after they meet the Sharks and are under pressure to bounce back from their 30-17 defeat to Glasgow Warriors in the Scottish 1872 Cup derby last weekend as their position in the top eight, which means qualification for next year’s European Champions Cup, could be vulnerable if they don’t win on the road.
Indeed, the Sharks will leapfrog them from sixth to fifth place if they win Saturday’s game in Durban. Although it will keep them on top of the local Shield (conference), a Sharks win might also be welcomed by the DHL Stormers and the Vodacom Bulls, as Edinburgh, who was second on the overall log not that long ago, will then be within touching distance.
That is provided of course that the Stormers beat Ulster in the first game of a Saturday triple-header on South African soil, something that is going to be tough for them to do given Ulster’s pedigree and the infusion of players who have missed the past few weeks because of Ireland’s Six Nations commitments.
Second-row forward Sam Carter was unable to make the trip after testing positive for Covid, while wing Robert Bloucoune is the only current Ireland squad member who is not on tour. The squad includes regular captain Iain Henderson, with the lock in line to play only his second game of the year for Ulster after returning from injury and a short bout of Covid ahead of the Six Nations.
The other six Ireland players called up by McFarland include Rob Herring, Kieran Treadwell, Nick Timoney, James Hume and Mike Lowry, while prop Tom O’Toole is back from injury after being injured playing in a URC game against the Dragons four weeks ago.
The most significant addition to the squad apart from the players who have come out of a Six Nations campaign where Ireland failed to win the championship but still won the Triple Crown is that of influential centre Luke Marshall, who is fit again after being out with a knee injury since November.
Of course, the name that needs no introduction to South Africans is Duane Vermeulen, the Springbok No8 and also a former stalwart of both the Stormers and the Bulls. After their big win over the Scarlets, the Bulls will be expected to retain momentum by beating the Dragons, while the Lions can help the contending SA teams by knocking over the Ospreys, who are hovering just outside the top eight bracket currently.
The Ospreys are favoured to win their way into the Champions Cup by virtue of winning the Wales Shield, but in terms of making it more comfortable for themselves by getting into the top eight, this is a make or break tour for them. They follow up their game against the Lions with a visit to Cape Town the following week.
This week’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship fixtures
Emirates Lions v Ospreys (Johannesburg, Friday 19.00)
Munster v Benetton (Limerick, Friday 21.35)
Zebre Parma v Scarlets (Parma, Saturday 15.00)
DHL Stormers v Ulster (Cape Town, Saturday 15.00)
Cell C Sharks v Edinburgh (Durban, Saturday 17.05)
Vodacom Bulls v Dragons (Pretoria, Saturday 19.15)
Cardiff v Glasgow Warriors (Cardiff, Saturday 19.15)
Connacht v Leinster (Galway, Saturday 21.35)
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