The narrative of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in the first two seasons of its existence has been driven by were widely seen as fairytale stories and as the second half of the competition kicks off this weekend the chances are good we could see it happen again.
In the inaugural season, we had a shock winner in the form of the DHL Stormers, considered financial paupers because their mother union, Western Province, was bankrupt and under administration, who came from near the bottom of the table to secure a home run in the playoffs. Their opponents in that final, the Vodacom Bulls, had a fairytale story of their own, as they were well out of it in mid-season and were at one stage listing second last.
In the second season, 2022/2023, the Stormers proved their previous achievement was no fluke by making the final again, but they were upstaged by a team, Munster, who came from nowhere to contest the Cape Town final and then won it against all the odds. That was certainly a fairytale ending for Peter O’Mahony and his charges, who in winning the URC also broke a long trophy drought for the proud Irish province, but Connacht had a story of their own.
The men from Galway were languishing in the early stages of last season, and at one stage had lost five in six games, similar to Munster, but they came storming back to make the playoffs, where the shocked Ulster booked themselves a semi-final meeting at the DHL Stadium with the Stormers.
Can something like that happen again? Well, if you look at the log as it currently stands as the competition heads into round 10 of 18 it certainly can, you just have to choose which of the dark horses you’d want to back to produce the strong finish that is required to turn the second half of the table standing into a top eight and playoff spot.
As they’ve done before, the reigning champions might be the smart money option, and Connacht too look poised for a possible repeat. Munster are 11th as they head to Llanelli on Friday night to face Scarlets, who this week announced that their ranks are being bolstered by the arrival of former Western Province forward Jarrod Taylor.
But while that means they are three placings outside of playoff and Investec Champions Cup qualification, with eighth place being the cut-off, they are in fact only one log point outside of the qualifying bracket. And the same holds true for Connacht, who are ninth due to superior points difference but are on the same number of points (24) as Munster and just behind the eighth placed Ospreys (25 log points).
Indeed, with just 13 points separating log leaders Leinster from 12th-placed Cardiff, and nine separating the fourth-placed Bulls from the Welsh team, you could say that there are still 12 teams in the running for top-four spots and home-ground advantage in the first game of the URC Finals Series in the second weekend of June.
All it requires is for one of the teams at the margins of top-eight qualification to go on a winning run from here and one of the top four to fall off the bus in the remaining months and nine matches of the league season.
Benetton will be hoping it is not them as they head to Dublin for their top-of-the-table clash with Leinster on Saturday. As Stormers coach John Dobson reminded everyone this week, most of the teams near the top still have to come to South Africa later in the season, and there are no easy games in this country now that the Emirates Lions, currently 10th, have come to the party and have started to progress back towards becoming the powerful team they were in the last days of SA’s participation in Super Rugby.
The Lions, like the other three local sides, face a tough derby battle this weekend as they host the Bulls. They were denied in the most frustrating fashion at Loftus last time out, with the Bulls going ahead with a late kick and then the Lions missing what would have been a winning penalty. They will be hoping they can cross the line as winners this time, but Jake White’s men will be eager to improve as they look to retain their top-four spot ahead of what should be a massive return derby against the Stormers on 2 March.
The Stormers agree they need to be more physical when they visit Durban on Saturday than they were when they hosted the Hollywoodbets Sharks in Cape Town in the last game of 2023, while the Sharks’ captain Lukhanyo Am believes that his team can draw some confidence from their recent form in the EPCR Challenge Cup as they look to kick-start their season after a poor start.
‘Poor start’ is indeed an understatement if you look at where the Sharks lie on the log. They are last as they head into the second half of the season, and have a lot of ground to make up if they want to regain their Championship Cup status through URC performance. They can of course get back into the elite European competition by winning the Challenge Cup.
Am argues with some justification though that some of the more recent results, particularly the two derbies against the Stormers (away) and Sharks (home), could easily have gone the other way. In which case the Durban team’s position would be a lot more healthy.
They lost by just one point to the Stormers in Cape Town on a day when the Durbanites certainly pitched, but the Stormers felt they were a bit off in that game after bruising showdowns with LaRochelle in the Champions Cup and the Bulls in the URC in successive weeks. The Cape side has won five games in a row across both competitions they are competing in, but they remain under pressure as they continue to pay for their poor URC tour in November, where they lost four out of four.
It will be scant consolation for the Stormers, but they are in good company, with Ulster facing a tough away game against Ospreys in the final game of the weekend in Swansea on Sunday. Former Stormers captain Steven Kitshoff’s new team, who have enjoyed a home-ground advantage in the quarterfinal stage in the first two seasons, are one point outside of the top four and just two ahead of Edinburgh and the Stormers, who are level with each other on points but sixth and seventh respectively.
Edinburgh travel to Parma on Friday to play a Zebre team that might be less denuded by international call-ups than they are. Talking of Zebre, they were wooden spoonists in the first two seasons but are doing a good job in their fight to avoid that fate this season as they are currently occupying the 14th position.
But there is a big gap between the top of the log and the two teams on 12 points, the 13th-placed Scarlets being the other.
Upcoming Fixtures (SA Time)
16 February 2024
21:35 Scarlets v Munster - Parc Y Scarlets
21:35 Zebre Parma v Edinburgh - Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi
17 February 2024
15:00 Emirates Lions v Vodacom Bulls - Emirates Airline Park
17:00 Leinster v Benetton - RDS Arena
17:05 Hollywoodbets Sharks v DHL Stormers - Hollywoodbets Kings Park
19:15 Cardiff Rugby v Connacht - Cardiff Arms Park
21:35 Glasgow Warriors v Dragons RFC -Scotstoun Stadium
18 February 2024
17:00 Ospreys v Ulster - Swansea.com Stadium
