Perhaps not enough was made of the last game to be played in the Vodacom URC before the two-week break for the start of the Investec Champions Cup - Scarlets winning 23-0 against Glasgow Warriors.
Given that Glasgow have just beaten a full-strength Toulouse in the Champions Cup, coming from 21-0 down to win 28-21 at the Scotstoun, that result was an indication of just how much jeopardy there is in the URC. For Scarlets are still languishing in last position in the URC, and yet the last time they played in that competition, they thumped the team that has just beaten the side many rate as the mightiest in Europe.
Scarlets have put up creditable showings too in defeat in the Champions Cup and with the DHL Stormers topping their pool, Glasgow theirs and Edinburgh and Leinster in second place in theirs, it certainly makes claims by some UK writers that the URC is a lesser competition to the English Premiership and the Top 14 look laughable.
DERBY PHASE STARTS THIS WEEK
The URC returns this week with the South African sides starting what for them is a prolonged derby phase. It is derby after derby from now until March, which is when the teams go back into SA versus overseas mode for the last six rounds of the competition.
The Stormers are sitting pretty at the top of the log and will be looking to cement their position by getting full points at home against a Lions team that won the first SA derby of the season in Pretoria at the end of November. The Bulls head to Durban and have to also get their show on the road after a few poor results. They are currently a long way off where they were this time last year under their former coach, Jake White.
Indeed, the fact that Glasgow’s seismic win over Toulouse was masterminded by Franco Smith, who was the alternative candidate to Johan Ackermann when White’s exit was made known earlier this year, should sit uncomfortably with the Bulls bosses.
Glasgow’s win was good for the URC, just like the Stormers’ away win over Bayonne and Edinburgh’s win over Toulon was too, but it should also sit a bit uncomfortably with the SA sides who would have seen that game as a reminder of just how difficult it is to beat Glasgow at the Scotstoun.
The loss to the Scarlets pushed Glasgow, who had looked on the road to recovery after an opening defeat to Benetton, into fifth position on the log after six games, seven points adrift of the log leaders, the Stormers, and for now outside of the coveted top four that signifies home play-off advantage should the log finish that way.
NO-ONE WOULD WANT A KO GAME AT THE SCOTSTOUN
The South African teams would love it to stay that way, and the Stormers in particular will be very aware of how difficult it is to play an away playoff against Glasgow at the Scotstoun. They’ve lost two quarterfinals in a row there. But the other teams looking at playoff qualification, meaning the Vodacom Bulls, the Lions and the Hollywoodbets Sharks, would be even more aware of it as right now, one third of the way through the league phase, they are all struggling much more than the Stormers are if a top-four finish is their quest.
After the Stormers, the Lions are the next highest placed local team, in seventh position and 11 points behind the leaders. They are one point ahead of the Bulls, who have two particularly tough away derbies next up - after they play in Durban on Saturday they go to Cape Town on 3 January for the first north/south showdown of the year and one that is sure to be interesting given that the Bulls look to have a scrum when at full strength that could challenge what has become almost a given of Stormers dominance in that phase of the game.
BOTH TEAMS HAVE MUCH TO PROVE IN DURBAN
If the Bulls want to get anywhere near a top-four place, let alone the second-position finish under White’s coaching last season, they are going to have to start winning now. However, they don’t have a great recent record at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, and the Sharks also have a lot to prove as they go out in search of a second consecutive win under new coach JP Pietersen.
Although they won in the Champions Cup against Saracens, and the weather would have favoured the visitors more than the hosts, their performance in Durban was far from convincing, and they will need further improvement to challenge the Bulls. The result of the Sharks/Bulls game is difficult to predict, but given the Stormers’ current momentum, they should start clear favourites in Cape Town against a Lions team that have faltered in quite bizarre fashion in two consecutive EPCR Challenge games. Both against Benetton in Johannesburg and against Newcastle away, where they admittedly went in with a second-string team, the Lions butchered scoring opportunities which, had they been taken, could have seen them win comfortably.
Week 7 of Vodacom URC:
Leinster v Ulster (Dublin, Friday 9.45pm)
Cardiff Rugby v Scarlets (Cardiff, Friday 9.45pm)
DHL Stormers v Lions (Cape Town, Saturday 3.30pm)
Benetton v Zebre (Treviso, Saturday 4pm)
Glasgow Warriors v Edinburgh (Glasgow, Saturday 5pm)
Hollywoodbets Sharks v Vodacom Bulls (Durban, Saturday 6pm)
Ospreys v Munster (Swansea, Saturday 7.30pm)
Dragons v Connacht (Newport, Saturday 9.45pm)
Log positions
1. DHL Stormers 27 points after 6 games; 2. Cardiff 25 after 6; 3. Munster 24 after 6; 4. Ulster 21 after 5; 5. Glasgow Warriors 20 after 6; 6. Leinster 16 after 6; 7. Lions 16 after 6; 8. Vodacom Bulls 15 after 6; 9. Connacht 14 after 5; 10. Edinburgh 13 after 5; 11. Zebre 10 after 6; 12. Benetton 9 after 6; 13. Ospreys 8 after 6; 14. Hollywoodbets Sharks 8 after 6; 15. Dragons 5 after 6; Scarlets 4 after 5.