News24.com | Bulls are SA’s likeliest climbers as URC grind returns

Jake White. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

• The Bulls, free of long-haul travel last weekend, are primed to claim the vulnerable scalp of Zebre at Loftus.
  
• By stark contrast, weary compatriots the Sharks have an unenviable six-day turnaround to a clash with stronger Italians Benetton.
• The Stormers need a swift reset that includes seeking ways to be more productive at the breakdown minus Deon Fourie.

Was it the right move by Jake White to throw his prime, United Rugby Championship troops into Currie Cup combat last weekend?

We will have a much clearer idea by late afternoon next Saturday.

But the fact remains that his charges – who importantly restored overdue winning ways to Loftus in trouncing Griquas 40-3 in the domestic competition on Friday night – seem poised to potentially make the best strides of South Africa’s URC quartet as that tournament resumes in the next few days.

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There were obvious blessings to the Bulls in the fact that they were absent from the collectively unsuccessful European Champions/Challenge Cup quarterfinals played abroad by the other three (Sharks, Stormers and Lions) as they now trek home – mostly in ludicrous “cattle class” -- nursing mental and physical bruises.

There’s no rest for the proverbial wicked: all 16 URC teams play this weekend in the second-last round as the race for best possible log positions/seedings intensifies.

But for the seventh-placed Bulls, last season’s losing finalists, a golden opportunity exists to climb toward a safer final berth on the table.

That there was an eight-day turnaround, rather than the more conventional week, between the Griquas date in the Currie Cup and this Saturday’s home URC clash with basement Zebre would have helped encourage the Bulls masterminds to go Full Monty selection-wise in the first-named match.

Likely to be the freshest-legged of the SA teams, that the Italian outfit are their visitors – showing a 0/16 record so far – only hikes the attractiveness of the Bulls romping to a vital, bonus-point win.

Defeat is unthinkable: the Bulls round off their league programme a week later against already confirmed log-toppers Leinster, who may bring a diluted squad to the country but have already shown before in our climes that their depth and youth reservoir is the envy of many.

Currently two points behind the Bulls and in eighth – right on the borderline of knockout qualification – it is the Sharks, of the returning SA teams, who must climb back onto the horse fastest after their 54-20 Champions Cup exit in Toulouse.

They have a Friday night encounter against the other (but considerably tougher) Italian club Benetton at Kings Park.

The side from Treviso are only one point adrift of the Sharks, so there are high stakes involved in the fixture.

Benetton will be in an ebullient mood, given that they edged out Cardiff 27-23 in a Challenge Cup quarterfinal on Saturday to advance to a last-four encounter away to Toulon on 30 April.

The hard-to-read Sharks -- who threw the kitchen sink for solid periods in Toulouse before a late, mass haemorrhaging of points – cannot rest on their laurels in this game as a lacklustre showing would leave them in great peril of not cracking the Champions Cup next season.

That, in turn, would make a mockery of their ambitious medium- to long-term plans for global franchise-rugby domination.

Meanwhile, defending URC silverware-holders the Stormers have an extra day on the Sharks to banish travel fatigue before they face Saturday’s task at Cape Town Stadium against stiff obstacle Munster.

They may require nine points (though it also depends on results elsewhere in the next fortnight) from successive home clashes with the Irish side and then Benetton to be guaranteed of second-placed finish on the log and rights to both a home quarterfinal and Mother City semi.

John Dobson’s charges haven’t had too many blowouts during 2022/23 but their 42-17 drubbing at Exeter in the broader Euro competition did see an aggravation of certain, uncharacteristic frailties.

For one thing, veteran poacher Deon Fourie’s absence – it will be ongoing -- from the open-side flank berth has become a rising snag.

It is probably no coincidence that, since he left the park in the 70^th minute against Harlequins a week earlier (and has an injured cheekbone), the Stormers have leaked nine tries in a game and a bit.

First they conceded three late tries to ‘Quins, despite deservedly winning the round-of-16 clash anyway, but then a further six in the altogether more sobering outcome on the Devon coast.

Apart from turning over ball swiftly to help facilitate long-range raids when the opposition defence is disorganised, Fourie also plays a crucial role in slowing down enemy recycling which, in turns, aids the Stormers’ own defensive integrity.

Still, the Capetonians should not -- and cannot -- spend too much time ruing his current side-lining; they would do well to remember that they often fared well enough without Fourie when he was sparingly used in the earlier portion of the season.

This weekend’s URC matches (home teams first, all kick-offs SA time):

Friday: Sharks v Benetton, 18:30; Glasgow v Scarlets, 20:35; Ulster v Dragons, 20:35.

Saturday: Bulls v Zebre, 13:00; Lions v Leinster, 16:00; Stormers v Munster, 18:15; Edinburgh v Ospreys, 20:35; Connacht v Cardiff, 20:35.

*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing