The two South African Vodacom United Rugby Championship derbies to kick off the new year both went down to the wire, with the Lions and DHL Stormers taking the spoils over the Hollywoodbets Sharks and Vodacom Bulls in two nail-biting encounters.
In Durban, the Lions had to deal with a 20-minute red card, but managed to hang on to beat the Sharks by 23-22 in a humdinger in front of a big crowd at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, with seven tries scored in a great encounter where both sides gave the ball air.
In the second game in front of more than 53,000 people in Cape Town, the Stormers snuck through in an arm-wrestle against the Bulls, with the winning score coming a minute before the end of the match at DHL Stadium as the hosts consolidated their spot at the top of the log.
The Stormers are first on 36 points, while the Lions moved up to seventh place on the table (21 points) with their fourth win out of eight.
The Bulls are in 10th place on 16 points after gaining a bonus point in Cape Town, and the Sharks are 13th on 14 points.
With two rounds of European rugby coming up, the next round in the Vodacom URC is scheduled for the weekend of 23/24 January, when the Lions are away to the Ospreys in Wales; Edinburgh welcome the Vodacom Bulls to Scotland; and the DHL Stormers host the Hollywoodbets Sharks in Cape Town.
Lions break Sharks’ hearts in Durban
The Lions snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when Junior Springbok star Haashim Pead scored the match-winning try at the death of their Vodacom URC derby against the Hollywoodbets Sharks in Durban, where the hosts’ lack of kicking accuracy from the tee ended up being very expensive as they went down by 23-22 despite scoring four tries to three.
Both teams showed a positive mindset and tried their best to keep the ball alive, with the Lions starting strongly with two early tries – by Etienne Oosthuizen and Francke Horn – to take a 15-0 lead after 10 minutes, silencing the big Durban crowd.
However, the Hollywoodbets Sharks heat back with two tries of their own – by Emmanuel Tshituka and Siya Kolisi – to make it 15-12 after 25 minutes.
Chris Smith’s second penalty goal gave the Lions a six-point lead, but they lost Ruan Venter to the sin-bin late in the first half and the Sharks hit back with a try by Jason Jenkins to inch to within a single point of the visitors at the break.
The hosts went over early in the second half and although the Lions got some respite as try was disallowed because of an earlier knock-on, they were dealt a big blow moments later as Venter’s yellow card was upgraded to a 20 minute red due to a high degree of danger of his hit on Aphelele Fassi.
The Lions knuckled down and it took the Sharks 15 minutes to finally take the lead as Edwill van der Merwe followed up and scored from a clever kick downfield, just before the visitors were restored to 15 players.
However, the visitors refused to give up and Pead sealed the victory after the buzzer with a with a brilliant blindside snipe from a tap penalty close to the Sharks’ tryline.
Scorers:
Hollywoodbets Sharks 22 (17) – Tries: Emmanuel Tshituka, Siya Kolisi, Jason Jenkins, Edwill van der Merwe. Conversion: Jordan Hendrikse.
Lions 23 (18) – Tries: Etienne Oosthuizen, Francke Horn, Haashim Pead. Conversion: Chris Smith. Penalty goals: Smith (2).
Stormers grind out victory over Bulls in Cape Town
The DHL Stormers ground out a hard-fought 13-8 victory over the Vodacom Bulls in a tough local Vodacom URC derby on Cape Town, where the hosts recorded their eighth consecutive victory in the competition.
It wasn’t easy though and the Capetonians could only score the winning points late in the game when Ntuthuko Mchunu crashed over from a lineout drive – a tactic they used often, but with very little reward.
The first half hour was a tit for tat affair until Handre Pollard broke the deadlock with some quick thinking, taking a tap penalty and going over for the first try of the match, somewhat against the run of play to give the Bulls a 5-0 lead.
The Stormers hit back almost immediately. With Willie le Roux in the sin-bin, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu first landed a penalty goal and a few minutes later, Evan Roos crashed over from an attacking lineout.
While the DHL Stormers opted for lineouts rather than aim at the posts, a tactic that only worked twice, the Vodacom Bulls aimed at the posts a few times, but was Pollard not on song and only landed one kick from four, a penalty goal early in the second half that tied the scores on 8-8.
That is how it stayed until the 79th minute when the DHL Stormers again went for a lineout from a penalty, but this time it worked out perfectly was Mchunu crashed over to seal the win.
Scorers:
DHL Stormers 13 (8) – Tries: Evan Roos, Ntuthuku Mchunu. Penalty goal: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Vodacom Bulls 8 (5) – Try: Handre Pollard. Penalty goal: Pollard.
