Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

European qualification now assured for 3 South African URC teams

By RugbyPass
(Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Ulster’s hard-fought win over Edinburgh that brought down the curtain on an absorbing penultimate round of Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) league play has assured the three contending South African teams of entry into Europe next season.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Ulster win means that when the South African sides head to the north three weeks from now for the final round of fixtures, all three of them – the Cell C Sharks, DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls – will be ahead of the two Scottish sides on the overall log.

And with three points between them and the Bulls, who are the third local team at present, the fact the Scottish sides meet in their return derby at Edinburgh’s DAM Health Stadium means that only one Scottish team can make it into Champions Cup qualification.

Video Spacer

We are joined by Springbok rugby royalty with very special guest Siya Kolisi | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 31

We’re joined by Springbok royalty, Siya Kolisi, who discusses his incredible journey to becoming one of the most iconic players the sport has ever seen. Siya discusses his career journey both on and off the pitch including – altercations off the filed, the genius of Rassie Erasmus as a coach and selector, URC vs super rugby, the possibility of moving to play in Europe, his thoughts on Boks joining six nations, resetting rugby pathway, an incredible impromptu supper with Gerald Buttler, Drinks with Jurgen Klopp & Roc Nations positive influence on rugby.

Video Spacer

We are joined by Springbok rugby royalty with very special guest Siya Kolisi | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 31

We’re joined by Springbok royalty, Siya Kolisi, who discusses his incredible journey to becoming one of the most iconic players the sport has ever seen. Siya discusses his career journey both on and off the pitch including – altercations off the filed, the genius of Rassie Erasmus as a coach and selector, URC vs super rugby, the possibility of moving to play in Europe, his thoughts on Boks joining six nations, resetting rugby pathway, an incredible impromptu supper with Gerald Buttler, Drinks with Jurgen Klopp & Roc Nations positive influence on rugby.

The way it works is that the eight top teams on the overall log advance to the URC play-offs, to be played out from the end of May into June, while the four Shield winners – Ireland, Scotland/Italy, Wales and South Africa – automatically qualify for the Champions Cup with the four next best teams joining them.

The Emirates Lions surrendered interest in the Champions Cup and the play-offs a while ago, but the quest for the other South African teams, if they all want to qualify for rugby’s equivalent of soccers Champions League, was always to either finish ahead of the third Irish team or the second Scottish team.

That mission has now been accomplished with a round to go, with the final round Scotland derby now all about which of the two Scottish teams will advance to the lucrative Champions Cup next season.

Like many of the games this past weekend, the Edinburgh/Ulster game was brimful of intrigue and, although a low scoring fixture, was engaging throughout the 80 minutes as Ulster took an early lead and then Edinburgh tried to come back at them. It was a first defeat for Edinburgh on their home field this season, with their only previous failure to bank a win being their draw to the Stormers last October.

ADVERTISEMENT

Talking of the Stormers, their win over Leinster but failure to pick up a bonus point means that the local teams go into the final weekend pretty much all square in the battle for the Shield. The two coastal teams, the Sharks and the Stormers, are so closely matched at present that they both share the same points differential, with the Sharks appearing ahead of their local rivals on the log only because they have won more games (the Stormers have two draws on their record).

Related

But unless they both draw on the final weekend, that will count for nothing, and both teams will have to go all out for a win. The Sharks do appear to have the tougher task, as they head to Belfast to face Ulster at a Kingspan Stadium venue where Ulster seldom lose. And Ulster broke their sequence of recent defeats with their close win over Edinburgh, with their failure to pick up a bonus point helping the other teams in the battle for second place on the overall log.

Ulster are currently fifth, one point behind the Sharks, Munster and Stormers, who are all on 56 points, with Leinster already assured of top spot by virtue of them having 62 points, six more than the chasing pack.

While the Sharks head to Ireland, the Stormers and Bulls will be heading to Wales to be playing the Scarlets and Ospreys respectively, and what this past round of fixtures did determine was that both of them will have something to play for. Ospreys halted the Scarlets’ impressive recent winning momentum with a good 54-36 win that leaves them just five points behind the Scarlets on the Welsh Shield log with a game in hand.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related

And that game in hand just happens to be against Dragons, who at the weekend handed Zebre Parma their first win in the competition for over a year.

Which of the two top Welsh teams is the stronger? It is hard to tell, as the Ospreys were at home for their win, but the Ospreys’ return to form, coupled with the return of their talisman Alun Wynn Jones, will make it harder for the Bulls than they might have hoped. The Bulls can still win the Shield, and get into the top four, if the other teams stumble.

One advantage the Stormers have is that their game at Parc Y Scarlets is the last game of the league phase of the competition, which means they will go into it knowing what they need. Apart from the Sharks going to Ulster, the other team up with them in second place is Munster, who end their campaign with a difficult away derby against Leinster. Munster played their way back into a contention with a good win over Cardiff at Thormond Park.

Scarlets’ defeat to the Ospreys removes them from the running for qualification for the URC play-offs so the eight play-off teams, with the order to be finalised after completion of the final round, will be Leinster, Munster, Sharks, Stormers, Ulster, Bulls, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh.

Credit – URCSA

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 4 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 7 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

30 Go to comments
A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

30 Go to comments
T
Trevor 11 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
FEATURE
FEATURE Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby? Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?
Search