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Sharks battle to victory over Bulls as URC finally makes its South Africa debut

By PA
(Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

The Sharks battled to a 30-16 victory over the Bulls in Durban as the United Rugby Championship belatedly made its debut on South African soil on Friday.

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Following the postponement of two rounds of cross-hemisphere clashes in the country due to the discovery of a new coronavirus variant, organisers brought forward this Round 12 fixture to help fill the gap.

David Kriel touched down against the run of play as the Bulls took a 13-9 lead into half-time, but skipper Lukhanyo Am’s terrific intercept try and Kerron Van Vuuren’s late touchdown helped the Sharks pick up their second win of the season.

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Am was one of several Springboks returning to a strong Sharks side, with Siya Kolisi and Makazole Mapimpi also among those making their first URC outings.

Boeta Chamberlain kicked 20 points for the Sharks, while Morne Steyn racked up 11 for the visitors at Jonsson Kings Park, which hosted 2,000 fans for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

Sbu Nkosi squandered the Sharks’ first real sight of the try line having dusted himself down after sustaining an apparent shoulder injury in making a crunching tackle on Madosh Tambwe.

Chamberlain missed an opportunity to open the scoring from the tee before Nkosi spilled the ball as he looked to touch down in the corner after a kick forward from Am had sparked a period of Sharks pressure on the Bulls’ line.

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The home fly-half did put three points on the board with a straightforward penalty as the match approached the 20-minute mark, but the Bulls scored the game’s opening try with their first meaningful attack thanks to Kriel’s stretch for the line, with Steyn adding the extras.

Steyn and Chamberlain then traded a pair of kicks apiece to send the Bulls in with a four-point lead at half-time.

Chamberlain dragged a penalty wide of the posts early in the second period, but he reduced the deficit to a single point with his next attempt and was on target again after Am superbly intercepted a Steyn pass to charge half the length of the field and under the posts, opening up a 19-13 lead.

Steyn pulled the Bulls back within three in the 57th minute, but Chamberlain kicked two more penalties either side of Lizo Gqoboka being sin-binned for collapsing a scrum, and two more misses on the night mattered little as Van Vuuren went over from a driving maul to put 14 points between the teams.

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f
fl 1 hour ago
Springboks' dominance of the world rankings comes under increased threat

good comment, but ranking points being doubled during the RWC won’t actually have the effect you’re implying.


You still only lose ranking points if you’re beaten by a team that you could conceivably beat, hence why Italy lose no points when beaten by South Africa. Wales entering the RWC in 2027 in a group full of teams better than them would mean that they would lose no points, or only a very small amount of points, by being beaten, but would have the potential to drastically improve their ranking with just a single upset win.


E.g. using today’s ranking points, lets imagine Wales drew Ireland, Fiji, and Romania in their pool, losing against the first two but beating Romania, then lost to France in the R16. The worst case scenario (losing to Fiji, Ireland, and France by more than 15 points, and beating Romania by less than 15) would only lose Wales 0.66 points. The alternate scenario (coming within 15 points of Fiji and beating Romania by more than 15) would lose Wales just 0.29 points. The dream scenario of Wales securing a narrow win over Fiji would improve Wales’ score by 3.37 points, although I cba factoring in how that would impact Wales’ draw in the knockouts. Feel free to check these calculations yourself at the website called “World Rugby Rankings Calculator”, which is easily found through google but which I don’t think I can link to directly on here.


Its worth remembering that England finished 3rd at the world cup and Ireland lost in the QFs, but because England had a much easier draw than Ireland they finished the tournament ranked 5th, and Ireland 2nd. Overall the rankings do a pretty great job of fairly reflecting how well teams have played.

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