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South African teams are utterly dominating this season's URC

By Stefan Frost
Suleiman Hartzenberg scores for Stormers against Edinburgh October 01, 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

South African teams are dominating the opening rounds of the URC with all four franchises populating the top eight of the league table.

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To date, South African sides have won 19 from 20 fixtures, their only loss a self-inflicted defeat so speak – the Bulls defeating the Lions in Round 1.

This comes after the Stormers and Bulls faced off in last season’s URC final, toppling challengers from Ireland and Scotland in the playoffs.

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WATCH as Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White speaks out about a new scourge on the game – water breaks, arbitrarily decided on by referees – Part Two

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WATCH as Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White speaks out about a new scourge on the game – water breaks, arbitrarily decided on by referees – Part Two

That vein of form has sustained into the new season as, for the second game-week in a row, all four South African teams collected wins.

And of them, the Sharks were the only team to miss out on a try bonus-point, after they avoided a shock loss to Dragons on Saturday, relying on a late comeback to steal the win by a single point.

Dragons started the better of the two sides and managed to mount a 19-6 lead thanks to a try from Elliott Dee, only to see that advantage slowly slip away as Grant Williams and Thaakir Abrahams crossed the whitewash in the last 18 minutes to give the visitors a vital win at Rodney Parade.

A day before the Bulls clocked their third straight win, and second successive bonus-point victory, with a comprehensive 28-14 beating of Connacht in Pretoria.

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Zak Burger was the man of the hour after he crossed the line twice to help the men in blue take the win.

The Stormers followed suit, holding firm in the face of an early Edinburgh surge to earn another full-house win in Cape Town. Emerging star Suleiman Hartzenberg shone for the reigning champions by scoring a second half double to topple their Scottish opponents 34-18.

South Africa’s perfect weekend was capped off by the Lions who have now completed an impressive Welsh double, picking up a majestic 31-18 win over Cardiff Rugby, a week after beating the Ospreys 28-27.

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The men from Johannesburg burst alight in the second period at the Cardiff Arms Park, scoring 21 points, carried by the dominance of their scrum and maul in wet and windy conditions.

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Of all the South African teams, the Lions are the only ones to have lost so far this season.

However, the 31-15 loss came at the hands of the Bulls in week one, meaning the URC’s four newest arrivals are yet to be beaten by foreign opposition.

It also means the league’s top eight is densely populated by these unflappable sides. The Bulls sit in second on 14 points with three wins from three and are equal on points with league leaders Leinster. The Stormers lie behind in fourth, with 10 points earnt from two games.

Right behind them in fifth are the Sharks who have nine points from two games and the Lions sit the lowest of the quartet in seventh with nine points from three games.

The one proviso is that none of the SA sides has yet faced the Irish big three of Ulster, Munster or Leinster.

 

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Jon 6 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”?

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j
john 9 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.

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A
Adrian 11 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

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