The battle for BKT URC Play-Off positions has been shaken up in a big way with the top three sides going into the weekend failing to pick up a point between them as they all went down to defeat.
League leaders Glasgow Warriors, the second-placed DHL Stormers and Ulster Rugby finished up empty handed to leave home quarter-final spots still very much up for grabs, while the Race to the Eight is now down to 11 teams.
Glasgow conceded eight tries as they were beaten 54-12 by the Fidelity SecureDrive Lions in Johannesburg. It’s a bonus point victory which has taken the Lions up to fourth in the table, with two-try centre Henco van Wyk picking up the Player of the Match award.
“We’ve worked hard over the past couple of weeks and it paid off,” said Van Wyk. “We play smart rugby. When we are ahead, we still stick to our structures. We keep it simple and just focus on ourselves.”
Skipper Francke Horn added: “What an unbelievable performance. Credit to the guys.
“Sometimes you look at all the beautiful tries and you forget the hard work the boys put in to be solid on defence and to secure the ball.”
The result of the weekend came in Cape Town where Connacht Rugby claimed a 33-24 bonus point victory over the Stormers as they scored three tries in the final quarter to come from 24-14 down.
They are now just a point off the top eight, with head coach Stuart Lancaster fulsome in his praise for his team’s five-try display. “It was awesome. I am super proud of all the boys,” he said.
“The young lads were amazing and the senior lads were amazing in helping the younger lads believe. When you look at the lads we have sat back in Galway, they will be super proud as well. We have got a real good squad building now.
“The first half wasn’t perfect, but we stayed in the fight. The set piece power the Stormers have can’t be underestimated, but we held on and stayed in the fight. I always felt if we could get some multi-phase going, we would cause them problems and that’s what happened.
“We worked hard, we believed and we won. It’s a great feeling.”
As for Ulster, they have dropped down to fifth after losing 29-21 at home to Leinster Rugby who have replaced them in third spot, while Munster Rugby are up to sixth courtesy of a 45-15 seven-try victory away to Benetton Rugby.
Munster coach Clayton McMillan said: “I am very happy. I thought the lads played exceptionally well. They stood up for each other, won all the big moments and got the reward. Our season is on the line, so we had to play well and that sets a little bit of a benchmark for us around attitude and application. It’s a massively congested table and you don’t want to be relying on other people to do you favours.”
Cardiff Rugby are seventh having produced the comeback of the weekend – and arguably the season – to beat the Scarlets 28-24 after trailing 24-7 with just eight minutes to go in Llanelli.
The current top eight is completed by the Vodacom Bulls who beat Dragons RFC 47-7 at Rodney Parade, running away with the game in the second half after being level at 7-7 until just before the break. Their skipper Ruan Nortje said: “I don’t think the scoreboard really summed up the game. It was a much tighter contest.
“Rodney Parade is a really tough place to come and play. The Dragons are a team with a lot of spirit and they put in a lot of effort, so we are really happy with this result.”
The second row added: “We know where we are at the moment and what we have to do. We are in play-off rugby until the end of the season.”
Looking outside the top eight, the Ospreys beat the Hollywoodbets Sharks 21-17 at Bridgend’s Brewery Field to leave both teams on 34 points and still in with a mathematical chance of making the Play-Offs.
Ospreys hooker Sam Parry said: “All we can do is win our games. First one down, three to go.
“We have got three games left and we probably need to win them all to give ourselves a chance of getting into that top eight.”
The Ospreys were reduced to 14 men for the final 15 minutes with injuries to three of their props seeing the game move to uncontested scrums, but they held firm to claim the spoils.
Skipper Jac Morgan, who was named Player of the Match, said: “It was a great game and a great result. In all fairness to the boys, the effort they put in to stick in there for the 80 minutes, it was a hell of a shift.”
Coach Mark Jones added: “When you are playing the South African teams, they are such strong outfits, so any win against them is a very good one. We knew it was going to be a tough battle, but I thought we did a really good job against a very good side, a big team.”
Wrapping up the weekend fixtures, Zebre Parma came tantalisingly close to a rare away win, only to be denied at the death as Edinburgh Rugby snatched the spoils with the last kick of the game with Cammy Scott converting Boan Venter’s 79th minute try to make it 31-30 at the Hive Stadium.
Those two teams are now out of the Play-Off race, along with Benetton, the Scarlets and the Dragons.
Stunning Cardiff comeback delights Van Zyl
Cardiff coach Corniel van Zyl paid tribute to the fighting spirit of his team after their remarkable 28-24 comeback victory away to the Scarlets took them one step closer to the “golden nugget” of a play-off spot.
They were trailing 24-7 with just eight minutes to go, but then delivered a stunning turnaround which culminated in two-try prop Javan Sebastian claiming the match-winning score a minute from time with the hosts down to 13 men following two yellow cards.
It was the unlikeliest of bonus point victories, but such a crucial result as it has put them seventh in the table with three matches left to play.
Van Zyl said: “I thought the game had gone past us, but we speak a lot about that fighting spirit. We reference it every day, just to go again. Ultimately, that’s what we pride ourselves on, how much we can fight for the jersey, how much we can fight for each other and obviously for the supporters.
“That is the bigger picture of what everyone is working towards and fortunately it worked.”
Reflecting further on a rollercoaster Welsh derby, he said: “We knew it was going to be interesting, but that was next level. There was a lot of time in that game where you didn’t think we were going to win, so I will take it. It could have easily gone the other way. We put a bit of pressure on them late in the game, that created opportunities and then the yellow cards happened.
“It’s massive to get the win and the four tries. With 70 minutes gone, there was a long way to go. It was a big challenge. I am just pleased with the result. We are still in the fight now, whereas if we had lost it would have been almost like ‘Where do we go now?’.
“At least now we know we are in control of what we do.
“It’s a six day turnaround to Ospreys, another big derby and another big challenge. All the teams are beating each other and you just never know how it’s going to end up. We have never been in the play-offs, so that was definitely one of the goals we wanted to achieve this year. The golden nugget is up there, but we appreciate there’s a lot of work to do.”
The Player of the Match award went to former Scarlets prop Sebastian who sparked the revival with a 72nd minute try and then forced his way over for the decisive score in the final play.
“It doesn’t happen often where a tighthead comes on and gets the Man of the Match,” said Van Zyl.
“It’s just the way it went. I am just pleased for him and the team.”
Adding his thoughts, super sub Sebastian said: “The pressure was on us, but the boys dug really deep in the second half and showed what we can do as a team when we stick to what we are good at. We had a chat behind the posts and just said to take it back to basics and do what we are good at and we came out on top. I was just glad to get on the right side of the score.”
Skipper Liam Belcher said: “It’s all about fight in this squad and I don’t think you can ever question that. It’s in our hands now. We have just got to win our games and hopefully we will make it.”
Having trailed 7-5 at the break, the Scarlets then touched three times in the space of eight minutes to move well clear with the Cardiff lineout malfunctioning badly. But, in an extraordinary finish, they then conceded three tries themselves in the last eight minutes amid yellow cards to Taine Plumtree and Blair Murray.
Prendergast puts frustrations behind him
Sam Prendergast was left to reflect on the fickle nature of rugby after putting recent frustrations behind him to produce a Player of the Match display in Leinster’s bonus point win over Ulster in Belfast.
The Ireland fly-half had been omitted altogether from the Investec Champions Cup knock-out games against Edinburgh and Sale over the previous two weekends, while he hadn’t started a game for a month. But handed the No 10 jersey for the inter pro clash with Ulster, he delivered a try-scoring 14 point performance as a much-changed Leinster team won 29-21 to secure the maximum haul and clinch the Irish Shield.
Reflecting on his fluctuating fortunes of late, he said: “To be honest with you, it’s a pretty fickle game. But when your team-mates are that good, in terms of how close we are, and when they play like that on the pitch, it just makes my job a lot easier. We spoke a lot during the week about how a lot of this group played in Glasgow a few weeks back.
“That was a very frustrating game and we came away annoyed with what we put out there.
“When you look at what we put out there in this game, especially the first 50-60 minutes, it was really good. We got a lot right. It felt like as backs we could do whatever we wanted because the forwards were unbelievable, just backing us up, whether it was scrum or lineout.
“They just gave us an unbelievable platform and it was a lot easier to play with that.”
The 23-year-old added: “There was a lot of momentum with the club coming into this week and I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to keep that momentum going and we did, so it’s brilliant. It’s a pretty special feeling, to be fair.”
Giving his assessment on the young fly-half, head coach Leo Cullen said: “Sam has had a frustrating couple of weeks in terms of selection, so for him to come out and play the way he did is testament to him. He’s kept his head down and he’s working hard on all aspects of his game. I thought he managed the game incredibly well out there.”
Cullen had made 12 changes from the side that beat Sale in the Champions Cup quarter-final the week before, but Leinster showed their quality in depth as they raced into a 29-0 lead and saw the game out following an Ulster revival.
“There are so many moving parts at this time of the season, you need to rely on your squad. It’s hugely important,” said the former Ireland second row. “I was really pleased with how the guys stepped in. I thought a lot of them really stood up well. It was such a physical game out there, with both teams going hard at it, which is what everyone wants to see in inter-pros. It was unbelievably keenly contested.
“Guys understand how much is at stake for them out there. I thought it was a great contest. It’s so competitive, the BKT URC. We showed good resolve and the effort over the course of the game was great. It’s a good win for us on the road. It was pleasing.”
What’s coming next?
It’s Round 16 next weekend and we are in for some crucial contests with no team yet guaranteed a play-off spot.
There will be a compelling top-of-the-table clash in Cape Town on the Saturday afternoon with the second-placed Stormers entertaining league leaders Glasgow.
Just as enthralling will be the meetings between top eight contenders in Limerick and Johannesburg, with Munster (sixth) hosting Ulster (fifth) and the Lions (fourth) taking on Connacht (ninth).
Elsewhere, there’s a big Welsh derby at the Arms Park where Cardiff welcome the Ospreys, while third-placed Leinster travel to Treviso to take on Benetton, with the other fixtures being Scarlets v Bulls, Edinburgh v Sharks and Zebre v Dragons.
