Vodacom Bulls gain sweet revenge to top the table
The repeat of last season’s BKT URC final produced a ten-try thriller on a weekend when two matches fell foul of Storm Amy.
Back in June, the Vodacom Bulls were outplayed as Leinster Rugby defeated them 32-7 at Croke Park to lift the league trophy.
But they gained revenge this weekend, claiming a 39-31 bonus point victory at their Loftus Versfeld home in Pretoria.
It was a fluctuating contest with champions Leinster fighting back from 22-10 down to lead midway through the second half as they delivered a much improved performance from last week’s 35-0 defeat to the DHL Stormers in Cape Town.
But, in the end, the Vodacom Bulls claimed the spoils with two-try centre David Kriel crossing late on to seal a victory which puts them on top of the table.
Giving his thoughts, Kriel said:
“It doesn’t matter what team Leinster sends to South Africa; they are always a quality outfit.
“You can’t pitch up and just expect it’s going to happen, you have got to make it happen.
“Luckily, the scoreboard was in our favour, but there is a lot to work on.”
It’s been a positive start to Johan Ackermann’s reign as head coach, with the Vodacom Bulls having secured the maximum ten points from their first two BKT URC games after beating the Ospreys 53-40 in Round 1.
Kriel said:
“Our coach is big on battle words and one that stands out for me is grit. I think this group has grit.”
Having scored 15 tries in the first two rounds, the Bulls now head out on tour to Europe with trips to Ulster, Connacht and Glasgow coming up on successive weekends.
“We are going to go for all three games,” said Kriel.
“We really want to win silverware this season. This tour is going to be the perfect test for that. We are really excited and hopefully everything works well in our favour.”
Fellow South Africans the DHL Stormers are just a point behind the Vodacom Bulls in the table having followed up their eye-catching win over Leinster by coming from behind to beat the Ospreys 26-10 in Cape Town.
Their captain Ruhan Nel said: “That’s two wins at home before we go on the road, so we are happy.
“Only leaking two tries in two weeks shows how much we care for each other.”
Munster Rugby are also two from two having beaten Cardiff Rugby 23-20 at Limerick’s Thomond Park with the goal kicking of Player of the Match Jack Crowley proving the difference between the sides.
“It’s always great to win in Thomond,” said fly-half Crowley. “It’s very important for us as a group to be able to come out here and represent everyone that showed up despite the tough conditions and the storm around the country.
“So we are very grateful for the support and it was very important for us to put on a performance and get a result for them.”
There was a dramatic finish in Treviso with super sub Rhyno Smith landing a 40 metre drop goal with the last kick of the game to earn Benetton Rugby a 16-14 victory over Glasgow Warriors.
The home team’s international flanker Michele Lamaro commented: “It was a great game.
“We stuck together and we got the win. It’s massively important.
“It’s the first win with the new coaching staff and we really needed that. I am really happy and couldn’t be more pleased with what the boys did on the field.”
Understandably, there were very different emotions from Glasgow skipper Kyle Steyn when he was interviewed post-match.
“I don’t really know what to say, to be honest,” declared the winger.
“I was really proud of our effort in the first half with the intensity we played at.
“I don’t really know how we have lost that game.
“Benetton fought back well in front of their fans, but we have got to find a way to be better. We had moments where we could have scored and put it to bed, but we just didn’t do that.”
As for the impact of Storm Amy, that prevented the Edinburgh-Ulster and Connacht-Scarlets games going ahead.
The match in the Scottish capital was initially put back to a later kick-off time on Friday night before being postponed due to worsening weather conditions.
Then, travel disruption and flight cancellations for the Scarlets caused by the storm saw their Galway clash with Connacht put off to a later date as well.
Hat-trick starlet Bowen puts smiles on faces
Rising star Tom Bowen has been hailed as a “next level” finisher in the wake of his scintillating hat-trick for Cardiff against Munster.
The 20-year-old winger completed his second half triple in the final play of the match at Limerick’s Thomond Park to earn Cardiff two bonus points from their 23-20 defeat.
After showing good pace to slide in for his opener, he then produced two stunning finishes, diving forward on the run to catch Callum Sheedy’s cross kick and scorching over in the last minute.
“That puts a smile on everybody’s face,” said Cardiff coach Corniel van Zyl.
“The way he finishes that second try was next level, to be fair, and I think that’s definitely one for the books. So well done to him.
“He’s just using the opportunity he gets and it’s great to see.”
Giving his assessment of Bowen, skipper Liam Belcher said: “He’s an exciting young prospect. I think the way we play suits his style.”
Reflecting on a game which saw Cardiff outscore Munster by four tries to three and lead three times, only to lose, Van Zyl said: “It’s a tough one to take.
“But the fight at the end was nice to see. The boys wanted to do it to get that fourth try and take two points out of it.
“Last year, we missed the play-offs by one point, so you need to grab it the whole season wherever you can, so that’s certainly a positive.
“The way the boys fight for the jersey and the enjoyment they show in doing that was unbelievable to see.”
Belcher added: “We got the two points from it which is obviously going to be key at the end of the season.
“So I can’t fault the boys’ effort. I thought we put the performance in and stuck in the fight.
“Just one or two things didn’t go our way and there were a few discipline issues.”
He concluded: “We talk about fight and enjoyment. We showed a lot of fight out there and enjoyment is playing the way we play. I thought we played some really nice stuff.
“It’s nice to see we can go away to places like this. We didn’t get the win, but we got two points and on another day you are winning that game.”
Dragons RFC also picked up two points from their 17-17 draw with Hollywoodbets Sharks at a wet and windy Rodney Parade as they came tantalisingly close to a first league victory in over a year.
They hammered away in the opposition 22 for some three minutes during an extended final play, only to spill the ball just short of the line.
“I felt for the group because there was a lot of grit, a lot of character,” said coach Filo Tiatia.
“We played for the last six or seven minutes with 14 players.
“It was definitely there for the taking with the last passage of play.
“We came pretty close, maybe just a metre from the line and it could have been a different story, but that’s footy.
“We have just got to be more clinical and take the opportunities and that was one, but there were many more that we had that we didn’t take.”
There was an option to go for a match-winning drop goal through fly-half Tinus de Beer at various points during the lengthy final play, but instead the hosts decided to keep going for the try, only to just miss out amid a dramatic ending.
“You could see Tinus was ready to go, he was in the pocket,” said Tiatia.
“But you really trust the players in making decisions on the field. It just didn’t go to his hands.
“We got to the edge and got momentum and put them under the pump.”
Asked whether there were any regrets about not going for the drop goal, try scoring co-captain Angus O’Brien said: “Maybe. We did speak about it, we thought about it.
“We were getting good momentum, good headway.”
Adding his thoughts, Player of the Match Rhodri Williams said:
“It was there to be won towards the end. It was absolutely gutting not to get the win.
“We were up against a big physical team with a good set-piece in wet conditions, where they pride themselves up front, but I thought we managed that quite well. To be this disappointed with a draw against a good team in our league says a lot.”
While they missed out on the win, the Dragons have ended an 18-match losing run in the BKT URC, having gone through a long barren spell since beating the Ospreys in the opening game of last season.
There were tries from No 8 Aaron Wainwright and full-back O’Brien, while new Tongan backs Fetuli Paea and Fine Inisi both impressed on their first starts for the region.
“We are heading in the right direction. I truly believe that,” said Tiatia.
“The players are working really hard. They are a tight group, they scrap for each other.”
His opposite number in the Hollywoodbets Sharks camp, John Plumtree, was left with mixed emotions after a game which saw tries from his forwards Marvin Orie and Vincent Tshituka.
“In the last couple of minutes, there must have been 19, 20 phases and we kept our nerve, stayed on side,” he said.
“So I am really proud of the boys in that.
“But we didn’t control the game like we did in the first half. There was some poor decision making and we just allowed the Dragons to dominate the territory.
“We could have won it, but we weren’t quite clinical enough in the second half. We have got to be better.
“We had scrum dominance and, in conditions like that, we should have got across the line with it. So we probably left two points behind.”
And in the only Sunday fixture, Zebre Parma made it two wins from two this season with some more late drama. It looked like Morne Brandon had won it for the Lions in the 74th minute, before a try in the final moments from Matteo Nocera, converted by Martin Roger Farias, saw the Italian side claim a second successive win.
What’s coming next?
Next weekend sees all four South African sides in Europe.
The unbeaten Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers travel to Ulster and the Scarlets respectively, while the Lions are away to Benetton and the Hollywoodbets Sharks are the visitors at the Aviva Stadium as title holders Leinster play their first home game.
Elsewhere, Munster will look to make it three from three as they entertain Edinburgh in Cork, with Cardiff taking on Stuart Lancaster’s Connacht at the Arms Park and Glasgow hosting the Dragons.
Round 3 will also see the Ospreys welcome Zebre to Bridgend’s Brewery Field, the Welsh team’s new home for the season.
