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URC SCENE-SETTER: Sharks have lots to gain from Loftus clash

football11 February 2025 07:30
By:Gavin Rich
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Sharks @ Gallo Images

They are likely to be going to Pretoria significantly under-strength, but if the Hollywoodbets Sharks can get anything out of their away clash with the Vodacom Bulls they could significantly strengthen their challenge for a top-four spot on the Vodacom United Rugby Championship log.

The competition returns to a full round this coming weekend due to a break in the Guinness Six Nations Championship, and apart from their own trip to Loftus there are some other games that could have an impact on the top four standings.

The Sharks are currently fourth on 29 points, and fifth placed Cardiff also have 29. However, the Sharks have a game in hand on the Welsh side, as well as on the other Welsh team, Scarlets, who are sixth, three points behind themselves and Cardiff.

Although there is a break in the Six Nations, the first choice Wales players won’t be available, which should have a big impact on what both Welsh teams can put onto the field in tough away games in Ireland.

With Leinster, who are away to the Ospreys on Friday, providing the bulk of the Ireland starting team, Munster shouldn’t be as impacted by Ireland calls as Scarlets will be when they visit Limerick on Saturday night, while the same holds for Connacht who kick off their game against Cardiff in Galway immediately after the one at Thomond Park ends.

DURBANITES LIKELY TO BE WITHOUT ALL THEIR BOKS

Defeats for the two Welsh sides will enable the Sharks to open a gap in the quest for the top four finish that will secure home ground advantage in the first playoff game. Therein though lies the catch - the Sharks are up against a Bulls side that will have had their confidence boosted by their derby win over the Stormers.

And it is understood they will be significantly under-strength as their coach John Plumtree, mindful of the advantages of having a fully fit and fresh team available to him from March as his men head into the business end of the competition, is understood to have given most of his Springboks the month of February off.

Many of those Boks are injured anyway, as per the latest Sharks injury report, so the Sharks will have to dig deep into their reservoir of talent. One positive for them is that many of the players Plumtree will be drawing on will have experienced a win at Loftus as recently as last September, when they won a Carling Currie Cup final against the Bulls in extra time.

However, the Bulls team that was fielded that day was some way short of URC strength, and in recent URC games at Loftus the Sharks have struggled.

They only just snuck a win on their home field in the first round game in Durban just before Christmas and the Bulls will be determined to avenge that result, for it was a game where though the Sharks were brave, the Bulls did conspire against themselves.

As indeed they did in that aforementioned domestic semifinal, where it will be recalled the Bulls were at one point playing against 12 men with the scores level but still couldn’t put their opponents away.

In the Sharks’ favour is the probability that they will be going to Pretoria in hope rather than expectation, something that has aided them in the past. Plumtree’s hope is that once the Boks are back from March his team will go on a winning run that will propel them into the playoffs with the momentum with them.

LIONS HAVE MUCH TO GAIN TOO

Saturday’s other game on South African soil also has a lot riding on it. The Stormers currently head the Lions on the log, with 23 points to the Lions’ 19 and the Cape side will start at Emirates Airlines Park three positions higher on the log than the Lions.

Here’s the catch though - the Lions have two games in hand on the Stormers. So if they do win, and kicking off early afternoon at altitude in summer does give them a significant leg up against all opponents other than the Bulls, the Johannesburg team will suddenly be back in the pound seats in their quest for a top eight finish.

Likewise, a Stormers win will make up for their narrow defeat to the Bulls, where they did pick up what ultimately could be a crucial two bonus points, and push them towards the top eight.

Whether they make it into the top eight at this juncture will depend on the Scarlets shocking Munster or Edinburgh losing at home to Zebre on Friday, something that is unlikely to happen even though Zebre’s form this season has been much improved on their previous campaigns.

The Bulls will be strong favourites to beat the Sharks and if they do it will push them into second ahead of Glasgow Warriors, but that could change back on Sunday after Glasgow have hosted the cellar dwellers in the competition, the Dragons, in the last game of the weekend.

With the game on a Sunday and therefore just six days before Scotland go to war with England at Twickenham in the Six Nations, Glasgow should be particularly severely depleted. But they should still have too much for the favourites for the wooden spoon.

VODACOM UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK 11

Ospreys v Leinster (Friday, 9:35pm)

Edinburgh v Zebre (Friday, 9:35pm)

Emirates Lions v DHL Stormers (Saturday, 2:30pm)

Vodacom Bulls v Hollywoodbets Sharks (Saturday, 5pm)

Munster v Scarlets (Saturday, 7:15pm)

Benetton v Ulster (Saturday, 7:15pm)

Connacht v Cardiff Rugby (Saturday, 9:35 pm)

Dragons v Glasgow Warriors (Sunday, 4pm)

VODACOM URC LOG STANDINGS

1. Leinster 48 points after 10 games; 2. Glasgow Warriors 37 points after 10 games; 3. Vodacom Bulls 35 points after 9 games; 4. Hollywoodbets Sharks 29 points after 9 games; 5. Cardiff Rugby 29 points after 10 games; 6. Scarlets 27 points after 10 games; 7. Munster 26 points after 10 games; 8. Edinburgh 24 points after 10 games; 9. Ulster 23 points after 10 games; 10. DHL Stormers 23 points after 10 games; 11. Benetton 23 points after 10 games; 12. Ospreys 22 points after 10 games; 13. Emirates Lions 19 points after 8 games; 14. Connacht 19 points after 10 games; 15. Zebre 16 points after 10 games; 16. Dragons 8 points after 10 games.

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