After another weekend of thrilling SA derbies in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, the high-flying DHL Stormers and Sharks will look to take their red-hot form at home on the road.
Having got the better of the Vodacom Bulls 37-27 in round 10, the Stormers registered a six-tries-to-one 40-8 victory against the Lions in an entertaining New Year’s Eve clash at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday evening.
It was a match in which both sides tried to run the ball whenever possible, but it was the better support play and options by the Capetonians that allowed them to score three first-half tries to lead 19-3 at break.
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The victory also saw the Stormers, defending URC champions, end 2022 unbeaten in Cape Town and they lead the SA Shield from second place on the overall standings after 11 rounds of the 2022-23 campaign.
In Durban, the Sharks backed up their Christmas eve triumph over the Lions by romping to a 47-20 bonus-point win against the Bulls.
The Durbanites physically dominated the men from Pretoria with their Springbok-laden pack, feasting at scrum time in particular, and outscored them by five tries to two to the delight of the 26,000 supporters who attended the encounter at Kings Park.
The win took Neil Powell’s charges to fifth on the URC standings, five points behind the Bulls in fourth but with two games in hand on their Loftus rivals. The Lions (11th) are currently the only South African side outside the league’s top eight, though they have a match in hand on six of the teams above them.
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In other results, Benetton hammered Zebre 40-17, Scarlets were too good for the Dragons (33-17), Ospreys and Munster edged Cardiff and Ulster, 22-19 and 15-14 respectively, while the Glasgow Warriors claimed a hard-fought 32-25 victory in the 1872 Cup clash against Scottish rivals Edinburgh.
And in the final match of the weekend, league leaders Leinster began the new year in familiar fashion with a 41-12 bonus-point win over Connacht at the RDS Arena to maintain an eight-point lead at the summit.
Looking ahead to round 12, the Bulls travel to Wales to face the Dragons at Rodney Parade on Friday (9:35pm) as the Lions take on Munster in Limerick (9:35pm), and less than 24 hours later, the Sharks lock horns with Connacht at the Galway Sportsgrounds (7:15pm), before the Stormers battle Glasgow at Scotstoun Stadium on Sunday (5pm).
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Photo: @THESTORMERS/Twitter
