URC: Battle for the SA Shield

SPOTLIGHT: With the United Rugby Championship on a break, @rugby365com looks at the prospects of the South African sides claiming local bragging rights.

During the first two URC seasons, the four respective shields (Irish, South African, Welsh, as well as Scottish and Italian pool) were determined by the overall competition points accumulated by playing all teams in the competition.

The Stormers, who ended second on the standings in the first two seasons, deservedly clinched the SA Shield – having won the inaugural URC title in 2022.

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In the 2023/4 season, the Shield permutations changed to competition points accumulated against a side’s Shield rivals, as the Bulls – who went on to make the URC Final – clinched the silverware against the Sharks in their final local match before the knockout rounds.

The Stormers are currently leading the charge, having played against the Lions once and the Sharks twice, sharing the spoils with the latter.

They are currently on 11 points with two bonus-point victories and a losing bonus point collected against the Sharks in Durban.

They are due to play the Lions in Johannesburg and the Bulls home and away – including the rescheduled Round One fixture.

A home win against the Bulls, which they have a very good record against, as is the case with the Lions away, should put them in prime position to clinch the SA Shield for the third time in four seasons.

The Sharks are hot on their heels with nine points, having also played three matches – winning two, with the Stormers’ two four-try bonus points proving to be the difference.

The Durban-based side have two games in hand against the Lions (home and away) and an away fixture against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, a venue where they haven’t had much historic success.

A losing bonus point against the Bulls and two wins against the Lions (with possible bonus points) could just be enough to leapfrog the Stormers depending on their future results and clinch the shield for the first time.

The Bulls in third place currently only have one losing bonus-point which came in their 17-20 away loss to the Sharks.

The 2023/4 URC finalists have five local derbies in hand – their neighbours the Lions twice, Sharks at home and their arch-rivals, the Stormers, home and away.

Two wins against the Lions and home wins against the Sharks and Stormers will put them right in the mix to defend their title and go back-to-back.

The Lions are last with one match played and zero points following their 10-29 defeat to the Stormers in Cape Town.

Their results against their local rivals have not been the greatest in the URC although they have managed to knock over all of their SA rivals at least once since the inception of the competition.

The Lions will be gunning to win their home matches against the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers and are much better equipped to do so as opposed to previous seasons.

Winning away against the Bulls and Sharks might be too much of an ask although it’s not impossible.

The SA Shield might come down to four-try and/or losing bonus points as the local franchises battle it out for bragging rights over their domestic rivals.