URC, Round Nine - Teams and Predictions
DEJA VU: Round Nine’s South African derbies have arrived and it’s the same fixtures as last weekend, but at different venues.
It is all to play for in South Africa amid a keenly contested South African Shield.
The Sharks are current leaders, with Saturday’s Cape Town hosts the Stormers just two points behind them, while the Bulls and Lions – who meet in Pretoria – are tied on 12 points.
The whole Shield standings could change, depending on results this weekend, with all four sides in contention to claim pole position.
The Bulls were 34-10 winners when they met the Lions in Johannesburg last weekend, taking their season tally to two victories. The Bulls’ only other home fixture in the URC this season ended in defeat, as they were beaten 26-30 by the Stormers on January 22.
Ivan van Rooyen’s Lions are without a win since they came out on top at the Stormers on December 4 and their only other URC victory was at Zebre Parma in Round One. The Lions’ most recent win at Loftus Versfeld came in Super Rugby in March 2018, when they claimed the contest 49-35.
The Lions have made a number of changes to their team and Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White is wary of his opponents.
“They [Lions] will come with something different,” said White. “You read the papers and the coaching staff have obviously given them the gears and the captain has given them the gears.
“They have made some changes and I imagine there is a massive message in the squad if that is the kind of changes you make.
“There is a clear message that if you don’t pull your finger out and you don’t play well you are not going to get picked from week to week.”
Meanwhile, Lions captain Jaco Kriel said his team would like to right some wrongs at Loftus this weekend.
“We had an honest review on Monday to get all the bad stuff out of the way, which is good so we could start focussing on the weekend and the challenges that lie ahead,” said the Springbok.
“We are fortunate enough to get a second chance against the same opposition, so there is not a lot that we have changed and we only worked hard on the plan we had and to implement it better.
“The coaches were honest with us and the players excepted it as it is. That is professional sport, some you win and some you lose.”
The Sharks will have Argentina international Joaquin Diaz Bonilla in the No.10 jersey for their match in Cape Town against the Stormers and head coach Sean Everitt is expecting him to dictate play when it matters.
“Tito is an international rugby player so I suppose you can expect calmness and composure,” said Everitt.
“He likes to direct the field and he offers leadership. In the moments that he has had on the field for us, he has certainly guided the team really well under pressure with the experience that he has.”
In last weekend’s 22-22 draw between the two sides, the Stormers struggled in the scrums for most of the match and it’s an area they will look to improve on.
“It gave us a certain picture and it was a narrative of Sazi Sandi getting a hard time from Ox [Retshegofaditswe Nché],” said Stormers head coach John Dobson.
“It was a tough afternoon for Sazi, but we saw a massive amount of technical things that we didn’t get right.
“It was the back five and the speed of our hit. In fact, we as a pack probably let Sazi down a little bit. And the other element is that we need to get clarity from the referees.
“We were under the impression that both sides need to go forward before the scrum can turn, so we sorted that out and we got a similar penalty to what they got in that game.
“We looked very inwards to the rest of the pack as well as helping Sazi with a few technical things.”
We bring you all the Saturday teams and predictions!
Here’s the upcoming fixtures for the weekend 🙌#URC pic.twitter.com/GFD3Wv9S98
— United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) February 2, 2022
Saturday, February 5:
Bulls v Lions
(Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria – Kick-off: 15.00; 13.00 GMT)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Bulls by 15 points.
Teams:
Lions: 15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Matt More, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Tiaan Swanepoel, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 Jaco Kriel (captain), 5 Ruben Schoeman, 4 Ruhan Straeuli, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Pieter Botha, 1 Sithembiso Sithole.
Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Ruan Venter, 20 PJ Steenkamp, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 EW Viljoen, 23 Quan Horn.
Bulls: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Madosh Tambwe, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Arno Botha, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Jacques van Rooyen, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Simphiwe Matanzima.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Robert Hunt, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 Muller Uys, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Chris Smith, 23 Cornal Hendricks.
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa), Ashleigh Murray (South Africa)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuisen (South Africa)
Stormers v Sharks
(Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town – Kick-off: 17.05; 15.05 GMT)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Sharks by three points.
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Nama Xaba, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Damian Willemse.
Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Sibusiso Nkosi, 13 Jeremy Ward, 12 Lukhanyo Am (captain), 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Tito Bonilla, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Jeandre Labuschagne, 6 Siyamthanda Kolisi, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Retshegofaditswe Nché
Replacements: 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Khutha Mchunu, 19 Gerbrandt Grobler, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Werner Kok.
Referee: AM Jacobs (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa), Morne Ferreira (South Africa)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
@rugby365com
