URC, Round Two - Teams and predictions 

FRIDAY PREVIEW: Two teams will be brimming with confidence after winning their United Rugby Championship season openers.

The Stormers and Ulster kicked off their season with bonus point victories in Round One and are the two front-runners in the competition.

Edinburgh, Ospreys and the Sharks will be out gunning for their first wins of the season.

Sean Everitt’s Edinburgh went down to Zebre last weekend but managed to secure two bonus points for scoring four tries and losing by fewer than seven points.

The Ospreys earned one (four-try) bonus point after giving the Bulls a scare and will come up against a Stormers team that dismantled the defending champions, Leinster.

The Sharks fought hard but got no points in their defeat to the Glasgow Warriors and will be hopeful to claim maximum points against tournament strugglers the Dragons.

The Round Two URC action will kick off in Cape Town as the Stormers will look to make it two wins in as many attempts before they go on a four-week overseas tour.

The Ospreys will have fond memories of their last visit to the DHL Stadium in April 2024 when they upset the Capetonians by 27-21.

Despite their loss to the Bulls, the Welsh outfit showed great attacking intent and will look to build on those positives against a Stormers team that put the defending champion Leinster to the sword last Friday evening.

The match also marks a special milestone for Stormers scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage, who will play his 100th Stormers match at the ripe age of 37 and lock Adre Smith, who earns his 50th cap.

Duvenhage said that his side is not taking the Ospreys lightly, despite their loss to the Bulls in Round One.

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“We historically struggled against the Ospreys.

“We are not taking them lightly.

“As we have seen against the Bulls, they’re quite optimistic and innovative on attack, and they take their opportunities.

“They also have a good kicking game. It will be challenging.

“They also have good backs, and not to put out a cliché, but they are an all-around team.”

Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson said that they would like to back up their performance they had against Leinster and not let the result be a fluke.

He also warned that his team should not be complacent after coming off a big victory.

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“I think the players are up for it. They are talking the talk.

“In this sort of [potentially banana peel] game, we would’ve had this chat after we played against La Rochelle a few years ago.

“We played Ospreys the following week after going toe-to-toe with La Rochelle, and we ended up losing; we didn’t walk the walk.

“It would’ve been a concern [the team falling into complacency] had it not been for the fact that we saw how well the Ospreys have played against the Bulls.

“We know our record against the Ospreys over the last three games is a draw and back-to-back losses.

“There’s not much place for complacency.

“The feedback after the game against Leinster was brilliant.

“On Monday, the guys were reset pretty well, knowing it’s a shorter week.

“We’ll see how tomorrow [Friday] night goes, but the feeling in the camp is one of desperation to back up the performance we had against Leinster.

“You don’t want that win against Leinster to be a fluke. You want that to be who we are, and that’s the challenge for this team.”

Dobson also paid tribute to Duvenage and Smith, ahead of their respective milestones.

“Dewaldt comes from the generation of players that gave us the likes of Brok Harris and Deon Fourie, and it is fitting that he joins them as a Stormers centurion.

“He has always been very tactically astute, and there are few others as committed to the cause.

“Adré has come back from his time in Japan a better player, and while this is a significant achievement, it is almost more exciting to see where he can take his game in the future,” he added.

The Ospreys will fancy themselves of causing another upset in Cape Town after showing promising signs, especially on attack against the Bulls.

Ospreys head coach Mark Jones identified areas of his side’s game that they need to be better at to get a win over the Stormers.

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“We’re definitely looking to tidy up some of those defensive issues around our maul.

“It’s very much unlike us to be exposed as we were around our maul.

“We know what it was, but during the game, we were unable to fix it, so we’ve put a bit of time into that this week, but not overly, as we know it’s a strong part of our game.

“We’re also looking at securing our own ball at set-piece.

“We set high standards around that, and we’re experiencing some teething problems in that area during the early stages of the season.

“We’re just lacking some rhythm in our combinations in that department.”

In the final Friday match, the Dragons and Sharks will battle to claim their first win of the season.

The Sharks made a surprising selection of Springbok Edwill van der Merwe at fullback in place of the injured Yaw Penxe.

Jaden Hendrikse, who wore the No.10 jersey against Glasgow, returns to scrumhalf and pairs with Jean Smith as the halfback combination.

The forward pack remains unchanged.

Sharks head coach John Plumtree explained his selections and his reasoning for keeping his pack the same against the Dragons.

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“It’s just for the sake of continuity. I just wanted the pack to keep working together.

“It’s the first time the lock combination has played together, and the same counts for the front row.

“For me, it was just important to give them another opportunity.

“I’m comfortable with those three boys working together in the loose trio.

“We decided to change the halfback combination based on the fact that we struggled to get our game going against Glasgow on attack the way we wanted to.

“That basically came down to a new No.9 and Jaden [Hendrikse] playing out of position [at No.10].

“We just wanted to go with two players who know our game a little bit better.

“Then of course, Jurenzo [Julius] returns after suffering a few injuries during pre-season, and he gives us a bit more speed in the wider channels.

“And regarding Edwill [Van der Merwe] playing fullback after losing Yaw Penxe to injury…I looked at Edwill play even before he joined the Sharks.

“I thought that fullback could potentially be a good position for him.

“He’s a smart player who can kick the ball long and is excellent under the high ball.

“He is 29 years old, so he’s been around the block for a while, so he understands the role from a defensive point of view in terms of working with the wingers.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how he goes.”

Dragons head coach Filo Tiatia highlighted the areas where his side should be better at than they were a week ago and what he expects from the Sharks.

“We were in the game against Ulster last week, but we have got to be more clinical on penalties and how we gave them opportunities to get into our 22 and score,” said Tiatia.

“We’ve got to make sure we play our style of game and know how we impose our game this Friday.

“Sharks will also be disappointed. They went to Glasgow and played a good side, but I know Plums [John Plumtree] well, and they will be very physical when they come here.

“We are clear on what they will bring. [A] big pack, they will be physical, and they will try and dominate space when they see it.

“They have a very good offloading game on the edges when you allow them to. We know what is coming.”

*The match between Edinburgh and Ulster has been postponed due to Storm Amy.

*See all Friday’s teams and predictions below…

Stormers v Ospreys

(DHL Stadium, Cape Town – Kick-off: 19.00; 18.00 BST; 17.00 GMT)

Prediction

@rugby365: Stormers by 16 points

Teams:

Stormers: 15 Wandisile Simelane, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel (captain), 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Connor Evans, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Vernon Matongo.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Clinton Swart.

Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Dan Kasende, 13 Phil Cokanasiga, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Harri Deaves, 6 James Ratti, 5 Huw Sutton, 4 Rhys Davies, 3 Rhys Henry, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Gareth Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Lewis Lloyd, 17 Cam Jones, 18 Tom Botha, 19 James Fender, 20 Morgan Morse, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Tom Florence, 23 Lestyn Hopkins.

Referee: Peter Martin (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Hanru van Rooyen (South Africa), Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa)
TMO: Federico Vedovelli (Italy)

Edinburgh v Ulster

POSTPONED

Teams

Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Piers O’Conor, 12 James Lang, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ben Healy, 9 Ben Vellacott, 8 Magnus Bradbury (captain), 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Liam McConnell, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Paddy Harrison, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Angus Williams, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Freddy Douglas, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Findlay Thomson, 23 Harry Paterson.

Ulster: 15 Stewart Moore, 14 Werner Kok, 13 James Hume, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Zack Ward, 10 Jack Murphy, 9 Nathan Doak, 8 Nick Timoney, 7 Sean Reffell, 6 Cormac Izuchukwu, 5 Harry Sheridan, 4 Iain Henderson (captain), 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 Tom Stewart, 1 Callum Reid.
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Sam Crean, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 David McCann, 20 Juarno Augustus, 21 Conor McKee, 22 Jake Flannery, 23 Jude Postlethwaite.

Referee: Chris Allison (South Africa)
Assistant referees: David Sutherland (Scotland), Sam O’Neil (Scotland)
TMO: Griffin Colby (South Africa)

Dragons v Sharks

(Rodney Parade, Newport – Kick-off: 20.05; 21.05 SAST; 19.05 GMT)

Prediction

@rugby365: Sharks by 10 points

Teams

Dragons: 15 Angus O’Brien (co-captain), 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Joe Westwood, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Harrison Keddie, 6 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 5 Ben Carter (co-captain), 4 Matthew Screech, 3 Rob Hunt, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Wyn Jones.
Replacements: 16 Brodie Coghlan, 17 Rodrigo Martinez, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Levi Douglas, 20 Mackenzie Martin, 21 Che Hope, 22 Fine Inisi, 23 Huw Anderson.

Sharks: 15 Edwill van der Merwe, 14 Phiko Sobahle, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 Christie Grobbelaar, 10 Jean Smith, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Vincent Tshituka (captain), 7 Manu Tshituka, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Deon Slabbert, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Fez Mbatha, 1 Simphiwe Matanzima.
Replacements: 16 Eduan Swart, 17 Cameron Dawson, 18 Cebo Dlamini, 19 Bathobele Hlekani, 20 Nick Hatton, 21 Ross Braude, 22 Francois Venter, 23 Hakeem Kunene

Referee: Fillipo Russo (Italy)
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales), Lucas Yendle (Wales)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)