The Bulls and Stormers delivered dominant performances to outclass the Lions and Sharks in a gripping round of United Rugby Championship (URC) local derbies on Saturday.
Those home victories also saw the Bulls and Stormers overtake their fellow SA teams on the URC standings.
The Bulls were in sublime form and powered their way to a classy 57-15 victory against the Lions in Pretoria, while the Stormers outplayed the Sharks 39-22 in Cape Town.
These results saw a dramatic shift on the standings, with the Bulls now occupying third place, the Stormers one position below in fourth (both on 11 log points), and the Sharks in fifth place (10 points), while the Lions dropped to seventh position (nine points).
Edinburgh now top the table followed by the Glasgow Warriors on 14 and 13 points respectively. They are the only unbeaten sides left after three rounds.
The teams will now switch their focus to the Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup next week in the European showpieces before resuming the URC competition in two weeks.
HOW THE LATEST URC LOG LOOKS
| # | Team | PTS | PL | W | D | L | BP | PTS DIFFERENTIAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edinburgh | 14 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 26 |
| 2 | Glasgow | 13 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 23 |
| 3 | Bulls | 11 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 72 |
| 4 | Stormers | 11 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 27 |
| 5 | Sharks | 10 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 6 | Cardiff | 9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -5 |
| 7 | Lions | 9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -25 |
| 8 | Dragons | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 9 | Munster | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 |
| 10 | Leinster | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 17 |
| 11 | Ulster | 8 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -5 |
| 12 | Scarlets | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | -17 |
| 13 | Ospreys | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -26 |
| 14 | Connacht | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -28 |
| 15 | Benetton | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -4 |
| 16 | Zebre | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | -64 |
Positive reflections
Reflecting on the Bulls’ impressive victory, coach Johan Ackermann said there was a lot to be positive about.
“I’m just proud of the guys,” Ackermann said. “The maturity they showed to start well and to stay in the fight, even though we lost a few balls where we had opportunities.
“It wasn’t perfect, there were still mistakes, but you could see they were buying into what we want to do.”
Stormers coach John Dobson was similarly pleased with his team’s efforts.
“It was a pretty compelling performance by us. I never thought we were in trouble. I thought physically and defensively we stood up.
“What I liked about our game is that when we did win the contestables and got into their half, we played some nice rugby. We sort of had a bit of a flow, which we hadn’t had on the tour. To me, without being arrogant, the process justified the outcome.”