TIME TO REFOCUS: SA’s URC teams face northern examination as club season ramps up

Spare a thought for the Lions, who are still coming to terms with the loss of Hyron Andrews, who passed away suddenly at the team hotel in France last week.

Having produced a brave and emotionally charged performance in the cauldron of La Rochelle in a Champions Cup match last Saturday, the Lions will travel to Edinburgh and Glasgow for United Rugby Championship (URC) matches over the next fortnight, before returning to Johannesburg for a much-needed break.

The fixture against Edinburgh on Friday will be particularly challenging, given the six-day turnaround as well as the fact that Sean Everitt’s charges have yet to lose a URC game this season and are currently at the top of the standings.

The Lions certainly have the players to push Edinburgh close, but given all that has transpired over the past week, expectations for a victory should be tempered.

It won’t get any easier next week, when they head to Glasgow to tackle the former URC champions, who are coached by another South African in Franco Smith.

Promising start

Overall, South Africa’s leading franchises have made a promising start to the 2026/27 club season.

All four teams began the third round of the URC in the top half of the table, with the Bulls and Stormers in the top four.

Last weekend, the Bulls and Stormers romped to bonus-point wins in Champions Cup fixtures staged in South Africa, while a young Sharks side defied the odds to beat Lyon in a Challenge Cup match played in France.

All four teams have been rotated over the course of the first month of the season, and as a result a number of promising youngsters have received opportunities to shine.

Bulls winger Cheswill Jooste scored a hat-trick against Stade Français in Pretoria last week, while other Junior Boks such as Riley Norton and Zekhethelo Siyaya starred for the Stormers and Sharks respectively. Meanwhile, Batho Hlekani and Siba Mahashe were among those who put in a big shift for the Lions in La Rochelle.

Two weeks remain before the club season takes a break and the Springboks travel to Europe for the second instalment of the Nations Championship.

The Bulls, Stormers and Sharks look set to build on the platform that has been laid, although it remains to be seen whether the Durban-based side will continue their good run up north.

Sharks adding substance to style

A three-match tour of Europe was always going to be an early test of the Sharks’ quality and depth.

Coach JP Pietersen opted to rest most of his frontline players in Lyon last week, although he did balance the lineup by including experienced players like Ivan van Zyl and Stephan Lewies in the matchday squad.

While the performance lacked polish, the Sharks showed terrific determination to snatch a late 40-33 win – and in the wake of that display, the team may start to believe that a three-from-three return on tour is possible.

Several senior players with Test experience will return for the coming URC matches in Cardiff and Limerick.

Cardiff has proved a tough place to visit in recent seasons, but the local team is coming off a Champions Cup clash against the Northampton Saints on Sunday and may not be at their sharpest after a five-day turnaround.

Munster have produced a mixed bag of results this season, losing to Glasgow, drawing to Ulster, and beating the Bulls and Racing 92.

Last week’s Champions Cup victory against the French club may give Munster confidence before the big Irish derby against Leinster in Dublin this Saturday. Whether they are able to maintain their physical effort in the subsequent home clash against the Sharks remains to be seen.

At the very least, the Sharks should target six log points from the next two URC matches staged overseas.

Pietersen – who has taken significant steps to change the culture of the team in recent months and lift standards across the board – may be more ambitious, and demand that his charges push for two wins.

Such an outcome would boost the Sharks’ chances of finishing this block among the tournament’s leading teams.

Following the break for the November Tests, the Sharks will play five consecutive club games in Durban, before travelling to Treviso to face Benetton in January.

Pressure on Bulls, Stormers to deliver

The Bulls and Stormers claimed big wins over European opposition last week.

While the scorelines and try-counts were impressive, South Africa’s leading teams were always expected to prevail against the likes of Stade Français and Bristol Bears at home, and to finish these matches with five log points.

While they won’t be as strong over the next two weeks – with some of the Boks resting up before the Nations Championship – the Bulls and Stormers should do enough to bank back-to-back wins in the URC matches against the Scarlets and Ulster at home.

Both should be targeting maximum log points against the Scarlets, who will travel to Cape Town this Saturday and Pretoria next week.

The Scarlets lost to both teams in Wales last season, and were beaten by the Lions and Sharks in South Africa. More recently, they beat the Newcastle Red Bulls 47-14 in the Challenge Cup.

Ulster have yet to win a game in the URC this season, having lost to Edinburgh and drawn with Glasgow and Munster.

They troubled the Bulls and the Stormers in the last edition of the competition, when they beat Johan Ackermann’s side 28-7 and drew 38-38 with the Cape side. Both of those games were staged in Belfast, though, and the Irish team may struggle to replicate those performances on South African soil.

That said, the pressure is on the Bulls and the Stormers to live up to the hype and win both of their matches with a bonus point.

Recent form suggests they are well placed to do so – as both are ranked among the top five attacking teams after three rounds, with the Bulls leading the table for points (126) and tries scored (19). DM