URC: 5 Things We Learned From Round 13

Back with a BANG! The United Rugby Championship returned in round 13 for a full weekend of fixtures, and there were talking points from every single match! 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th placed teams all lost, South Africa had a clean sweep, but there were statement wins elsewhere. Here are five things we learned…

First Class Glasgow

There was real jeopardy for Glasgow ahead of their game against Leinster on Friday night. With their top Six Nations stars rested and a gruelling season run-in ahead of them, their position at the top of the table was looking perilous. Although Leinster also rested stars, the team they were still able to take to Scotland was formidable, boasting a host of household names. A Warriors defeat seemed a real possibility, and with it a slide down the rankings could have swiftly followed.

Possession

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However, the fans needn’t have been worried. Franco Smith’s men blew Leinster away in the first half with phenomenal attacking play. They totally dominated the early exchanges – Rieko Ioane’s intercept coming very much against the run of play. The Glaswegians followed a ruthlessly attacking first half with a brutally defensive second half, shutting out their opponents before adding gloss to the scoreboard with late tries of their own.

For Leinster, 5 defeats in a single league season is their joint worst in the URC era, with 5 games and a distracting Champions Cup campaign still to go. If they finally win Europe, everyone will forget about this league campaign – if make top four they may go on and win it in any case. However, Friday saw famous faces being taught a lesson by far less heralded players. The 2 yellow cards is no excuse either – this team should be playing better.

Stormers Attack Is Struggling

The Stormers eventually pulverised the Dragons into defeat in Cape Town on Sunday. Their scrum was on another level to the visiting Welshmen and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu continued to pile up the impressive statistics – scoring two tries and saving two more in this game alone.

However, in the post-match interviews, the Dragons seemed the happier side. Scrums apart, they had been reasonably successful at containing the Stormers and were it not for two pieces of Sacha brilliance, they would have come away with at least one bonus point – maybe more.

The fact that the Stormers were taking penalty shots at goal early in the second half showed just how poorly their attack functioned in this game. Poor ball skills let them down time and again as bad passes and knock-ons thwarted their efforts. After 13 games, John Dobson’s men have scored 10 fewer tries than league leaders Glasgow.

Lions Déjà vu For Edinburgh

No, you haven’t gone back to 2024, the Lions have thrashed Edinburgh for a second season running in Johannesburg. It wasn’t quite the 50-point humiliation after 40 minutes we saw last time, but the men from Scotland’s capital were just as easily picked off by the Lions’ searing counter attacks and phenomenal ball handling skills.

When the Lions are in this kind of form, they are the most entertaining side in the whole URC. Will it keep them in the play-off places? History tells us no, but it will be fun to watch either way. For Edinburgh, though, this latest dismal display speaks only to the lack of progress under Sean Everitt. Would anyone bet against the same thing happening next time they head to Jo’burg? Doubtful.

Munster Crisis

Oh dear, oh dear. Munster’s superb start to the URC season feels a very long time ago now. Laboured wins against Zebre and the Dragons did little to ease the worries about this team having underlying problems, and a total collapse against the Sharks has only serve to rip off any band-aids that had been hastily applied.

Let’s not play this down – the Sharks are a below average team, and this was their biggest win of the season (scoreboard wise). One can excuse conceding three tries in the final five minutes against the very top sides, but not one so far down the league table. Still, at least it gave Makazole Mapimpi a chance to enjoy the limelight on his 100th cap for the Durban side.

Connacht Back From The Dead

Have Connacht performed some kind of voodoo trick on Munster and drained all their life force? Stuart Lancaster’s men were getting hammered for their awful form in the first half of the season, but a sensational turnaround has seen them leap back into play-off contention.

Their performance against high-flying Ulster on Friday was excellent, with superbly taken tries earning a well-earned win against a high-quality opposition. For Ulster, this was a game they could ill-afford to lose in their quest for a home semifinal. They retain 3rd place in the league and still have to face the Stormers at home, but this Connacht loss must be a blip and not the start of a trend.