SA teams go for broke

DHL Stormers prop Neethling Fouche has aptly summed up what will contribute to the ratcheting up of quality and intensity as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship heads into the last round of the first phase of the competition this weekend.

“We are going into a four week break after this so there is no reason not to leave everything out there on the field,” said Fouche of Saturday’s Stormers clash with Glasgow Warriors in Stellenbosch. It’s the same for the other South African teams on what could prove a significant final weekend before the competition breaks until the last weekend of November to accommodate the international window in which the northern hemisphere autumn internationals will be played.

It will be a universal feeling of course, for the overseas teams will be heading into a break after this too, but all the local sides do have a lot to play for in what for them is the fifth round of games.

The other teams will be playing their sixth games because of the postponement of the first round in South Africa, which was set to feature derbies that have been postponed until February or March, when there will be a window created by the Six Nations.

There is a lot to gain for all South African sides in round 5, and also a lot to lose.

The Bulls will want to regain some winning momentum in their last tour game against Benetton after they lost by a solitary point to Scarlets last weekend. Bulls director of rugby Jake White mixed up his selections for the game in Llanelli, which he really had little option over if he wanted to keep his first choice players fresh and at the same time keep the fringe players in match playing fettle.

But he is sure to go what Stormers coach John Dobson would refer to as Full Metal Jacket in his selection for the game in Treviso against a side that comprehensively outplayed the Sharks two weeks ago and appears to have picked up some momentum after a poor start to the competition.

White and his players would also not have forgotten that it was at Treviso that their Rainbow Cup dream died in 2021.

The Emirates Lions are the only unbeaten South African side after the Bulls loss last week, and they just happen to be playing the only other unbeaten team in the competition – Leinster.

Normally that game wouldn’t attract that much interest, but as it is effectively the top two playing each other, the game in Dublin suggests itself as one of the games of the round.

Leinster will start as strong favourites after their imperious start to the season.

They have yet to drop a point, while the Lions have had to dig deep for their two tour wins thus far after making a strong start on home soil in their first two games. — SuperSport

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