Bulls and Sharks progress after dramatic URC quarter-finals

Rugby
  • 1 Day Ago
The Vodacom Bulls and Hollywoodbets Sharks kept the South African flag flying in a drama-filled knock-out round of the United Rugby Championship, with both teams winning their quarter-finals, which will see them face off against one another in an all-South African semi-final in Pretoria next Saturday.

Unfortunately for the DHL Stormers, they let themselves down against the defending champions, Glasgow Warriors, in Scotland on Friday night as they went down 36-18, which crushed their semi-final hopes.

The Vodacom Bulls, however, delivered under pressure in a competitive encounter against Edinburgh in Pretoria on Saturday to register a 42-33 victory.

There was drama in Durban though, where the Hollywoodbets Sharks and Munster drew 24-24 after 80 minutes, which forced the match into extra time, and then a penalty shootout, which the hosts won 6-4, to advance to their first ever Vodacom URC semi-final.

Log-leaders Leinster will face the Glasgow Warriors in the first semi-final, at 15h45 (SA time) at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin next Saturday after they defeated the Scarlets 33-21 in the other quarter-final.

The Vodacom Bulls and Hollywoodbets Sharks will clash from 18h15 at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria for a place in the Grand Final.



Glasgow outplay Stormers

The Glasgow Warriors are on course to defend their URC title with a comprehensive quarter-final victory over the DHL Stormers at the Scotstoun Stadium on Friday night, capitalising on most of their point-scoring chances against an error-riddled Cape outfit to outscore them five tries to two for a rewarding 36-18 victory.

The DHL Stormers failed in two of the most important facets of the game on the night – handling and defence. While they narrowly enjoyed more possession and stood their ground in the scrums, their handling let them down badly as they threw out injudicious passes on several occasions, and squandered a load of promising opportunities close to the tryline.

Their defence was equally disappointing as they missed more than 20% of their tackles, which cost them dearly.

– SuperSport