SA teams on a mission as United Rugby Championship reaches round five

While the Lions and Bulls will be determined to maintain their unbeaten runs in the United Rugby Championship (URC) this weekend, the Sharks and Stormers will have their sights set firmly on bouncing back from disappointing defeats.

The Gauteng sides are still on tour, but the two coastal teams are at home — and boosted by a number of returning Springboks — for the first time this season in the fifth round of the competition this weekend.

The Scarlets host the Bulls in Wales on Friday, while three matches will play out on Saturday, with Zebre Parma taking on the Lions in Italy, the Sharks hosting defending champions the Glasgow Warriors in Durban, and the Stormers taking on Munster in Cape Town.

The Bulls will be hunting their fourth victory in a row this season when they take on the Scarlets who come off their first victory last week against Cardiff away.

They will, however, be mindful of the fact that they need to deliver an effective performance on attack and defence to topple the men from Pretoria who are in hot form and who showed their true character in a challenging second half against the Ospreys last week, in which they had to overcome a red card and two yellow cards to finish the match with 12 players with uncontested scrums to earn the 29-19 win.

The Bulls’ confidence will be bolstered by the fact that they have scored 15 more points than the Scarlets in three outings to the Welsh outfit’s four, while they have also conceded 31 points fewer in these matches.

The Lions will also target extending their unbeaten run to four matches when they line up against Zebre Parma in Italy on Saturday, and they will draw inspiration from the fact that the home side have secured only one win in their four matches so far this season.

The Johannesburgers defeated Ulster and Edinburgh at home before grinding out a valuable 23-19 victory against the Dragons in Newport last week, but they will be careful not to write off the Italians who, despite suffering heavy defeats against the Stormers and Glasgow in the last two weeks, started off the season on an encouraging note going down by only five points against Cardiff away before creating an upset by defeating Munster 42-33 at home.

The Lions have been far more effective on attack despite the hosts having a game in hand with 113 points scored to Zebre Parma’s 67 in their three outings, while the Italians have conceded double the number of points.

The visitors from Johannesburg will draw additional inspiration from the fact that they have won all three of their previous matches against the Italians.

The Sharks, meanwhile, return to Durban after a three-week tour and will want to put on a good show in front of their fans against the Glasgow Warriors, who, in turn, will be keen to make a strong statement in their first of two games in SA.

In Cape Town, the Stormers, who are at the foot of the log, will also want to make the most of the opportunity to play in front of their home crowd for the first time when they meet Munster.

Spicing up the clash, both teams will be desperate to bounce back after disappointing performances last week where the Stormers went down to Edinburgh, and Munster against Leinster, which will add to their desperation going into this clash.