Leinster lengthen lead
Leinster Rugby march on having extended their lead at the top of the table with a fifth successive bonus point victory.
They ran in five tries during a 33-12 win over Connacht Rugby in Galway, with Springboks second row RG Snyman named Player of the Match.
It’s a result which maintains their maximum haul and takes them seven points clear of their nearest rivals.
Head coach Leo Cullen commented: “We are pleased with how it went. The conditions were always going to be difficult and a bit of a challenge because of the wind, but we are delighted with the win.
“You just had to play smart. We started well, going 14-0 up, and Connacht came back into the game, so the try just before half-time was a big moment to put us to 21-5.
“Probably the thing that pleased us most is we had five Academy players in the 23, with two of them making their debuts. It’s never easy coming down here, so it’s a great experience for them.”
Second spot is now occupied by the Emirates Lions who are the only other team to have won all their games, albeit having played one less than Leinster.
After last week’s 23-19 victory over Dragons RFC in Newport, Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said his team were learning how to win ugly.
That was even more evident as they secured another narrow win on the road, grinding their way past Zebre Parma 10-9 in the wet of northern Italy.
Skipper Francke Horn continued his impressive start to the season as he led by example from No 8 with a Man of the Match display.
Glasgow Warriors are now down to third after losing 28-24 to the Hollywoodbets Sharks in Durban, but they picked up two valuable bonus points thanks to a brace of late tries.
There was a first defeat of the season for the Vodacom Bulls who were beaten 23-22 by the Scarlets after a red card for hooker Johan Grobbelaar.
Elsewhere, Edinburgh Rugby and Benetton Rugby both continued their revivals, backing up last weekend’s first successes of the season with further wins.
Edinburgh turned around a 5-3 half-time deficit to claim a 27-8 bonus point victory at home to Cardiff Rugby, with Scotland wing Duhan van der Merwe delivering an acrobatic finish and hooker Ewan Ashman crossing late on to clinch the maximum.
As for Benetton, they too secured a full house with a 31-21 win over Dragons at Rodney Parade, where their Argentine prop Thomas Gallo picked up the Player of the Match award.
In the weekend’s two other games, the DHL Stormers saw off Munster Rugby 34-19 to move off the bottom of the table, a position that’s now occupied by the Ospreys following their 36-12 loss to Ulster Rugby in Belfast.
Soaring Scarlets say there’s more to come
Scarlets skipper Josh Macleod insists there is more to come from his team following their dramatic victory over the Bulls.
The west Wales region came from 19-7 down to consign the visitors from Pretoria to their first league defeat of the season, with wingers Blair Murray and Tom Rogers crossing for superb solo tries.
Rogers’ stunning match-winner eight minutes from time came after Bulls replacement hooker Johan Grobbelaar was red carded for shoulder to head contact on opposite number Marnus van der Merwe.
Reflecting on the win, first-half try scorer Macleod declared: “It was pretty good, wasn’t it?
“It’s been a whole squad effort. We are together as one. That’s been evident over the last couple of weeks and it certainly feels like we are building something, but we don’t really want to stop here. There’s definitely more from us as a squad.”
The flanker added: “The character within the group is clear to see. In tough times, we can rely on our defence which in previous seasons may not have been the case. Clearly, that’s an element of growth which is a positive.”
Head coach Dwayne Peel added: “I am delighted with the result. It was a big performance and a victory that was deserved in the end.
“We competed hard. They have obviously got some big units in their team and we had a plan to move them around a bit with a kicking game.
“There were some big defensive sets and when we had opportunities we took them, with our two wingers scoring outstanding finishes.
“It was lovely to hear the crowd singing at the end. It was a good night.
“We are on very much of a high after that and we will enjoy it, but we move on to next week now and an important game at home to Zebre to end this block. We will be looking for same again. We need to keep growing this momentum. It’s a big week for us.”
Bulls coach Jake White said: “We were good enough to win that game. We should have finished them off, but we didn’t.”
Match of the weekend
Hollywoodbets Sharks 28, Glasgow Warriors 24
A welcome second win of the season for the Sharks and an unlikely double bonus for the champions.
With just a minute of normal time to go, Glasgow were trailing 28-12 and on course to leave Durban empty-handed.
Yet late tries from flanker Rory Darge and hooker Johnny Matthews changed the complexion of their day.
Coming away with two points from a game in South Africa is a decent result, especially given the distinctly unpromising position they had found themselves in after conceding touchdowns to Springboks stars Siya Kolisi, Aphelele Fassi and Grant Williams.
Summing up the mixture of feelings in the Glasgow camp, skipper Sione Tuipulotu said: “I’m massively proud of the effort, but I know we are disappointed because we came here to win this game.
“We will try and take what we did in the last ten minutes into next week.”
Player of the weekend
Jacob Stockdale (Ulster Rugby)
The Player of the 2018 Six Nations looks to be getting back to his best given his predatory performance in Ulster’s 36-12 victory over the Ospreys.
He helped himself to a brace of tries, including a spectacular finish in the left corner for his second as he managed to get the ball down one-handed with his legs in the air out of the field of play.
The 28-year-old Ireland international actually crossed the whitewash three times, but he was denied his hat-trick because of a forward pass during the course of a thrilling long range attack which he had launced himself.
Speaking after the game, he said: “That would have been my first ever career hat-trick, so to get that one disallowed was really disappointing.
“But it was a great win. It was brilliant. I thought the forwards were fantastic. Fair play to them, they were crazy physical.
“I can only do what I do off the back of a very good performance from the forwards.”
Quote of the weekend
Edinburgh skipper Grant Gilchrist after the 27-8 victory over Cardiff Rugby: “It was huge that we backed up (last week’s win over the Stormers) because one game can’t define us. We are still remembering that two weeks ago people were questioning our character and how much we wanted to play for this jersey (after the defeat to Lions). We have got to prove people wrong every weekend.”
What’s coming next?
It’s the final round of the opening block of URC matches next weekend ahead of the break for the autumn internationals.
There’s no debate over the pick of the fixtures, with the only two teams to have won all of their games going head to head in a top-of-the-table clash, as leaders Leinster take on the second-placed Lions at the Aviva Stadium.
Glasgow continue their South African tour by locking horns with the Stormers in Cape Town, with Munster facing the Sharks in Durban.
There are three games in Wales, with the buoyant Scarlets hosting Zebre, Cardiff welcoming Ulster to the Arms Park and the Ospreys entertaining Edinburgh.
The other fixtures are Benetton v Bulls and Connacht v Dragons.
