United Rugby Championship: Bulls thrash Leinster while Zebre end the season winless and Dragons down Scarlets

WORNSHOESBLOG October 7, 2024

The Bulls ended Leinster’s unbeaten streak in the United Rugby Championship (URC) in emphatic fashion, claiming a record 62-7 victory at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

For the first time since January 2016 (v Wasps in the Champions Cup), the Irish province conceded 50 points or more in a competitive fixture.

The Bulls ran riot, scoring tries through Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie and Johan Grobbelaar (all two), Ruan Nortje, Stedman Gans and Harold Vorster, with Johan Goosen kicking 17 points.

Michael Milne grabbed Leinster‘s only try in the match, which saw them concede the most points in a URC/PRO14 fixture since Scarlets scored 52 in 2007.

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Leinster had already secured top spot in the table and rested a number of star players but would have been disappointed by the nature of the defeat ahead of next weekend’s Champions Cup semi-final with Toulouse.

The Bulls opened the scoring with Goosen sending over a straightforward penalty after concerted early pressure in the Leinster 22.

Their dominance was rewarded after 14 minutes when lock Nortje took a short pass from Embrose Papier from a ruck and crashed over from short range.

They stretched their advantage with a flowing move down the left and David Kriel drew in Tommy O’Brien before playing an inside pass to Arendse to run in unopposed.

Arendse then claimed his second try of the afternoon when Leinster turned the ball over inside their own 22 and Moodie’s kick through was latched onto by the full-back.

Grobbelaar secured the bonus point when he went over from a lineout drive with Goosen adding his fourth conversion.

The Bulls began the first half like they ended the second with Papier breaking through a series of poor Leinster tackles before flicking the ball up for Grobbelaar to stroll in for his second try.

With Thomas Clarkson in the sin-bin, Goosen then launched an inch-perfect kick to the corner that was claimed by Moodie to crash over for the sixth try.

Kriel and Arendse combined to send over Gans following a scrum won against the head.

Milne burrowed over for Leinster before Vorster and Moodie added to the rout.

Dragons end 10 game losing streak defeating Scarlets

Dragons turned recent form on its head to chalk up their best result of their United Rugby Championship season with a thoroughly deserved 31-14 win over a resurgent Scarlets.

Dragons had suffered 10 successive defeats but aided by an explosive start, they knocked Scarlets off their game with a battling performance.

Elliott Dee, Jordan Williams, Sio Tomkinson and Steff Hughes scored their tries with Angus O’Brien converting all four and adding a penalty.

Kieran Hardy and Carwyn Tuipulotu scored tries for Scarlets, both of which Sam Costelow converted.

Scarlets lock Vaea Fifita was fortunate to escape dismissal in the third minute when he lashed out to punch Aaron Wainwright.

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Fifita saw yellow and Dragons capitalised by scoring two tries in three minutes. First Dee crashed over from a driving maul before swift passing created space for Rio Dyer, who ran strongly to provide Jordan Williams with an easy run-in.

Before Fifita could return, the Gwent region added a third when Tomkinson quickly took a tap penalty to catch the defence napping. O’Brien converted all three so Scarlets had conceded 21 points in their player’s absence.

The Tongan returned in time to see his side come onto the scoreboard when Hardy took advantage of a succession of five-metre scrums to dart over with Costelow’s conversion leaving his side trailing 21-7 at the interval.

Scarlets had the better of the second quarter and began the second half strongly but were error-ridden in the face of some determined tackling from the opposition.

Five minutes after the restart, their head coach Dwayne Peel brought on four replacements but against the run of play, Dragons extended their lead with a 45-metre penalty from O’Brien.

Scarlets also replaced Fifita to keep him fresh for next Saturday’s Challenge Cup semi-final against Glasgow.

Welsh internationals Gareth Davies and Jonny McNicholl were further replacements for Scarlets and eventually their dominance was rewarded when Tuipulotu crashed over with 10 minutes remaining but Dragons had the final say when Hughes raced over in the final minute for the bonus-point try.

Zebre end URC season without a victory

Zebre Parma ended the United Rugby Championship season without a victory after falling to a 50-35 defeat by the Lions at Loftus Versfeld.

An 18th loss from as many outings came despite a first-half hat-trick by wing Simone Gesi, who opened his account just 36 seconds into the game.

With both sides bottom of their respective shields and having no prospect of reaching the play-offs, the clash had a training-run feel that was reflected in an overall try count of 13.

Zebre entered the match off the back of a 78-12 mauling by the Bulls, and they at least went down fighting in Pretoria, finishing with a flourish.

The Lions did the bulk of the damage in the third quarter, outscoring the visitors from Italy three tries to nil, and saw Sanele Nohamba and Edwill van der Merwe cross twice each.

It was a nightmare afternoon for defence coaches with the carnage to come signposted by Gesi strolling over after just 36 seconds.