SA United Rugby Championship Team of the Week – Round 14

The roaring Lions were the shining light on a dark weekend for Mzanzi sides and predictably dominate our South African United Rugby Championship Team of the Week, writes Quintin van Jaarsveld.

The pride of Johannesburg devoured a youthful Leinster team 44-12 at Ellis Park on Saturday in what turned out to be the only win by a South African side in Round 14.

An understrength Sharks side were gallant in defeat in Glasgow on Friday night, going down 21-10 to the vaunted Warriors, while the Bulls and Stormers missed a golden opportunity to move closer to a home playoff by succumbing on home soil on Saturday.

A 14-man Bulls side suffered a 27-22 loss to defending champions Munster at Loftus Versfeld and in a major shock, the Stormers crashed to a 27-21 defeat to the Ospreys in Cape Town.

Making up our team are eight Lions, three Sharks, two Bulls and two Stormers.

15: Quan Horn (Lions)

A complete performance. Good support play and speed to score the Lions’ third try and his sixth of the season, exceptional steal on the ground six metres from his tryline and launched good exit kicks.

14: Richard Kriel (Lions)

Early breakdown penalty set the tone for what was an impactful performance. Line break set up the Lions’ opening try and a great offload off the ground for Emmanuel Tshituka to score.

13: Wandisile Simelane (Stormers)

Caused problems with his hot-stepping, made the break that sparked Evan Roos’ try, excellent kick for a near-try and made some dominant hits.

12: Marius Louw (Lions)

Rounded off an epic try, good long passes to Kriel and Jaco Visagie – the second resulting in a try – and laid in the shoulder on defence, where his punishing work included a spine-rattling hit on John McKee.

11: Kurt-Lee Arendse (Bulls)

A machine on defence, where he made crucial reads and saved a certain try, took his opportunity to score well and had a good game-long aerial battle with Calvin Nash.

10: Sanele Nohamba (Lions)

A little magician who unlocked Leinster’s defence early and often. A showcase of his playmaking prowess in which he architected two of his team’s first three tries and had a hand in the other. Added 10 points off the tee.

9: Morne van den Berg (Lions)

Pulled the strings along with his halfback partner. Got the Lions off to the perfect start with a try in the opening minute, put Louw in 10 minutes later, made a try-saving tackle on Ben Brownlee and got good distance with his exit kicks.

8: Evan Roos (Stormers)

Simply immense. No one in the Cape clash made more metres (110), successful carries (13), clean breaks (2) or tackles (16) than the rampaging Roos, who scored a terrific try as a cherry on top of a beastly showing.

7: Emmanuel Tshituka (Lions) – Player of the Week

The Lions’ primary ball carrier, Tshituka was a tackle-breaking beast, beating a team-high five defenders. His dynamism was on full display, as was his tireless work across the park, which saw him dot down twice as well as win a breakdown penalty in a Man of the Match performance.

6: Tino Mavesere (Sharks)

The Zimbabwean international took his rare starting opportunity with both hands. Covered acres of space on defence, an excellent cover tackle on Kyle Steyn being among his match-high 18 hits. Crucial lineouts steal on his 5m line and a textbook jackal in the 23rd minute.

5: Gerbrandt Grobler (Sharks)

Had a big game in the loose, where he worked tirelessly, and was a pillar of strength in the lineout.

4: Willem Alberts (Lions)

The 39-year-old turned back the clock in a mightily impressive 80-minute shift. Made strong carries and was colossal on defence, making an unrivalled 20 tackles including a trademark bone-crunching hit on Cormac Foley.

3: Ruan Dreyer (Lions)

Tremendous try-saving tackle on Liam Turner highlighted the 33-year-old’s outstanding work rate on top of him playing his part in the Lions’ scrum dominance.

2: Johan Grobbelaar (Bulls)

Not as clinical as he typically is but still made telling contributions. Good turnover in his 22 and stellar leg drive to power over for his try.

1: Ntuthuko Mchunu (Sharks)/span>

An all-action performance by the mobile powerhouse. Combative, will treasure the tremendous offload to Aphiwe Dyantyi that snuffed out danger, good hands and pure determination to score a well-deserved try.

Quintin van Jaarsveld

Quintin Van Jaarsveld is a former MDDA-Sanlam SA Local Sports Journalist of the Year and a former three-time Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal Sports Journalist of the Year. Formerly the sports editor and Outstanding Journalist of the Year award winner at The Fever Media Group, deputy editor at eHowzit, editor at SARugby.com and senior staff writer at Rugby365.com, he boasts over 15 years’ experience and is currently a freelance sports writer.