Rugby
SA URC Team of the Week – Round 16
Bulls loosehead Jan-Hendrik Wessels stole the show in what was a perfect weekend for the South African sides in the United Rugby Championship, writes Quintin van Jaarsveld.
The local teams claimed a clean sweep of victories as the Bulls and Sharks stayed in the top four, the Stormers moved up to sixth place, and the 13th-placed Lions snapped a five-match losing streak.
The Bulls banked a 26-19 win over the defending champion Glasgow Warriors in the Scotland capital and the Sharks staged an epic comeback from 19-0 down to triumph 22-19 over Ulster in Belfast.
Meanwhile, on South African soil, the Stormers blew Benetton away with a 56-5 rout in Cape Town, while the Lions got back on track with a 36-7 win over Connacht at Ellis Park.
Six Stormers earned selection in our Team of the Week, as did three Bulls, three Sharks and three Lions.
15: Warrick Gelant (Stormers)
As influential with his boot as he was with his hands. Good grubber for Leolin Zas to chase, almost kicked a 22:22, deft touches on attack, made two vital tackles back-to-back and defused a dangerous grubber with his speed.
14: Ethan Hooker (Sharks)
A Springbok in waiting. Made good ground every time he touched the ball with his combination of size and speed. Finished with a team-high 75 metres to edge Canan Moodie, who was excellent on the defensive end for the Bulls.
13: Dan du Plessis (Stormers)
Slowly but surely starting to hit his stride. Scored a try and made a good defensive read to intercept, which eventually led to Seabelo Senatla’s try.
12: Andre Esterhuizen (Sharks)
A colossus in the centres. The Springbok midfield monster was “Mr Momentum” for the Durbanites, leading the charge with nine successful carries to consistently get them on the front foot.
11: Edwill van der Merwe (Lions)
Pure class all afternoon. Chased extremely hard, was great in the air and dangerous on attack. After having an earlier try disallowed, he got his well-deserved five-pointer in the final play of the game.
10: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (Stormers)
Started his evening with a try assist for Sazi Sandi, a conversion, a penalty goal, a drop goal and a magical try assist for Dan du Plessis. Continued to boss the game and finished off with a try to complete a 26-point haul. A super talent.
9: Morne van den Berg (Lions)
The Lions livewire was in his playmaking bag, causing Connacht problems all afternoon whether through crisp distribution, darting runs or clever chip kicks. Accurate box kicking, too, before he limped off.
8: Evan Roos (Stormers)
All gas and no breaks in a fiery showing. A barnstormer on both sides of the ball, leading his team in successful carries (9) and defenders beaten (7) and delivered a try assist for Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
7: Renzo du Plessis (Lions)
A caged Lion let loose, the youngster was in full beast mode. Commanding with ball in hand, drew first blood with a good try, great tackle fight and clattered into rucks. Yellow card took some gloss off his Man of the Match performance.
6: Paul de Villiers (Stormers)
Heavily involved in all that was good for the Capetonians, scored his first Stormers try and was a beast at the breakdown. Textbook jackal in his 22 two minutes before the break and managed another steal in the 68th minute to come away with the Man of the Match award.
5: Jason Jenkins (Sharks)
A physical force that came up big. Massive carry set the wheels in motion for Makazole Mapimpi’s try, which sparked the Sharks’ comeback, and had a hand in Jurenzo Julius’ try.
4: Cobus Wiese (Bulls)
A bruiser with big ambition and an even bigger engine. The Springbok hopeful played the enforcer role strikingly well and made a Bulls-best eight successful carries.
3: Wilco Louw (Bulls)
Forget the yellow card he conceded, Louw was worth his weight in gold as he massacred the Warriors at scrum time, winning no less than four penalties in the set piece.
2: Andre-Hugo Venter (Stormers)
An omnipresent dynamo who had a hand in a lot of attacking sets, including showing good gas when he broke free in the lead-up to Stefan Ungerer’s near-try, while his fundamentals were fantastic.
1: Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Bulls) – Player of the Week
A Man of the Match performance for the ages. Strong in the scrums, cheeky grubber and delivered a defensive masterclass, including the greatest try-saving tackle by a prop you’re likely to see on Sebastian Cancelliere.