Keo URC Boks Weekly Form Team – Round 17

Players from all four South African clubs in the Keo URC Boks Weekly Form Team and plenty of big name Springboks are starting to flex their muscle as they peak for the start of the Test season.

Four teams have qualified for the URC Race to Eight. The Stormers (2nd) and Bulls (4th) join Glasgow (1st) and Leinster (3rd). The Lions must get at least a league point against Munster to make the last eight for the first time. Nine teams are in the running for eight places going into this weekend’s Round 18, the final round of the league season.

Stormers

One never dismisses three league points away from home, but those three points the Stormers left Belfast with will be bitter-sweet.

The Stormers scored five tries and conceded six in a 38-all draw in Round 17 of the United Rugby Championship.

The three Stormers league points were sweet because they consolidated their top two league position with one round to go. Sweet because three points is better than one but bitter because a bonus point win – and five league points – would have perched the Stormers at the top of the table and made them masters of their own destiny in their pursuit to finish the league season in first place.

From a Stormers perspective the 38-all draw was disappointing, given Ulster had a player down for 20 minutes in the first half when the Stormers led 17-7.

The Stormers’ fight to snatch a draw via a penalty try in the final minute characterises a team that never stops playing. However, Friday night’s match was also defined by ill-discipline, conceding soft penalties and too much inconsistency in both attack and defence.

The Stormers, as they have done all season, created many 22 metres attacking entries but spilled the ball, were impatient in converting this prime field position into points and suffered because of poor discipline off the ball.

Two potential tries were blown a metre from Ulster’s tryline because of ill-discipline. Individuals let themselves and the team down in crucial moments through ill-judgement, a refusal to listen to the referee’s constant cautions and a disregard for discipline.

Some of the ill-discipline was a combination of silly and reckless.

The lack of on-field maturity in some instances was a body blow to the coaching staff.

Defensively, the Stormers were caught out on the flanks as Ulster punished their failure to maintain width. A lack of focus and ill-discipline resulted in soft penalties to Ulster and easy entries into the Stormers 22.

The positives were the Stormers scrum and lineout and the exceptional talent of flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who scored 21 points, was a wizard on attack and a demon in defence.

The Stormers, whose season started with eight successive league wins, have never won more than 12 league matches in a season, so a win in Cardiff would be a Stormers league record.

In the League’s inaugural 2021/22 season the Stormers finished second with 12 wins and 61 league points. In the 2022/23 season they finished third with 12 wins and 68 points (courtesy of a whopping 16 bonus points and two draws). In the 2023/24 season it was a fifth-place finish with 12 wins and 59 points and in 2024/25 it was a fifth-place finish with 10 wins and 55 points.

This season already represents a statistical improvement from a year ago in wins and league points, but the Stormers remain unconvincing when dropping league points they should have banked.

The Stormers 38-all draw is their best result against Ulster in Belfast in three visits and if one’s glass is half full then it is a case of job done. If it is half empty, then it is two league points lost and not three league points gained out of a possible five.

What is so frustrating about the Stormers is the contradiction: they conjure up miracle plays with ease, yet counterbalance those awe-inspiring moments with mad and muddled decision-making.

Bulls

The Bulls were always going to beat Zebre at Loftus Versfeld, but the quality of performance never matched a scoreline that went past 50 points.

And that’s the biggest compliment to the potential of the Bulls heading into the United Rugby Championship play-offs in a few weeks.

The Bulls won 54-19, having led 26-12 at halftime.

They scored a sensational team try within three points and by the half-hour mark, they secured the four-try bonus-point and No 10 Willie le Roux had kicked more conversions than he has in his career.

Le Roux popped over two conversions for Toyota Verblitz when playing in Japan in 2022, but outside of these two kicks, the Bok Test Centurion’s first-class points came via tries.

With regular Bulls and Bok flyhalf Handre Pollard’s game time being managed, Le Roux started at flyhalf instead of fullback, scoring a try and kicking seven conversions.

Le Roux’s value for the Bulls this season has been his availability. Saturday’s match was his 20^th in all competitions for the Bulls and 16 from 17 URC league matches.

Bulls scrumhalf Embrose Papier passed the iconic late Joost van der Westhuizen’s 170 Bulls appearances as a scrumhalf on a day of personal milestones and team achievement, with the Bulls qualifying for the play-offs.

The big win took the Bulls to 54 league points with Benetton to come in next weekend’s 18^th and final round of the league.

The winners also went past 500 points scored (521).

Bulls coach Johan Ackermann will acknowledge the beauty of any scoreline that reads 54-19, but he will know a performance as inconsistent and error-ridden would not be enough to make it past the quarter-finals.

Zebre have conceded the most points in the league (533) and lost 15 of their 17 matches. Thus, the only context for the Bulls is the five league points and that their leading players survived the match without injury.

Bulls loose-forward Cameron Hanekom was named Player of the Match, and he continues to regain Test-standard form after missing the majority of the league season because of a serious injury sustained last season.

The Bulls pack was typically dominant at the scrum, especially in the first half. Le Roux, outside centre Canan Moodie and wingers Sergeal Petersen and Cheswill Jooste were given plenty of ball and even more room in which to strike.

Moodie is settling well in the No 13 jersey and 21 year-old Jooste has a big future.

Sharks

The hosts were expected to win, but not necessarily by as much. André Esterhuizen was enormous and he continues to thrive as a captain. His young midfield partner Jurenzo Julius. It was great to see Springboks captain Siya Kolisi back in action.

Lions

Morne van den Berg has been the most consistent player for the Lions and halfback partner Chris Smith has been good all season, but collectively the Lions just were not good enough to beat a Leinster team that rested 12 of their best players.

The Lions were competitive for 70 minutes but when Leinster did introduce a handful of battle-hardened internationals in the final quarter, the tempo and intensity went up a level and the Lions could not sustain the competitiveness.

The Lions, so impressive at Ellis Park, have been the opposite in overseas matches this season.

Keo URC Boks Weekly Form Team – ROUND 17

15. Kurt-Lee Arendse (Bulls)

14. Edwill van der Merwe (Sharks)

13. Jurenzo Julius (Sharks)*

12. André Esterhuizen (Sharks)

11. Sergeal Petersen (Bulls)

10. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (Stormers)

9. Morne van den Berg (Lions)

8. Cameron Hanekom (Bulls)

7. Ben-Jason Dixon (Stormers)

6. Paul de Villiers (Stormers)*

5. Ruben van Heerden (Stormers) *

4. Ruan Vermaak (Bulls)*

3. Wilco Louw (Bulls)

2.Marco van Staden (Bulls)

1. Ntuthuko Mchunu (Stormers)

*Uncapped

Keo URC Boks Weekly Form Team – Round 16

WEEKEND SELECTION OPTIONS

STORMERS – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Wandisile Simelane, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie (c), 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Bench: 16 Paul de Villiers, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Hacjivah Dayimani, 21 Keke Morabe, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Jurie Matthee.

BULLS – 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Cheswill Jooste, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Sergeal Petersen, 10 Willie le Roux, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Jeandré Rudolph, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Marco van Staden, 1 Jan Hendrik Wessels.
Bench: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Cobus Wiese, 20 Mpilo Gumede, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Stedman Gans.

SHARKS – 15 Jaco Williams, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 André Esterhuizen (c), 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Zekhethelo Siyaya, 9 Bradley Davids, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Eduan Swart, 1 Ox Nché.
Bench: 16 Fez Mbatha, 17 Phatu Ganyane, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Corné Rahl, 20 Nicholas Hatton, 21 Ross Braude, 22 Jean Smith, 23 Litelihle Bester.

LIONS – 15 Quan Horn, 14 Erich Cronjé, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Richard Kriel, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (c), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Siba Mahashe, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 SJ Kotze.
Bench: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 Sebastian Lombard, 19 Darrien Landsberg, 20 Batho Hlekani, 21 JC Pretorius, 22 Nico Steyn, 23 Kelly Mpeku.