URC Season 2024/2025 Official Thread

[Sandstorm]

As soon as the funding dried up he was on his bicycle

Bet you he fell off at the first corner.

[Sards]

As soon as the funding dried up he was on his bicycle

Bet you he fell off at the first corner.

I always said that the Trust fund equity deal for the Stormers was suspect. The money required to be competitive is huge....I just cannot see a Trust fund financing that.
Correct me if I am wrong....the capital of a trust fund normally is not touched. Loans are normally negotiated on the value of the trust fund and then obviously a return is required to finance those loans. In the event of a default the fund would be required to settle outstanding debt. Basically security. So the Stormers are basically funding themselves with a security in place....

You need a viable business generating income to fully finance a rugby franchise

[assfly]

Fuck the Lions.












Actually I don't mean that, they're a great team who are under-resourced yet playing fantastic rugby and I feel they deserve more.

[Sards]

Fuck the Lions.












Actually I don't mean that, they're a great team who are under-resourced yet playing fantastic rugby and I feel they deserve more.

Sharks are looking sharp under Plum.
Dobbo is getting hell from supporters
White doesn't give a f.

[assfly]

This break in the season for 6N really kills momentum.

[OomStruisbaai]

Scarra joins the Sharks

https://x.com/SharksRugby/status/189511 ... -sharks%2F

[assfly]

Scarra joins the Sharks

https://x.com/SharksRugby/status/189511 ... -sharks%2F

He has more grey hair than you Oom.

Not sure why we couldn't bring up one of our youngsters. Or see if Malcolm Marx was keen on a couple of weeks in Durban.

[OomStruisbaai]

Scarra joins the Sharks

https://x.com/SharksRugby/status/189511 ... -sharks%2F

He has more grey hair than you Oom.

Not sure why we couldn't bring up one of our youngsters. Or see if Malcolm Marx was keen on a couple of weeks in Durban.

At least he have more hair then Sards. We have carried him way to long. Now Venter and Kotze can reach their full potential.

[Chilli2]

Sharks: 15 Jordan Hendrikse, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Siya Masuku, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Vincent Tshituka (c), 6 Tinotenda Mavesere, 5 Jason Jenkins, 4 Deon Slabbert, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu
Replacements: 16 Ethan Bester, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Lappies Labuschagne, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Francois Venter, 23 Eduan Keyter

Venue: Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg
Kick-off: 14:30 local (12:30 GMT)
Referee: Christopher Allison
Assistant Referees: Hanru van Rooyen, Dylen November
Live on: SuperSport, Premier Sports, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

[OomStruisbaai]

Sharks and Bulls to win by plenty.

[Chilli2]

Bulls: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 David Kriel, 11 Canan Moodie, 10 Willie le Roux, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Reinhardt Ludwig (captain), 6 Marco van Staden, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Jan Hendrik Wessels, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Ruan Vermaak, 20 Mpilo Gumede, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Keagan Johannes, 23 Sergeal Petersen.

Date: Saturday, March 1
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 17.00; 15.00 GMT
Referee: Griffin Colby (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Morne Ferreira (South Africa); Sean Muller (South Africa)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

[Chilli2]

Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Willie Engelbrecht, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Jonathan Roche.

Date: Saturday, March 1
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 17.00; 15.00 GMT
Referee: Griffin Colby (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Morne Ferreira (South Africa); Sean Muller (South Africa)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

[Sandstorm]

Bulls: 10 Willie le Roux
Stormers: 10 Jurie Matthee

Jeez, that's an interesting match up.....Can't tackle vs Can't convert.

[sturginho]

3 wins on the bounce for Zebre, playoff run incoming!

[Tichtheid]

3 wins on the bounce for Zebre, playoff run incoming!

It's a hell of a run in they have - away to Sharks and Bulls, home to Glasgow and Edinburgh, away to Leinster and finishing up home to Connacht

Edinburgh have a huge point to prove.

[bok_viking]

Bulls: 10 Willie le Roux
Stormers: 10 Jurie Matthee

Jeez, that's an interesting match up.....Can't tackle vs Can't convert.

I hope the Good Willie pitches up today and not the one that played against the Sharks He can be fantastic at FH or the absolutely opposite it seems at the moment. Today is not the day to have an off day in front of a basically packed Loftus. It seems there will be at least 40k in the stadium today. Also prediction of rain so that makes me worry a little with with the Bulls being so full of errors this season, the amount of scoring clear scoring opportunities missed due to basic errors are alarmingly high this year for the bulls, and quite a few of those errors turned into opposition scores instead. Last year the Bulls defensive frailties were hidden by the large amount of tries they scored, but this year they are not scoring those tries due to all the errors, so those defensive problems are very visible now as they still concede about the same amount of points per game as last season. Jake is to stubborn to fire the defense team and get a new team in.

[OomStruisbaai]

Vok Viking, would think the Bulls are 12th on the log.

[Chilli2]

$harks not looking too flash at 19-0 to the Lions.

[bok_viking]

Vok Viking, would think the Bulls are 12th on the log.

Haha we are 2 positions lower this season than last so maybe not that bad. But even so, they have been underwhelming, and their performances in the Champions League just put me in a general negative mood. But there defense is a big concern, i think everyone can see they are very brittle, specially out wide.

[bok_viking]

The Stormers brought the cape weather with them, drizzling rain, would have been nice if it stayed dry.

Edit: now its pouring down

[OomStruisbaai]

The Lions are impressive.

[bok_viking]

The Lions are impressive.

Only seeing the score here in the stadium but that is an impressive score against the sharks

[bok_viking]

The Lions are impressive.

Only seeing the score here in the stadium but that is an impressive score against the sharks

Raining buckets here at Loftus, pitch starting to look like a swimming pool. Game might be postponed for a few hours if it continues like this

[Uncle fester]

Thought Cardiff might keep this interesting but alas.

[OomStruisbaai]

Very wet Loftus.

[OomStruisbaai]

Well that was a sweet win

[OomStruisbaai]

Bulls win SA shield, Stormers 2nd, Sharks 3rd, Lions 4th. Sound right.

[OomStruisbaai]

Hope Ulster get it right

[Uncle fester]

Hope Ulster get it right

They are trash at the moment.

[Sandstorm]

Ulster win with a 78 min try.

[OomStruisbaai]

https://x.com/i/status/1895866670243332601

Fatti skills

[OomStruisbaai]

Ulster win with a 78 min try.

That's great.

[OomStruisbaai]

The URC log is very tight for 10 log points between 4th and 15th.

[fishfoodie]

Very entertaining match so far in Galway, 3 great tries & lots of running rugby.

12 - 10 with 20mins gone

[fishfoodie]

19 - 27 HT

Benetton showing why they should make the playoffs this year, even with the Internationals away, they're playing good, smart, stuff. The Benetton flanker, Izekor, is some unit.

[fishfoodie]

38 - 30 FT

Connacht stop the rot with a win in a really entertaining game, that just epitomized how close the URC is, with it going right down to the gun, & Benetton could have won it, but Connachts subs were better, & that little bit of a home advantage & the crowd behind you got Connacht over the line.

[Slick]

Ospreys win in Glasgow with the last kick of the game after yet another Scottish team can’t catch a kick off and belt it off the pitch

[fishfoodie]

Ospreys win in Glasgow with the last kick of the game after yet another Scottish team can’t catch a kick off and belt it off the pitch

Seems the bounce for Welsh Rugby wasn't just to the Internationals, as Cardiff looked a bit fightier against Leinster too, but if players have brain fade in the last 5 mins that makes life so much easier too

[Slick]

Ospreys win in Glasgow with the last kick of the game after yet another Scottish team can’t catch a kick off and belt it off the pitch

Seems the bounce for Welsh Rugby wasn't just to the Internationals, as Cardiff looked a bit fightier against Leinster too, but if players have brain fade in the last 5 mins that makes life so much easier too

Last 5 seconds. The KO was well into red on the clock

[fishfoodie]

Ospreys win in Glasgow with the last kick of the game after yet another Scottish team can’t catch a kick off and belt it off the pitch

Seems the bounce for Welsh Rugby wasn't just to the Internationals, as Cardiff looked a bit fightier against Leinster too, but if players have brain fade in the last 5 mins that makes life so much easier too

Last 5 seconds. The KO was well into red on the clock

It's not like we haven't seen a load of games lost at the death over the last few years.

I suppose it's always easier standing on the ditch than it is on the field; but it is something you can, & should coach to players