CARDIFF STUN CELL C SHARKS IN HISTORIC DURBAN VICTORY

Cardiff became the first Welsh team to win a Vodacom United Rugby Championship matchin South Africa as they recorded a stunning 35-0 bonus point victory over theCell C Sharks in Durban.

Going into the game, there had been 11 successive defeatsfor Wales’ four sides out in the Rainbow Nation in the expanded 16-teamtournament. But Dai Young’s men proceeded to make history with acomprehensive triumph at Hollywood Bets Kings Park Stadium where their tactical kicking gamein the wet conditions and breakdown work over the ball reaped rich reward.

There were two touchdowns from director of rugby Young’sson, flanker Thomas Young, who also earned a penalty try with a superb kick andchase in a Man of the Match display, while full-back Ben Thomas went over tosecure the maximum points

Earlier on Sunday there were three tries apiece inJohannesburg, but it was the boot of 21-point Jaden Hendrikse that proveddecisive in the Emirates Lions’ 33-25 victory over the Dragons.

Fly-half Hendrikse added a touchdown to his six successfulshots at goal, while wing Sio Tompkinson, hooker James Benjamin and scrum-halfChe Hope went over for the visitors, who will rue a couple of missed chancesand failing to fully capitalise on two yellow cards for their opponents. 

However, Dai Flanagan’s team did spend much of the game on the back foot,having to do a lot of defending in the face of the Lions’ relentless carrying. 

All four Welsh sides are currently on tour in South Africaand it was Scarlets and Ospreys who played in the opening fixtures of the roundon Friday and Saturday.

It was the Scarlets who kicked things off against the leaguechampions in Cape Town, going down to a 36-19 defeat at the hands of the DHLStormers, despite two tries from in-form winger Ryan Conbeer.

The home side crossed five times to claim a bonus pointvictory that puts them fourth in the table, with centre Dan du Plessis amongthe men to touch down amid a Man of the Match display.

Scarlets coach Dwayne Peel commented: “I am disappointed, tobe honest, after coming here off a good block of training. At times, we werereally good and we scored some lovely tries, but it needs to be more of arounded performance.

“Our skill execution let us down at crucial moments. We hadopportunities to score tries and we didn’t do that. We need to put sides awaywhen we get to those moments because it is hurting us not doing that. We alsomade errors that gave them the ball and they executed every time in the firsthalf.”

The Ospreys were beaten 43-26 by the Vodacom Bulls inPretoria, but did have the consolation of a four-try bonus point, with fly-halfJack Walsh, prop Rhys Henry and centres Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler and KieranWilliams crossing.

There were seven tries in all from the hosts who were 31-14 upat the break, with winger David Kriel claiming a brace as they moved up tothird spot. Giving his thoughts, Ospreys captain Rhys Webb said: “We knew itwas going to be a massive test coming here to play a strong side like theBulls. We had an inexperienced team, but we are not using that as an excuse.All I asked them to bring is their energy and physicality and, to be fair, theydid that for large periods of the game.

“It’s our own mistakes that let the Bulls score simpletries. We know when we play big teams like this we need to be on the money forthe 80 minutes. We are pretty happy with the bonus point try, but we need to beon the money all the time.”

BEIRNE’S LANDMARK PERFORMANCE

Ireland star Tadhg Beirne marked his 50th appearance forMunster with a Player of the Match display as they beat Connacht 24-17 in atitanic tussle at Limerick’s Thomond Park.

It was all square 10-10 at the interval, but GrahamRowntree’s side got the job done in the second half, adding a bonus pointthanks to finishing up with four tries.

This was their first league win over Irish opposition in sixattempts and has seen them take big strides up the table, having started thegame down in 14th place.

Second row Beirne, who was named in the World Rugby Men’s15s Team of the Year last week, joined the likes of Peter O’Mahony, JoeyCarbery and Craig Casey in returning to URC action after being away oninternational duty.

“We watched the boys put in a massive performance againstSouth Africa A a couple of weeks ago, so we were chomping at the bit to getback in here and be involved in it,” he said. “With the position we were in, weneeded all hands on deck to help the team get back to winning ways in theleague because we didn’t want to be where we were. Thankfully we have donethat. Connacht always make it a dog fight. It’s always a tight game and it wasno different this time.”

HENDERSON’S HAPPY RETURN

Another Irish international lock, Iain Henderson, put thefrustrations of the past few months behind him as he made his first appearanceof the season and shared in Ulster’s 36-15 victory over Zebre.

Henderson hadn’t played since damaging his knee duringtraining on Ireland’s summer trip to New Zealand, an injury that saw him headhome before the first tour match and consigned to a lengthy lay-off.

But now’s he back and made an immediate impact on coming onas a replacement against Zebre, winning a lineout to set up one of his team’ssix tries at the Kingspan Stadium.

Speaking about his spell out of the game, he said: “We havehad a plan between me, the coaches and physios and stuck to the plan.Frustrating as that has been at times, we’ve got here now, so I can put allthose worries to bed.”

Next up for second-placed Ulster is a top-of-the-table Vodacom URC clash with leaders Leinster at the RDS. “Down the road to Dublin, that’s as big as any game of theseason and then we’ve got two big back-to-back European games after that, sowe’ve got our work cut out definitely,” said Henderson.

SCOTTISH WOE

It was a bad weekend for the two Scottish sides. Edinburghwere beaten 24-17 by Benetton out in Treviso, even though the Italians hadinternational back Matteo Minozzi red carded for dangerous play after just tenminutes on his debut following a move from Wasps.

Two South Africans were central figures in the contest.There was a try double from the visitors’ full-back Henry Immelman, but it washis countryman, scrum-half Dewaldt Duvenage, who was named Player of the Matchafter setting up a couple of tries, including the clincher in a bonus pointwin.

As for Glasgow Warriors, they were thumped 40-5 bytable-topping Leinster who made it eight wins out of eight in the league, withwinger Rob Russell crossing for a hat-trick of tries. All eyes will now be onthe RDS next Saturday evening as first plays second, with Leinster entertainingUlster.