Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Watch: Duhan van der Merwe’s wonder try caps weekend of quality URC rugby

Duhan van der Merwe scored a stunning 70m try for Edinburgh at Murrayfield

South African-born Scottish winger Duhan van der Merwe’s wonder try capped a weekend of exceptional rugby, filled with shocks, as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship celebrated the new year in style.

ADVERTISEMENT

Van der Merwe’s 80 metre sprint, courtesy of fellow Scottish winger Darcy Graham’s turnover in his own 22, was the stuff of Edinburgh dreams, and earned him the man of the match award, giving his coach Sean Everitt something to smile about.

But while Edinburgh won the battle, Franco Smith’s Glasgow Warriors won the war as their victory in the opening leg meant that they would keep the 1872 Cup and bragging rights for another year.

Van der Merwe’s score was just one of a number of highlights in the New Year’s round of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, where the DHL Stormers celebrated two years unbeaten against fellow SA franchises, Ulster caused the shock of the championship by doing the double over table-toppers Leinster and Benetton rose to second on the URC table to continue one of their most-amazing seasons thus far.

Van der Merwe was happy to take the plaudits in the 19-14 win, but lamented the fact that his side couldn’t overturn the scoreline to get the prized 1872 Cup back in the Scottish capital.

The win did take Edinburgh to fifth on the log, with Glasgow firmly in third spot in a very congested top eight.

ADVERTISEMENT

“It’s a pretty tough one to take,” Van der Merwe said.

“The boys will be hurting after that one, we got into their 22 quite a lot but we couldn’t get away with points. Towards the end we just had to take the three points.

“The league points mean a lot to us and are more important. We left a lot of opportunities out there.

“We probably left 15 or 20 points out there. We will go back and look at it and work hard on it.”

United Rugby Championship

P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
Leinster
9
7
2
0
34
2
Benetton
9
7
1
1
32
3
Glasgow
9
6
3
0
31
4
Ulster
9
6
3
0
28
5
Edinburgh
9
6
3
0
26
6
Bulls
8
5
3
0
26
7
Stormers
9
5
4
0
26
8
Ospreys
9
5
4
0
25
9
Connacht
9
5
4
0
24
10
Munster
9
4
4
1
24
11
Cardiff Rugby
9
3
5
1
21
12
Lions
7
3
4
0
19
13
Scarlets
9
2
7
0
12
14
Zebre
9
1
7
1
12
15
Dragons RFC
9
2
7
0
10
16
Sharks
8
1
7
0
8
ADVERTISEMENT

Ulster propped up their credentials as genuine contenders as they went to the RDS Stadium and walked away with a one-point win, as Leinster slumped to their first defeat there since being beaten by the Bulls back in the semifinal two years ago.

Ulster coach Dan McFarland was naturally glowing after his side scored three tries and provided a kicking masterclass off Billy Burns at 10.

“It (playing Leinster at the RDS) is the best challenge in the URC and to come away with a victory and the manner of it is very pleasing,” McFarland said.

“That was probably quite exciting, gutsy. To me that was a really gutsy performance from us interspersed with three brilliant tries.

“We took our points when we needed to take them. The rest of it was clench your teeth, get down in the trenches and do the work that you have to do. That’s still a victory isn’t it.”

Ulster moved up to fourth with the win and have the satisfaction of having done a rare double over the Dublin juggernaut who still sit at the top of the standings despite the loss.

Defending champions Munster added more named to an already long injury list as they were booted off the park by former Munsterman JJ Hanrahan at the Sportsground to compound Graham Rowntree’s worries.

First-half injuries for Oli Jager and Jack O’Donoghue added to Munster’s mid-season woes as Hanrahan, who played more than 130 games for Munster earlier in his career, slotted five penalties and a conversion to cap a solid 22-9 win for Connacht.

Benetton’s expected domination of the Italian derbies, with another solid win over Zebre, gave them the momentum to go into second spot but they may find it tough in the second half of the season.

The New Year’s day win by Dragons over Scarlets lifted them off the bottom of the log, with that tag now firmly with the Hollywoodbets Sharks, who lost at the Stormers in their derby. Ospreys beat Cardiff in the other derby of the weekend 27-21 to give themselves a new year boost.

The derby between the Vodacom Bulls and Emirates Lions was shifted to January 26 as both sides took a welcome rest over the new year period.

Results

Saturday

Benetton 36 Zebre Parma 14

Edinburgh 19 Glasgow Warriors 14

DHL Stormers 16 Hollywoodbets Sharks 15

Monday

Connacht 22 Munster 9

Ospreys 27 Cardiff 21

Dragons 13 Scarlets 12

Leinster 21 Ulster 22

Related

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors Scott Robertson responds about handling errors
Search