Sharks sucker punch Bulls in Loftus burglary

Rugby
  • 6 Days Ago 17 February 2025
The Hollywoodbets Sharks pulled off one of the best burglaries in Vodacom United Rugby Championship history, shattering the Vodacom Bulls “Fortress Loftus tag” for an impressive 29-19 victory on Saturday.

The Sharks have reason to celebrate as they survived three yellow cards and countless Bulls attacking chances to counter-punch when it mattered the most and left the home side punch-drunk.

Against the background of endless tiresome music that only detracted from the game, the Sharks held their nerve after dominating the first half without reward, only to watch the Bulls come back at them strongly.

Still, despite dominating the middle part of the game, the home side forgot how to score, fluffing chances with handling errors, one-off runners that were easily picked off by the Sharks defence and some terrible defending under the high ball.

Much like their defeat at home against Northampton Saints that effectively ended their Investec Champions Cup campaign, the Bulls were all bluster but could not back up an immense scrum and incredible maul with anything else.

Their backline looked impotent and incapable of figuring out how to beat defenders.

For most of the second half, that was the Sharks superpower – fewer chances, but making almost all of them count.



Weekend of upsets in URC derbies

Saturday’s thrilling South African derby round in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship delivered victories for the lower ranked teams on the log with the Emirates Lions holding out the DHL Stormers in Johannesburg, before the Sharks shocked the Bulls in Pretoria.

These victories saw the teams from Johannesburg and Durban make up valuable ground on the standings and blew the race to the SA Shield wide open.

The Lions delivered a quality first-half performance and built up a 24-6 halftime lead against the Stormers at Emirates Airline Park, which paved the way for a rewarding 30-23 victory.

Despite losing, the Bulls remain in third place on the table with 35 points – 17 behind log-leaders Leinster and trailing the second-placed Glasgow Warriors by two points.

The 12th placed Lions, on 23 points after nine matches, reduced their deficit against the 10th placed Stormers to only one point.



Other results Saturday

Connacht 24-19 Cardiff

Munster 29-8 Llanelli Scarlets

Benetton Rugby 34-19 Ulster

– SuperSport.com/rugby