While the Vodacom United Rugby Championship takes a break during the Autumn International Series, there are a number of talking points that have emerged after five rounds of action.
It was clear from the outset that the teams who started the competition on tour, faced extremely challenging times, particularly the South African teams due largely to the loss of their Springboks for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship campaign.
It wasn’t only the South African sides either. Leinster, the reigning champs and one of the most consistent teams in the history of the tournament, faced an uphill battle against the DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls in their two week tour to South Africa, losing both games and picking up just one log point from 160 minutes of rugby.
A home loss to Munster was a shock result, although their fellow Irish campaigners have started their tournament with a bang. But once Leinster had their British & Irish Lions internationals back, they finished the first segment of the tournament with two wins, boosting them from the bottom of the log into the top eight.
Munster join the DHL Stormers tied on first place on the log, both sides boasting an impressive 100% record from their five matches – with the Cape side enjoying top spot thanks to a superior points differential.
With one win between them, three of the four Welsh sides are battling this season, Ospreys the only to have registered a victory, ahead of the Dragons and Scarlets who prop up the table.
Cardiff, with four out of five wins and placed fourth, carry the Welsh flag at this stage of the competition, while the Irish sides are dotted around the table in second, fifth, seventh and twelfth place.
The two Italian sides, Zebre in ninth and Benetton in 10th, hold sway in mid table with two wins apiece, while Scotland’s two competitors are third (Glasgow Warriors) and 11th (Edinburgh).
Three of the four South Africans hold positions in the all-important top 8, but like Leinster’s early disastrous form, the competition has yet to pick up the pace.
What has emerged at times was the value of home ground advantage.
After the first three weeks had been completed, the home side had emerged victorious in 90% of the games. Week four turned the tables on that statistic quite dramatically, with away wins accounting for six of the eight fixtures, although the pattern returned in week five, with six out of seven clashes going the way of the home side (with one match drawn).
Which returns an interesting statistic after five rounds: playing at home was definitely an advantage, and home wins accounted for 75% of the results.
We can’t wait for the action to resume in week six, with the Hollywoodbets Sharks back on tour to take on Irish outfit Connacht on Saturday 29 November.
