The battle to finish top of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship is set for a thrilling climax.
Just four points separate the leading four teams with just two rounds remaining, with Glasgow Warriors having seen their advantage at the summit cut to one point.
Their six-match winning run was ended by the Vodacom Bulls, who are fourth, while Leinster (second) and Munster (third) claimed big home victories over Ospreys and Connacht respectively.
The race for a play-off place is also braced for a fantastic finale with six points separating fifth from 10th.
DHL Stormers, Ulster, Edinburgh and Benetton enjoyed victories, with Emirates Lions joining Connacht in being just four points adrift of the top eight after beating Cardiff.
Here we take a closer look at the action from Round 16.
Dragons 21-44 DHL Stormers
Stormers took a giant step towards sealing a play-off spot after producing a flying finish at Rodney Parade.
The South Africans were made to work hard for their bonus-point victory as they trailed until the final quarter before blowing Dragons away with three late tries.
Angelo Davids and replacement Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu both scored two tries for the fifth-placed visitors, with Evan Roos also touching down and Manie Libbok converting all five and adding three penalties.
Harri Keddie and Aaron Wainwright went over for Dragons, Angus O’Brien converting one, while Will Reed kicked three penalties.
Dai Flanagan (Dragons)
“Everything we spoke about in the week we executed for 65 minutes.
“We ran at the seams they were leaving, kept the ball and our collision was very good. We turned them with line speed defence.
“But the last 15 minutes we did everything we said we wouldn’t do.
“We were offloading, going backwards, feeding them, and not killing the ball. Unfortunately missed tackles hurt us.”
John Dobson (DHL Stormers)
“I think the top four probably went when we lost to Ospreys. But we will keep fighting.
“We’ve put ourselves in the frame for it now. What we just couldn’t have let happen is not play and not be in the top eight and the play-offs.
“There’s nobody we are really scared of in this competition. There’s nobody we would be scared of going away to or anything like that.
“If we had lost it would have been really traumatic for us. We are in the fight now. If some other results go our way, we could finish in the top four, which will be great.”
Edinburgh 40-14 Zebre Parma
Edinburgh had to fight all the way but in the end they secured a bonus-point victory to give their play-off hopes a considerable boost.
Ewan Ashman went over for two first-half tries for the hosts, who also breached the Zebre defence through WP Nel, Chris Dean, Ben Vellacott and Javan Sebastian. Ben Healy converted three and Cameron Scott two.
Geronimo Prisciantelli and Jacopo Trulla got the Zebre tries, converted by Thomas Dominguez and Giovanni Montemauri.
Sean Everitt (Edinburgh)
“Happy with the five points; frustrated with the second half.
“Credit to Zebre, it’s a team that doesn’t go away.
“We knew we were going to be in a tussle but just glad the guys showed the composure in the last 20 to put it away comfortably.”
Vodacom Bulls 40-34 Glasgow Warriors
Glasgow fell just short with a second-half comeback as the Bulls emerged winners in a battle of title rivals at Loftus Versfeld.
Trailing 37-10 entering the final quarter, the league leaders responded by running in three tries in eight minutes through Kyle Steyn, Sebastian Cancelliere and Duncan Weir to raise hopes of extending their winning run in the URC to seven matches.
But fly-half Chris Smith landed a penalty to put the Bulls out of reach.
Matt Fagerson scored an early try for Glasgow before the Bulls took charge with scores from Akker van der Merwe, Cameron Hanekom, Elrigh Louw and Canan Moodie. Smith booted four conversions and four penalties for the hosts which proved crucial.
Weir’s last-minute penalty earned a second losing bonus-point for the Warriors. He also landed two conversions, with George Horne kicking one conversion and a penalty and Tom Jordan also converting one try.
Jake White (Bulls)
“I’m happy and sad, I know it’s weird. I thought for the first 60 minutes we were outstanding. That was the best rugby we’ve played in a long time. Defensively we had their number.
“I just thought we got naive at the end when we kicked contestables when we had the game won.
“That kept them in the game because we weren’t kicking it out for a line-out because that takes up time.
“We started giving them the ball on the halfway line and that is what they wanted.”
Franco Smith (Glasgow)
“The plan was obviously not to fall behind as we did in the first half.
“We always knew we had a plan to manage the second part of the game, so I’m most proud of the fact we were 24-10 down at half-time and came back and produced the performance we did in the second half.
“We were challenged mentally and physically. The character of the team was tested and I think we passed that test .
“I’m absolutely gutted we lost the game because I think we were good enough to have won but there are a lot of positives and lessons learned which we will take into the next part of the season.”
Scarlets 20-31 Ulster
Ulster ran in four second-half tries to give their play-off hopes a major boost.
Scarlets were on top for much of the first period, leading 6-3 at half-time, but yellow cards to Taine Plumtree and Gareth Davies in the final five minutes of the opening period ultimately caused their downfall.
Stuart McCloskey, Nick Timoney, David McCann and Jacob Stockdale crossed for Ulster, with John Cooney converting all four as well as landing a penalty.
Carwyn Tuipulotu and Tomi Lewis went over for Scarlets, both converted by Sam Costelow who also kicked two penalties.
Dwayne Peel (Scarlets)
“We started the game really well, got a bit of momentum and probably left some points out there in that first quarter.
“We gave them some cheap penalties which then allowed them a bit of momentum and when you are down to 13 men it is always going to be difficult.
“That period really hurt us, Ulster took their points when they were on offer, we weren’t as accurate as we could have been.
“We managed to claw our way back in the game, fought hard, and if we had executed that line-out in the 75th minute, who knows?”
Richie Murphy (Ulster)
“I gave them a bit of a rocket at half-time.
“We made quite hard work of it in the first half, to get over the line three times (and not be awarded tries) makes it very difficult but I thought the lads regathered at half-time and with the two-man advantage we put some pressure on Scarlets and got what we needed in the end.
“The big thing for us is to take this win, regroup and try to go again next week (at home to Leinster).
“We’ll go into it knowing a win will put us in a really good place in relation to getting in the last eight.”
Hollywoodbets Sharks 24-25 Benetton
Benetton took advantage of Murray Koster’s red card to snatch victory which kept alive their hopes of a play-off place.
Replacement fly-half Jacob Umaga crossed with three minutes remaining and then nervelessly converted his own try in a dramatic finish in Durban.
Tries from Aphelele Fassi, Ox Nche and Werner Kok (2), with Siya Masuku converting two of them, had put Sharks 24-18 ahead before Koster was sent off in the 75th minute for a dangerous clear out on Tommaso Menoncello that resulted in head-to-head contact.
Menoncello and Gianmarco Lucchesi crossed for Benetton, with Leonardo Marin converting a try and landing a penalty and Umaga adding the extras on his try having also kicked a penalty.
Munster 47-12 Connacht
Munster are within reach of a home quarter-final following a runaway derby win at Thomond Park.
Connacht had to make 81 tackles during the opening 24 minutes but only trailed 14-7 at half-time thanks to a late Byron Ralston try.
Munster profited from Shamus Hurley-Langton’s yellow card to cross through RG Snyman and Calvin Nash while Alex Nankivell’s sucker-punch 45th-minute effort restored their 14-point lead.
Replacement Conor Murray claimed a 64th-minute bonus point for Graham Rowntree’s side before a second Ralston try was cancelled out by closing scores from Joey Carbery, Tom Ahern, and Shane Daly.
Jack Crowley and Carbery each kicked three conversions, with Jack Carty adding the extras to Ralston’s first try.
Graham Rowntree (Munster)
“Delighted with that. We were a bit frustrated after 20 minutes, we weren’t getting our own way, weren’t taking our chances often enough but we stuck to the plan and we played some scintillating rugby and some big performances.
“They are a well-coached team. I’m delighted with the result. It gives us continued momentum of what we did in South Africa. Six-day turnaround up in Edinburgh, we’ve got good momentum.
“I don’t see us making a load of changes (for the Edinburgh game). We need to keep momentum with the guys that are playing well.”
Pete Wilkins (Connacht)
“It’s hugely disappointing. It hurts any time you lose an inter-pro but when you see a scoreline get away from you like it did, it hurts a lot.
“The overwhelming feeling is you’ve not done yourself justice, you’ve not done your supporters justice, and as I said to the lads, they will be frustrated because we are better than the performance we delivered.
“But at the end of the day, that is the performance we delivered and we got what we deserved.”
Emirates Lions 34-13 Cardiff
The Lions stayed in contention for a play-off place with a bonus-point win in Johannesburg.
Replacement back row Emmanuel Tshituka crossed twice in the final quarter to break the visitors’ resistance after they briefly hinted at forcing their way back into the contest when Corey Domachowski touched down.
Ruan Venter and Quan Horn also crossed for the Lions, with Sanele Nohamba landing two penalties and two conversions. Gianni Lombard also kicked two conversions.
Tinus de Beer added the extras to Domachowski’s try as well as nailing two penalties.
Ivan Van Rooyen (Lions)
“We are still alive. Looking at the other results, you don’t want to drop the ball.
“We probably need about 11 points out of the last three games, so yes there is a lot of work but it’s five points.
“We can be more clinical, we have to sharpen up our tight phases. I think the players will feel the same.
“We saw what Glasgow could do against the Bulls – how they fought back. They are a proud team and they are leading the points table, so we know it’s going to take a huge effort from us. But we are alive and that gives us a chance and hope.”
Matt Sherratt (Cardiff)
“Obviously we’re disappointed with the result. We put a big emphasis all week on starting well because we knew they finished quite strongly so what we didn’t want to do is chase the game around the 65-minutes mark.
“Our start probably wasn’t good enough in terms of we switched off a couple of times, gave them some easy access to our 22 and then switched off on a penalty.
“Lions are the type of team that can go 80 meters which they did so it’s easy to look at the end of the game but I think the start of the game going 14-3 down put us on the back foot.
“It can get out of control over here and I think I’m obviously disappointed at the moment but I need to probably reflect on it as well, it’s a lot of our young players’ first time playing out here with altitude, the travel, the conditions, but without making excuses it does play a part.”
Leinster 61-14 Ospreys
Jordan Larmour scored his first senior hat-trick as the Irish province produced a second-half masterclass at the RDS Arena.
Leinster only led 21-14 at half-time but turned up the power after the break to score six unanswered tries en route to a comprehensive win that lifts them up to second, a point behind Glasgow with two rounds remaining.
Jimmy O’Brien, Ross Molony, Jason Jenkins, Jamie Osborne, Charlie Ngatai and Tommy O’Brien also touched down for the hosts, with Ross Byrne converting five of the nine tries and Ciaran Frawley three.
Ospreys had been level at 14-14 midway through the first half following an Owen Watkin effort, converted by Dan Edwards, and a penalty try but they were brushed aside after that.
Leo Cullen (Leinster)
“We started well but got ourselves into a bit of trouble with some of our own exits, so there’s still parts of that first half we can definitely be better. I thought the intent, particularly with all of the bench guys coming on, was excellent, playing right to the end.
“Hopefully we’ll have a few guys back next week as well from an injury point of view. You need that fresh energy this time of year, we need to rely on the squad to get us to where we want to get to in two competitions.
“It was a positive outing for us in the end, there were parts in the first half that needs to be looked at but if you’d offered us this at the start of the game, we’d have been very happy, yes.”
>>>Story courtesy of www.unitedrugby.com/latest<<<
