Following another enthralling weekend of United Rugby Championship (URC) action, here is the Planet Rugby Team of the Week for Round Eight.
The Stormers lead the way after their fine triumph over the Lions while the Bulls are also well represented thanks to their scrummaging masterclass, despite going down to the Sharks.
Elsewhere, there is a good mix of players in what was a round full of tight games with individuals impressing in both victory and defeat.
URC Team of the Week
15 Warrick Gelant (Stormers): The 10-times capped Springboks speedster may be inconsistent but he’s an excitement machine when on his game, as he was against the Lions, making 62 metres and four line breaks with ball in hand. Gelant just edges out the Sharks’ Aphelele Fassi, who was once again excellent for the Durban outfit.
14 Mack Hansen (Connacht): Gelant was nearly joined by Stormers team-mate Suleiman Hartzenberg, but the flyer was usurped by the Ireland wing. Hansen caused controversy after the match with his comments on the officiating, but he was also a talking point on it as he proved to be a significant threat to Leinster’s rearguard throughout.
13 Tom Farrell (Munster): Probably the performance of the round, the centre was pretty much the sole reason the Limerick outfit claimed a win at Kingspan Stadium. Farrell touched down three times, set up their other try for Shane Daly, ran for 140 metres and made five line breaks – all from centre. A truly stunning effort and probably the best individual display you will see this season. Ethan Hooker played very well for the Sharks but it was not in the same class as Farrell.
Settling in nicely
12 Jordie Barrett (Leinster): Was there any doubt he would make a significant contribution to the Dublin-based outfit? Perhaps not, but the ease with which Barrett has settled into life at Leinster has been mightily impressive. Sione Tuipulotu is unfortunate to miss out after a fine display for Glasgow Warriors
11 Ellis Mee (Scarlets): A unit at 6ft 4in but the wing can also shift and showed that when he finished off a fine move from a well-worked lineout. Mee carried well throughout and made the most metres in the clash with regional rivals the Ospreys. He is a real talent at 21 and could be one to watch going forward.
10 Tom Jordan (Glasgow Warriors): Once again Franco Smith’s men were superb to watch in their dominant 1872 Cup victory over Edinburgh and it is the fly-half who knits it all together. Jordan is in superb form at the moment and dictated proceedings at Hampden Park on Saturday, with the highlight a nice assist for Huw Jones’ try.
9 Embrose Papier (Bulls): Despite the loss, the scrum-half was absolutely magnificent, particularly in the first half, as he saw off the threat of the Lions’ Morne van den Berg. The improvement in his game has been excellent, with his box-kicking and service from the base much-improved. That duly allows him to show off his skills, which was displayed by his assist for Cobus Wiese.
8 Marcel Theunissen (Stormers): A tough call at number eight as Gavin Coombes and David McCann had a fine battle in Munster’s clash against Ulster, but Theunissen was simply exceptional in attack in Cape Town. He ran for over 100 metres from 16 carries as the Stormers defeated the Lions on Saturday.
‘Monumental shift’
7 Jac Morgan (Ospreys): Played at blindside but we simply had to get him in the team so we shifted him across to openside. Morgan appears to be getting back to his best and was named player of the match in their victory over the Scarlets after a monumental shift on both sides of the ball. He was effective in attack, making 33 metres with ball in hand, but he also did plenty on defence, spoiling opposition ruck ball and winning four turnovers.
6 Ben-Jason Dixon (Stormers): A workhorse in defence while he was also effective in attack when he got his hands on the ball, it was a typical all-action display from the Springboks blindside. Dixon was the top tackler in the game and made 29 metres from four carries as the Stormers sealed their third victory of the season.
5 James Fender (Ospreys): At 6ft 7in, the 23-year-old is unsurprisingly a useful lineout operator and, as a result, he ruled in the air at the weekend, but Fender also put himself about in other areas in what was a superb shift from the young second-row.
4 Max Douglas (Scarlets): Another lock from that clash in Swansea to impress as he was absolutely heroic in defence, making 24 of his 25 tackles and winning a breakdown turnover as the Ospreys dominated possession and territory. Douglas was also a key target in the lineout when the Scarlets did have a chance to get their hands on the ball.
3 Wilco Louw (Bulls): Jake White’s men may have succumbed to the Sharks but it wasn’t due to their phenomenal props, who dominated a couple of fellow Springboks. For Louw, it wasn’t just any South African international either, it was the brilliant Ox Nche, who has been the leading scrummager in the world over the past two years. Louw took him to the cleaners as the Bulls won penalty after penalty.
2 Joseph Dweba (Stormers): Glasgow’s Johnny Matthews continued his fine scoring form with two tries but Dweba matched him on that front by also going over twice himself. The Boks front-rower also added plenty elsewhere, both in attack and defence, to continue his fine form this season.
1 Gerhard Steenekamp (Bulls): See Louw as the loosehead ripped into his opposition tighthead to establish a significant platform for his side. The Sharks somehow managed to disprove the ‘no scrum, no win’ adage, but that is not the fault of the Bulls props, who did their job superbly. Unfortunately for Steenekamp and the aforementioned Louw and Papier, they were let down by their team-mates.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/urc-team-of-the-week-jordie-barrett-mightily-impressive-on-second-start-while-ox-nche-on-the-receiving-end-of-scrummaging-masterclass
