Following another enthralling weekend of United Rugby Championship (URC) action, here is the Planet Rugby Team of the Week for Round 11.
The Sharks and Lions lead the way after impressive derby victories over the Bulls and Stormers respectively, while Glasgow Warriors, Benetton and Zebre Parma are also rewarded for their excellent results.
URC Team of the Week
15 Quan Horn (Lions): Outstanding first half performance from the flying full-back as the Johannesburg outfit ripped the Stormers to shreds. Horn was absolutely magnificent with his counter-attacking threat and skills in the wider channels, setting up quick fire tries for Morne van den Berg and Henco van Wyk. Had less influence after the break with ball in hand but he did more than enough to see off the threat of Zebre Parma’s Geronimo Prisciantelli.
14 Sebastian Cancelliere (Glasgow Warriors): The Argentinian speedster to continues to impress for the Scottish side as he regularly broke through a flimsy Dragons rearguard on Sunday. Benetton’s Ignacio Mendy was also very good at the weekend, but Cancelliere was exceptional, making five line breaks, running for over 150 metres and scoring and assisting a try apiece.
13 Henco van Wyk (Lions): Like his full-back team-mate, the Springboks hopeful was superb with ball in hand in the first half and was rewarded with that Horn-inspired try, but it was his defence which shone after the break. Van Wyk was exceptional at times in the second period as the Lions withstood a Stormers onslaught. The centre has yet to make his Test debut and Rassie Erasmus has some excellent options in that 13 channel, but the head coach must surely be considering the supremely talented back.
12 Lukhanyo Am (Sharks): Once the toast of the Springboks supporters, injury has rather hampered the 31-year-old over recent campaigns, but he impressed at inside centre against the Bulls. As well as his defence, which had to top-drawer given the dominance the Bulls had, there were also some classy touches in attack as he saw off the threat of Zebre’s Damiano Mazza.
Consistent excellence
11 Ethan Hooker (Sharks): Consistently excellent for the Durban outfit, he could probably be in this side most weeks quite frankly. Hooker once again produced an elite performance on both sides of the ball as the wing made several indents in attack and had some key interventions in defence. His influence only grew as the Sharks moved away late on in Pretoria with a couple of big chases and hits standing out.
10 Giacomo Da Re (Zebre Parma): There were some good displays at fly-half this week, including from Hooker’s backline team-mate Siya Masuku, while Duncan Weir ran the game superbly for Glasgow, but Da Re stepped up for Zebre in their momentous victory over Edinburgh. The playmaker was creative when his team had possession and also kicked well in the huge 22-17 success.
9 Morne van den Berg (Lions): Another difficult choice with George Horne (Glasgow Warriors) and Ben Murphy (Connacht) starring for their respective sides, but Van den Berg takes the spot. While he has struggled to make the step up to Test rugby, there is no doubting his class at URC level. The Lions scrum-half gave superb service in the first half and took some superb support lines to link play before kicking well in the second period to take the pressure off in key moments.
8 Gavin Coombes (Munster): Like Horne, his Warriors team-mate Jack Mann is perhaps unfortunate to miss out, but Coombes deserves his selection after a timely effort. The number eight got over for two tries for the Irish province in their victory over the Scarlets, with his power at close quarters vital on Saturday. He has since been called up to the Ireland squad due to the injury concern over Caelan Doris, which is just reward for his continued excellence at Munster.
7 Tino Mavesere (Sharks): Siya Kolisi may currently be unavailable but Mavesere very much stepped up in his absence. The relative unknown put in a huge try-scoring display to help the Sharks to a massive win over the Bulls. He was incredible in defence, making a match-high 20 tackles, and also ran for the most metres thanks to that breakaway score. Henco Venter (Glasgow Warriors) and Shamus Hurley-Langton (Connacht) were the next best.
6 Harri Deaves (Ospreys): A player who has not always been first choice at the region but someone who Warren Gatland perhaps could have looked at. Deaves just screams Test-match animal and his performance against Leinster in defeat was absolutely incredible. Surely a Wales call-up will soon be forthcoming after the back-rower excelled on both sides of the ball for the Ospreys on Friday, seeing off the threat of Benetton’s Alessandro Izekor.
Set-piece master
5 Eli Snyman (Benetton): As will be mentioned plenty of times from now on, the Bulls’ front five were superb and very much gave their team opportunities to easily win the game with the Sharks. Youngster JF van Heerden was one of those to stand up and show his ability, but he has been usurped by Snyman. He was his team’s set-piece master, claiming 15 lineouts, while the lock was also his side’s joint-top tackler.
4 Matteo Canali (Zebre): Another second-row from an Italian team that put in a ridiculous shift as Canali absolutely put his body in the line. It is perhaps tough on the Bulls’ Ruan Vermaak, but the Zebre player made a game-high 24 tackles in a staggering defensive effort and also did his bit in the set-piece.
3 Wilco Louw (Bulls): It was another good day at the office for France prop Rabah Slimani, who scrummaged superbly and put the Ospreys props under immense pressure, but Louw was once again exceptional for the Pretoria outfit. He is currently in career-best form, especially in the set-piece, and that Bulls front-row regularly marched forwards. Unfortunately for him, however, his backline team-mates were abysmal and failed to capitalise on the territory and he his forward colleagues earned.
2 Johnny Matthews (Glasgow Warriors): Similar to Louw, Johan Grobbelaar was brilliant for the Bulls, finishing with two tries and doing his best to get a positive result for his side, but we just had to go with Matthews. It seems bizarre that the hooker continues to be overlooked by Gregor Townsend as the 31-year-old maintained his try-scoring record by going over once. He was also very solid in the set-piece and ran for 57 metres, which is pretty staggering for a front-rower
1 Thomas Gallo (Benetton): Both the Argentinian prop and his replacement Italy international, Mirco Spagnolo, were excellent but we’ve gone for Gallo after his scrummaging demolition job on Ulster’s Tom O’Toole. Jan-Hendrik Wessels also shone in the Bulls’ loss but he misses out to Benetton’s starting loosehead.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/urc-team-of-the-week-munster-star-produces-timely-display-amid-caelan-doris-setback-as-siya-kolisi-stand-in-steps-up-with-huge-effort
