Our Urc Sa Xv: Lions And Stormers Ignite Urc Race With Victories Over Sharks And Bulls

The Lions and Stormers spiced up the home stretch of the United Rugby Championship URC this past weekend with excellent victories over the Sharks and Bulls in Gauteng.

It blew the race to the South African Shield wide open with the two coastal sides still in contention with one weekend of games to go. But, the wins also brought the Lions and Stormers back in the race for the URC knockouts. It created a massive logjam in the middle of the official standings with six rounds remaining.

Durban's Kings Park will host the final local derby of the regular season and following their impressive performance in Johannesburg, the Lions will look to pull off a stunning double win over the Sharks.

Their backline, minus two stars in Quan Horn and Henco van Wyk, ran the coastal side to pieces in the 38-14 victory, with only two late tries that saved their opponents from a blowout. Outside centre Manni Rass, flyhalf Gianni Lombard, and winger Edwill van der Merwe, put in some strong performances with the platform laid by the forwards in tough weather conditions .

Elsewhere in Pretoria, the Stormers took sweet revenge at Loftus Versfeld following the Bulls' first-ever URC victory in Cape Town in January's North vs South derby.