URC championship mentality under scrutiny as Bulls face Stormers

A week is a long time in rugby, and the narrative can change very quickly.

Two months ago, England were the leading team in the northern hemisphere after claiming 11 consecutive wins in 2025, and joint favourites for the Six Nations title, along with current holders France.

Fast forward to the present, where England have sustained three humbling losses, and are in danger of finishing the Six Nations in last place.

Reports from England suggest that coach Steve Borthwick could lose his job if results don’t improve against France this Saturday, and against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina in the coming months.

For South Africa’s leading club sides, the past two months have felt like an eternity.

Back in January, the Stormers were the best team in SA as well as the top-ranked side in the United Rugby Championship (URC) – and had won 10 consecutive matches across all competitions.

The Bulls, by contrast, had spiralled to seven consecutive defeats, and – as is currently the case with England – the future of Johan Ackermann and his coaching staff was in doubt.

When the Stormers edged the Bulls 13-8 in Cape Town on 3 January, the result was described by many as an ugly yet gritty win for the hosts, and a missed opportunity for the visitors.

At that point, nobody could have predicted that the form of the respective teams would flip, and that the Bulls would head into the next derby in Pretoria on Saturday, 14 March, as favourites.

Yet here we are, looking forward to the final and arguably most important local derby of the season, and the Bulls are on a four-game winning streak while the Stormers are stuck in a three-loss rut.

Test match atmosphere

North-south derbies are typically brutal affairs, and for some purists the most recent battle in Cape Town reflected the long and bitter rivalry.

Despite the Stormers’ superior form heading into that January clash, the Bulls pushed the more fancied side close, and the hosts needed a late try by prop Ntuthuko Mchunu to secure the spoils.

This Saturday, previous form may count for little as two teams stacked with Springboks fight tooth and nail for bragging rights and precious log points.

Cobus Reinach and Sacha-Feinberg Mngomezulu were the Boks’ first-choice No 9 and 10 across a monumental 2025 Test season, but have struggled behind a misfiring Stormers pack in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, Bulls scrumhalf Embrose Papier has been in red-hot form, while Bok stalwart Handré Pollard – who returned to SA after a six-year stint abroad at the start of the season – has been more consistent in terms of his game management.

There will be very few neutrals at Loftus Versfeld this Saturday, although Bok boss Rassie Erasmus and his coaches will be watching the contest and assessing the prospective squad members with a view to the Tests against England, Scotland and Wales this July.

A 49-man group attended a national alignment camp in Cape Town last week, and Erasmus would have told the more established players what he is looking for in the lead-up to the international season.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been in the spotlight after a series of errant performances – although as Bok attack coach Tony Brown recently observed, the Stormers have a collective problem at present and the flyhalf may be guilty of trying to solve it all on his own.

“In the Bok environment, we try to get every player to do their job, and that makes it easier for him. Now the Stormers are in a slump [having lost three consecutive matches], and I would say he should use the other players around him more and not try do everything himself,” Brown said.

If the Cape pack delivers a more accurate and powerful display his weekend, Feinberg-Mngomezulu should have the platform to produced a more balanced and clinical performance. Erasmus and Brown will want to see how the Stormers pivot harnesses the strengths of a potent midfield and back-three unit.

On the other side of the fence, Pollard may feel that he has a point to prove against the younger flyhalf, having slipped down the national pecking order in recent seasons.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu started at No 10 in most of the big Tests last year, while Manie Libbok – who recently swapped the Stormers for the Hanazono Kintetsu Liners in Japan – was backed to play an important finishing role from the bench.

Goal kicking has been a big talking point across the domestic season. While Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Pollard have proven themselves in this department in previous years, they have missed important kicks from the tee in recent months.

This Saturday, one kick could be the difference between winning and losing, and the difference between taking the high or low road to the playoffs.

In the national context, both men will be out to impress the Bok coaches with a game management and goal-kicking display that swings the game in their team’s favour.

Race to the playoffs

Having led the URC table in January, the Stormers have dropped to fifth place in the wake of three consecutive losses.

While it may seem dramatic to suggest they are in danger of missing the playoffs altogether with seven matches still to play, it’s worth noting that only seven points separate the Cape side and the ninth-placed Ospreys, who are outside the qualification zone at this stage.

At the very least, the Stormers are in danger of finishing outside the top four, and missing out on the opportunity to host a quarterfinal. That alone would amount to a missed opportunity, given how well they played at the start of the competition.

Another win against the Bulls, however, would set John Dobson’s charges back on course for a home quarterfinal, and possibly even a home semifinal.

Following the trip to Pretoria, the Stormers will play four of their last six matches at home – although they will have to account for a journey to Europe for the Champions Cup playoffs during this period.

While the Bulls have done well to revive their URC campaign in recent weeks, they remain in eighth place, and have more work to do if they’re going to clinch a quarterfinal spot.

They may need other results to go their way in the latter stages of the competition, but if they continue to trend upwards, they may sneak into the top four before the end of the league phase.

At this stage, only nine log points separate fourth-placed Munster and the eighth-placed Bulls.

After the north-south derby, the Bulls will play four of their last six league matches at home. The month of April may prove a tricky period for Ackermann’s side, as they will travel to Europe for the Champions Cup playoffs and play two matches in Wales, before returning home.

With that in mind, they will need to bank as many log points as they can when playing the Stormers, Cardiff and Munster in Pretoria over the next three weeks, which will be no easy feat, given that all three are among the top-five teams in the URC at present. DM