Western Problems, Lions flying high, Magic numbers

Shaun and Thala look back on the weekend’s rugby, as the URC’s Race for 8 heats up.

There are still 11 teams in the race for playoff spots and all 4 South African teams can still qualify. We looked at Week 15’s results and the remaining fixtures for the contenders.

The Bulls took care of business in Wales against the Dragons with a bonus point win and have fixtures against 3 of the bottom 4 sides remaining putting them in a great position for earning a home knockout game, but will be sweating over the fitness of Canan Moodie this week.

The Stormers shock loss to Connacht comes in a week after the passing away of longtime Stormers manager Chippie Solomon and some interesting quotes in the media by John Dobson. We try look at what is wrong and what can be fixed urgently as they go into a top of the table clash against Glasgow this weekend and have a tough run in.

Speaking of Glasgow, they were spanked by the marauding Lions at Ellis Park who blitzed them in attack and on defence. This places the Lions at 4th and on path to earn their first URC playoff berth, but they have probably the toughest fixtures remaining and will need to get maximum points against Connacht this weekend.

Finally the Sharks loss against Ospreys means their playoff hopes are still hanging by a thread. We discuss the injury Ethan Hooker suffered after scoring and at least they’re doing better this weekend than the Sale Sharks!

Stuck around as we also discuss the Top 14 games that featured on ESPN Africa this weekend, Saracens destroying Sale Sharks, the Black Ferns getting revenge on Canada in the PAC4, the Chiefs beating the Hurricanes with a golden point in Super Rugby Pacific and the Blitzboks winning their first Hong Kong Sevens.