Despite poor URC start, South Africa’s finest won’t take too long to find their feet

The URC table isn’t pretty for South Africa's Bulls, Lions, Sharks, and Stormers, but there is a lot of rugby to come and more improvement to be made

Bulls players warming up on a stormy evening in Galway for the URC clash with Connacht. The table isn’t pretty for SA teams, but there is a lot of rugby to come and more improvement to be made. Picture: Tim Clayton

Although they knew that the United Rugby Championship (URC) was going to test them in different ways, South Africa’s four representatives in the competition were left without any doubt about the challenge they will face after the opening month of competition.

The Bulls, Lions, Sharks, and Stormers played 16 matches in the first month of the URC and returned four wins and a draw. At a glance this appears to be a poor return, and it was underwhelming, but it’s far from a crisis.