Latest news with #AngusO'Brien
The Citizen
19-05-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
'Job done ... but Bulls will be judged in the knockouts' — Jake White
The Bulls finished second, Sharks third and Stormers fifth on the log, as they all comfortably made the URC knockouts. Bulls wing Sergeal Petersen dives over to score as Dragons Angus O'Brien tries to stop him during their URC pool encounter at Loftus Versfeld over the past weekend. Picture: Gordon Arons/Gallo Images The Bulls, Sharks and Stormers face tricky quarterfinal encounters after the United Rugby Championship (URC) pool phase came to an entertaining conclusion over the past weekend. The Bulls finished second on the log after a thumping 55-15 win over Dragons and thus host Scottish side Edinburgh, while the Sharks ground out a 12-3 win over Scarlets to move up to third and will host Irish giants Munster in their quarterfinal. The Stormers cruised to a 34-24 win over Cardiff which secured them fifth place, and lined them up with a repeat quarterfinal match-up with defending champions, Glasgow Warriors, in Scotland, while the other last eight tie sees favourites Leinster host Scarlets. Fantastic pool campaign For the Bulls they will be ecstatic after a fantastic pool campaign saw them finish comfortably second, six points ahead of the Sharks and eight points behind log leaders Leinster. They come up against Edinburgh, who they beat 22-16 at Loftus in their first game of the season, in what should be an entertaining clash. The Scottish side clawed their way into the playoffs with bonus point wins in their last two games, including a 47-17 win over Benetton this past weekend which lifted them from 10th to seventh. After the Dragons win Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White acknowledged their impressive season to date, but admitted that they will only be judged on their next three games. 'That's the highest amount of points and most wins that we have had in a URC season. There are a lot of positives for us. Tries are up there, defensively we're much better than we have been for the last four years. So job done,' said White. 'First thing I have always said is we need to get into the playoffs and we've done that. We've finished second which means we are in a very fortunate position (heading into the knockouts). But I've said it before, you get judged on the next three games. 'That's when you want to be at your best. The last three games of every competition are the ones you want to win. Quarterfinal, semifinal and final. World Cups, Junior World Cups, URC, Super Rugby, that's when you need to bring out your best.' Sharks improvement The Sharks will need to improve if they want to ensure a place in the semis, after they were pushed hard by Scarlets in a scrappy game of no tries, before they eked out a win, with a penalty after the hooter sealing the result. Although they have managed to consistently win this season, with 13 out of 18 in the pool phase, many of them have been close and they face a tough opponent in Munster who have enjoyed good results in SA in the competition. But one of the Sharks best results of the season was their 41-24 win over the Irish side in October last year, and they will hope for a similar performance against them in the knockouts. The Stormers face the toughest challenge with a repeat of last year's quarterfinal, where they were beaten 27-10 by the Scottish side, on their way to the title. But where they could get a leg up is on current form, as they head into the playoffs with plenty of momentum thanks to four straight wins, while Glasgow will have to pick themselves up after suffering three straight defeats to end their pool phase. URC quarterfinals Friday May 30 Glasgow Warriors v Stormers at the Scotstoun Stadium – Kick-off 8:35pm Saturday May 31 Bulls v Edinburgh at Loftus Versfeld – Kick-off 1:30pm Leinster v Scarlets at the Aviva Stadium – Kick-off 4pm Sharks v Munster at Kings Park – Kick-off 6:30pm
South Wales Argus
17-05-2025
- Sport
- South Wales Argus
Dragons set URC record low after losing to nine-try Bulls
The Rodney Parade club finished a horrendous United Rugby Championship campaign with a very predictable 55-15 defeat to the Bulls in Pretoria. Their position at the bottom of the table had long been cemented but they failed to earn a bonus that means they share the joint worst tally of nine points with Zebre from 2021/22. A small consolation is that the Italians had a points difference of -369 to their -302. The Bulls head into the play-offs as second seeds after a nine-try destruction of the Dragons, who had a 22-man absentee list and just had no answer to their power. Filo Tiatia's men did end the game hunting a bonus after second-half tries by wing Huw Anderson, a cracker by scrum-half Rhodri Williams and a driving lineout score for hooker Lewis Morgan, who was playing on permit from Carmarthen Quins. They did go over a fourth time only for a forward pass to deny wing Ashton Hewitt a farewell score. ATTACK: Angus O'Brien looks for a way through for the Dragons at the Bulls (Image: Gordon Arons/Huw Evans Agency) It was inevitable that the Dragons would go down to a 17th straight defeat to end what has been a miserable season, it was just about how much resistance they could show. How long could they make the Bulls wait for their four-try bonus? Could they cross four times themselves to at least sign off with a consolation point? Answers: the 40th minute and nope (just). The Bulls stretched the Dragons from the off with a more expansive approach than the Stormers had adopted seven days earlier and it took a strong last-man tackle by full-back Angus O'Brien to deny number eight Cameron Hanekom in the corner after three minutes. However, the first try came in the fifth minute on the other flank when centre David Kriel finished off after neat handling set wing Sebastian de Klerk free. The second came in the eighth minute after a penalty was kicked to the 22 and a couple of hard carries were followed by lock Cobus Wiese cantering over after the defence was exposed on the fold, Keagan Johannes converting for 12-0. The Dragons then suffered yet another huge blow in the 17th minute when loosehead Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths – himself a novice who had been thrown in at the deep end, and done pretty well, due to injuries - was forced off with a wrist problem. That led to the very early introduction of Jamie Hughes, a prop brought in on permit after playing in Llandovery's Super Rygbi Cymru semi-final loss at Ebbw Vale seven days earlier. It was, as expected, one-way traffic and the Bulls went over again with 22 minutes on the clock after Dragons indiscipline allowed the hosts to probe in the 'red zone' and eventually put de Klerk over, the conversion added from out wide. The visitors finally threatened in the 28th minute when they cut the Bulls open with a strike move from a scrum, O'Brien racing into the 22 with the South Africans forced into desperate scrambling defence. A knock-on gave the Dragons another attacking opportunity from a five-metre scrum, only for tighthead Chris Coleman to be penalised. HIT: The Dragons have the Bulls' Willie le Roux wrapped up (Image: Gordon Arons/Huw Evans Agency) It was a stop-start game but the Bulls had a chance to get their four-try bonus with the last play of the half when a penalty was booted to five metres out. The drive came on and hooker Akker van der Merwe grounded the ball, Johannes adding his third conversion to make it 26-0. A superb defensive read and hit by fly-half Lloyd Evans gave the Dragons the chance to strike first after the restart, with O'Brien pumping the penalty five metres out. Another penalty led to a quick tap, hard carry by hooker Brodie Coghlan and then wonderful wide pass by scrum-half Rhodri Williams to the left wing for Anderson to go over to make it 26-5. A second followed in the 49th minute and it was a cracker, Williams spotting a gap to snipe at a ruck, kick over the last man and then win the race with Springboks legend Willie le Roux. O'Brien made a mess of a second conversion and it remained 26-10 with half an hour to go. Alas, Wales number eight Aaron Wainwright dropped the restart, Coghlan picked it up from an offside position, the Bulls went to the corner and van der Merwe peeled off for a mismatch with half-backs Williams and Evans to make it 31-10. A chip over the top nearly created a sixth after some dithering in the backfield but thankfully Canan Moodie failed to gather. The Bulls didn't have to wait long for it though. A scrum earned a penalty and they played with advantage for wing Sergeal Petersen to go over after some weak defence. The conversion made it 38-10 approaching the hour. Petersen was over again with 61 on the clock after the power game was followed by a long pass to the left wing – 43-10. It was going horribly wrong and a wonderful try followed straight from the restart; snipe by Bernard van der Linde, three cracking offloads and a diving finish by Marcell Coetzee. The conversion by Johannes brought up the half century. Legs were weary, lungs were burning and Devon Williams coasted over for another in the 69th minute. Yet the next score was from Carmarthen hooker Lewis Morgan, who hit his man at a line-out almost immediately after coming on and was at the bottom of a drive that featured backs. That allowed the Dragons to hunt an unlikely bonus but they were denied a fourth try when a forward pass by Anderson denied leaving winger Ashton Hewitt a final try for his hometown club. Sadly, the TMO and referee Andrew Brace were unable to show some charity at the end of a nightmare season. Bulls scorers: tries – Kriel, Wiese, de Klerk, van der Merwe (2), Petersen (2), Coetzee, D Williams; conversions – Johannes (5). Dragons: O'Brien (E Rosser 69); Rees-Weldon (Hewitt 60), Westwood, Owen, Anderson; L Evans, R Williams (Hope 60); Kelleher-Griffiths (Hughes 16), Coghlan (Morgan 73), Coleman (Latu 69), J Davies (Langton-Cryer 46), Carter, Woodman, Lewis-Hughes (Minto 73), Wainwright. Scorers: tries – Anderson, R Williams, Morgan, Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland).
BBC News
15-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Dragons lock Carter back to face Scarlets
URC Judgement Day: Dragons v ScarletsVenue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff Date: Saturday, 19 April Kick off: 17:30 BSTCoverage: Live on S4C via iPlayer; Listen live on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Sounds, the BBC Sport website and app, plus live text commentary, followed by report and reaction on the BBC Sport website and app. Dragons co-captain Ben Carter is set for a return to action against Scarlets on Saturday after almost six months out with knee and ankle lock sustained an injury to his left knee while training with Wales at the end of October that required return of the 24-year-old was then delayed by a long-standing ankle problem which also needed an co-captain Angus O'Brien has led the side on occasions in Carter's absence but has also been missing since suffering a fractured thumb injury in fly-half or full-back will also return for the Judgement Day date against Scarlets this weekend at the Principality Stadium.
