URC, Round 14 - teams and predictions

03/27/2025 11:45 AM

FRIDAY PREVIEWS: The race to the United Rugby Championship play-offs resumes at a maddening pace, as Round 14 gets underway with two intriguing Friday matches.

Just seven points separate fifth and 13th places and 15 teams remain in play-off contention.

With only five rounds remaining, every game counts.

Friday will kick off in Belfast as Ulster welcomes the Stormers and Edinburgh host the Dragons.

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The Stormers are one of two teams that climbed into the top eight in Round 13.

Ospreys are now seventh after their 43-40 win over Connacht and the Stormers are eighth following their 29-17 win over Scarlets.

Keeping those spots, however, will not be easy – with just three points separating seventh and 13th.

Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson described Ravenhill as one of the toughest places to play.

"Friday night in this weather is the ultimate [challenge]," he said, adding: "We haven't got a win at Scotstoun [Glasgow), we got a win at Connacht [Galway] last year.

"Thomond Park [Munster in Limerick] is another place where you need to start getting wins.

"We got ourselves done ][5-35 loss] here [Belfast] two years ago.

"This is essential for the growth of our team, we have to learn to win these games.

"This is up there with the toughest away games you can play."

With the expected temperatures set to be in the low single digits, with the wind-chill factor that could take it to sub-zero (°C), it will get 'very chilly'.

The loss of some senior forwards - Frans Malherbe (200+ first-class caps and 76 Tests), Deon Fourie (300+ first-class caps and 13 Tests) and captain Salmaan Moerat (80+ first-class caps and 10 Tests) - has robbed the visitors from South Africa of a large chunk of experience.

"We had to make more changes than we would have wanted to," Dobson told @rugby365com, adding: "The leadership would have been useful for us.

"However, it is still a good enough team to do the job."

Stand-in captain Neethling Fouché admitted Ulster is a 'different animal' at Ravenhill.

"We are expecting a very desperate Ulster team," he said of a home team that is one point and one position behind the Stormers (eight and 33 points) in the standings.

"They also got a few players back, which will lift them.

"They are not happy with their position on the standings and neither are we.

"There is no doubt it will be an intense game and we will have to improve on last week."

Ulster has won the last two URC fixtures and have not won three in succession since last May.

The Ulstermen have lost their last four fixtures against South African opponents, but all were played in the Republic.

However, Ulster have a perfect played 10, won 10 record against South African opponents in Belfast in the Championship.

The Stormers have won their last two URC matches and have not won three in succession since last June.

The South Africans have won their last two away games in the Championship and have never won three successive matches on the road.

Their only previous victory away at an Irish province was when they beat Connacht 16-12 in Galway in May 2024.

The two sides have met on four previous occasions with Stormers' only defeat being 5-35 at Ravenhill in January 2023.

(John Dobson and Neethling Fouché preview Stormers versus Ulster....)

* Meanwhile, Edinburgh's only win in the last four rounds was 34-28 against Munster in Cork in Round 12.

Edinburgh's six-game home-winning run in all tournaments ended with their defeat to Zebre in Round 11 of the URC.

The Scottish outfit has lost their last two matches against Welsh regions, although both of those games were played in Wales. The Scotsmen have won all seven home games they have played against Welsh regions in Edinburgh.

The Dragons are without a win in the URC since their opening weekend's 23-21 victory at home to Ospreys.

They have not won outside of Wales in the Championship since beating Connacht in Galway in October 2021.

The Dragons' most recent victory over a Scottish opponent was beating Edinburgh 24-17 in March 2021.

Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt described the Dragons as a 'dangerous' side.

"They win a lot of turnovers and can be efficient and hurt you in the 22-metre [area]," Everitt said.

"They gave Ulster a hard time last Saturday, so it's not a team we can take lightly.

"Every game in the URC has been tight in the last couple of months, so we have to focus on ourselves and make sure we can execute as accurately as we can."

Dragons coach Filo Tiatia returned the compliment.

"At home, they [Edinburgh] play fast and like to play up-tempo with a good set piece," Tiatia said.

"It's going to be a heck of a challenge in Scotland.

"We need to start well and keep building around how we apply pressure from minute one."

All of Friday's teams and predictions follow below ...

Ulster v Stormers
(Ravenhill Stadium, Belfast – Kick-off: 19.35; 21.35 SAST; 19.35 GMT)

Prediction

Teams

Ulster: 15 Michael Lowry, 14 Rob Baloucoune, 13 James Hume, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jack Murphy, 9 John Cooney, 8 David McCann, 7 Nick Timoney, 6 Matty Rea, 6 Kieran Treadwell, 4 Alan O'Connor (captain), 3 Tom O'Toole, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Andrew Warwick.
Replacements: 16 Tom Stewart, 17 Callum Reid, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Harry Sheridan, 20 James McNabney, 21 Nathan Doak, 22 Ben Carson, 23 Zac Ward.

Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Connor Evans, 3 Neethling Fouché (captain), 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 André-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Jurie Matthee, 23 Wandisile Simelane.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Eoghan Cross (Ireland), Andrew Fogarty (Ireland)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)

Edinburgh v Dragons
(Edinburgh Stadium – Kick-off 19.35; 19.35 GMT)

Prediction

Teams

Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ben Vellacott (co-captain), 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (co-captain), 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D'arcy Rae, 2 Paddy Harrison, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Glen Young, 20 Freddy Douglas, 21 Ali Price, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Ross McCann.

Dragons: 15 Huw Anderson, 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Joe Westwood, 12 Aneurin Owen (captain), 11 Ashton Hewitt, 10 Will Reed, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Harrison Keddie, 6 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 5 Cummins, 4 Joe Davies, Steve, 3 Paula Latu, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Rodrigo Martinez.
Replacements: 16 Brodie Coghlan, 17 Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths, 18 Nathan Evans, 19 Barny Langton-Cryer, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Dane Blacker, 22 Josh Thomas, 23 Jared Rosser.

Referee: Morné Ferreira (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jonny Perriam (Scotland), Rob McDowell (Scotland)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)

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* Additional reporting by @URCOfficial