Fixture News

Preview: Cell C Sharks v Ulster

24th February 2023
Ulster travel to South Africa to take on the Cell C Sharks at the Hollywoodbets King's Park Stadium in the rearranged round 6 BKT United Rugby Championship fixture.

Match Details

๐Ÿ—“๏ธ Saturday 25 February

โฐ 12.00pm UK time

๐ŸŸ๏ธ Hollywoodbets Kings Park Stadium, Durban ๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

๐Ÿ† BKT United Rugby Championship

๐Ÿ“บ Viaplay, URC.tv

Form Guide

Both sides will hope to bounce back from defeats in the previous round. Ulster secured a losing bonus point in a 17-11 away loss to Glasgow Warriors. The Sharks will be hoping to pick up where they left off after beating rivals, the Lions, 7-29 in an impressive away performance.

Ulster are third in the URC table on 44 points, with Cell C Sharks sitting in seventh place with 38 points.

Team News

Last Time Out

Ulster edged out a win at the Kingspan stadium in a tightly contested match. It was the first meeting of the two sides and it didn't disappoint on a sunny day in Belfast. Tries that day were scored through Mike Lowry, a fantastic individual try from Stuart McCloskey and James Hume. The result made sure Ulster secured a top four finish in the URC and helped the province advance to a home quarter final.

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Player to watch

Curwin Bosch

Fly half Bosch was named BKT URC Player of the Match after contributing 14 points to the Cell C Sharksโ€™ bonus-point 29-7 victory against the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg last week, which saw the Durbanites jump up one league place from eighth to seventh.

Bosch, capped twice at Test level for the Springboks, scored a try and kicked three conversions and a penalty in a performance reminiscent of the young schoolboy No 10 who dominated and influenced wins at Grey PE and at provincial and national junior levels.

Did you know?

Cell C Sharks

  • Curwin Bosch made more kicks in play (14) and kicking metres (574) than any other player in Round 14. Two of these kicks were retained, one was a try assist. He also kicked a 50:22
  • Phepsi Buthelezi has returned more restarts than any other player this season (24), gaining a league-high 124 metres in the process
  • Henco Venter has conceded the most penalties in the tackle in the BKT URC (six). 58% of his tackles have been aimed above the waist

Ulster

  • Ulster like to score on the eve of half time. They have scored a league-high 10 tries between the 31st and 40th minutes this season
  • Ulster have scored as many tries from lineouts as any other team (34, = Leinster). Their next most popular try sources are kick returns and turnovers won, from which they have scored five tries each
  • Ulster have had more rucks that have lasted less than a second than any other team (68), 26 of which have been in the opposition 22. Ulsterโ€™s ball retention rate at the ruck is also the best in the league (96.2%)