Team of the Week: URC Quarter-Finals

The field of teams in the hunt for URC glory has been cut in half, with Glasgow Warriors, Leinster, the Stormers and Bulls the quartet remaining in the competition. The quarter-final stage witnessed the end of the road for Connacht, Munster, the Lions and Cardiff, who can only watch on from the wings as the URC heads into it's dramatic finale.

With the stage set for the semi-finals, Glasgow Warriors head across to the Scottish capital of Edinburgh and play their incoming clash with the Bulls at the Murrayfield cauldron. Meanwhile, Leinster will host the Stormers in the Aviva Stadium, as Leo Cullen's men continue upon their title-retention pursuit. Following on from another breathless weekend across the URC, we've pieced together our Team of the Week from the quarter-final stage.

The experience was evident in the Bulls back-field, as Springboks veteran Willie le Roux guided the Pretoria side to the URC semi-finals with a performance that rolled back the years. The full-back was on hand to deliver an excellent assist for Kurt-Lee Arendse, and asked constant questions of the exhausted Munster defence. With an all-round attacking arsenal of kicking, passing and returning with the ball in hand, le Roux kept Munster on the back-foot to the delight of the South African side.

Kyle Steyn is a shoe-in upon the right wing this week, as the Glasgow Warriors man picked up a pivotal brace to steer his team clear of a gutsy Connacht side. The Galweigans arrived in Glasgow with an upset on their minds, yet Steyn's superb attacking individualism and interplay with the rest of the back-line could not be counter-acted by Stuart Lancaster's men. His moment of brilliant actually came on the defensive foot, as the Glasgow flyer raced back to deny a sure-fire Connacht try. Outstanding overall.

Next up is the stand-out performer from the defeated Lions team, that had their fairy-tale run to URC glory curtailed by a relentless Leinster outfit. The Johannesburg side had never before reached the upper echelons of the top eight, and Leo Cullen's Leinster ensured that the South African's did not get too cosy in this new-found position. Nontheless, van Wyk was a midfield wrecking-ball once again for his side, and rose to the occasion of being the ultimate underdogs in Dublin.

The excitement continues to grow around Scotland, as Glasgow Warriors look like the team to beat on the run in to the URC final. Sione Tuipulotu was once again the heart-beat of his side, and with 14 carries the Scotland captain was more authoritative on the front-foot that anyone else in the match. Tuipulotu coupled his game-breaking carries with an astute awareness of his outside backs, and seamlessly found Styen for the wing to break free for his second try of the afternoon.

There is plenty of discussion around James Lowe as we approach the end of the URC season, with the speculation being that the New Zealand-born Ireland international could be on his way out of Dublin at the end of the campaign. After being left out of the Champions Cup Final despite a clean bill of health, Lowe bounced back to bag a brace against the Lions, and marked his 100th Leinster appearance with an incredible individual effort upon both sides of the ball.

We stick it all things Leinster for the next entrant upon our Team of the Week, despite a honourable mention in store for Stormers out-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. The Springbok stole the show for the best part of an hour, yet left the pitch in some discomfort as the Stormers dispatched of Cardiff. Sam Prendergast kept the attacking play ticking at the Aviva Stadium, as he enjoyed the spoils of a dominant Leinster forward pack. Prendergast was firing on all cylinders like the out-half the Dubliners know and love, with his 46th minute intercept try ending the match as a competitive contest.

Joining up with Prendergast in the half-back ranks is Bulls number nine Embrose Papier. The scrum half was a livewire around Loftus Versfeld, and could not be stopped on his way to bag two tries for the Bulls. It was a one-sided affair for the most part against Munster, with Papier a decisive element of the heavy win. With an astute boot capeable of peppering the sky with inch-perfect box kicks, Munster were soon pinned back by Papier's educated feet, to lay the foundation for his sniping scores.

The forward pack could well have gone to either of two loose-head props, with Patrick Schickerling getting the green light just ahead of the honourably mentioned Ntuthuko Mchunu. Both the Glasgow and Stormers men put in a surging performances to decimate the respective scrum-time opponents, and were both on hand to deliver five-point scores across the whitewash. We hand Schickerling the spot after he sent Ireland international Finlay Bealham back-peddling upon multiple occassions, and rightfully takes the Glasgow one jersey ahead of Scotland international Rory Sutherland.

We return back down to South Africa for the second entrant into our forward pack, as Johan Grobbelaar of the Bulls stampeded over the struggling Munster set-piece. The hooker was at the fore-front of the one-sided scrum-time triumph, in what opitmised the strengths of the South African outfit. Grobbelaar's efforts also included a try shortly before the half-time break, as he helped his side build their dominant lead over the dejected Irish province.

Whilst his Stormers teammate Mchunu was unable to take a place in the front row for our Team of the Week, there is no denying Neethling Fouche the tight-head spot following the quarter-finals. The South African relished in the challenged against Cardiff, who's front row forces were depleted by a first half trip to the sin bin for Wales international Kieron Assiratti. Fouche up-ended the Cardiff pack with some bruising brilliance, and continues to get attention from Springbok selectors ahead of July's Test matches.

With Glasgow hit by an injury crisis across the second row, Alex Samuel has risen excellently to the occasion for Franco Smith this season. The lock has proven that he deserves the starting jersey in the stacked second row, with an assortment of hulking hits weighed in on the Connacht ball carriers all throughout the contest. An exceptional work-rate has put Samuel on the map, and the lock backs this up with some game-breaking tackles that even a prime Courtney Lawes would have been proud of.

The Springboks man has garnered quite the reputation of being a hard-nosed, no-nonsense individual, with this latest performance once again hammering home that narrative. Even with a spot in the semi-finals rather comfortably achieved against Munster, Nortje emptied the tank with a relentless work rate that only adds to his stock amongst the South African ranks. Nortje was the iron-man of the match, with 16 tackles and 15 carries showcasing just how influential he has from the first to the 80th minute.

We remain down in the land of the Springboks as we complete our Team of the Week, with Stormers blind-side flanker Paul de Villiers on-hand to deliver an incredible display against Cardiff. The back row racked up 15 tackles upon a lung-bursting defensive effort around the park, and also got himself over the ball to make two momentum-killing steals against the Welsh side. De Villiers also presented why he is pushing for a test match place with some nice attacking flourishes, including his try just after the hour.

Leinster then contribute their final entrant to our Team of the Week, with back row Scott Penny getting the spot ahead of tough competition from the Bulls' Erligh Louw. Penny continues to elevate his stock within the Leinster set-up, and it won't be long until the UCD mans gets the call for an extended run in green should he maintain this form and keep injury free. The Nations Championship could be the perfect proving ground for Penny in an Ireland jersey, yet he will be eyeing up a URC title retention before any international opportunities come onto his radar.

We sign off the Team of the URC Quarter-Finals with a sole contribution from an albeit well-beaten Cardiff team. Whilst the side from the Welsh capital were dejected to have their first ever run in the URC play-offs come to an end down in Cape Town, Taine Basham can take plenty of personal pride back upon the eight hour flight to the Northern Hemisphere. The attacking fortitude was something to be admired from the number eight, who maintained a commendable 'never-say-die' mentality to the final whistle.