URC 2025/26 · Round 16
Dragons
Bulls
Rodney Parade, Newport
Championship Standings
Dragons sit 15th on 21 points — 2 wins, 9 losses, 3 draws — while Bulls (8th, 40 pts) are still chasing a top-eight playoff seed with bonus points to grab on the road.
| Pos | Team | P | W | L | PD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Glasgow Warriors | 14 | 11 | 3 | +192 | 55 |
| 2 |  Stormers | 14 | 11 | 3 | +139 | 51 |
| 3 |  Ulster | 14 | 9 | 5 | +113 | 47 |
| 4 |  Leinster | 14 | 9 | 5 | +62 | 46 |
| 5 |  Lions | 14 | 8 | 5 | +36 | 43 |
| 6 |  Cardiff | 14 | 8 | 6 | −9 | 41 |
| 7 |  Munster | 14 | 8 | 6 | −25 | 41 |
| 8 | Bulls | 14 | 8 | 6 | +57 | 40 |
| 9 |  Connacht | 14 | 7 | 7 | +10 | 39 |
| 10 |  Sharks | 14 | 6 | 7 | −26 | 33 |
| 11 |  Ospreys | 14 | 5 | 7 | −32 | 30 |
| 12 |  Benetton | 14 | 5 | 7 | −74 | 28 |
| 13 |  Edinburgh | 14 | 4 | 10 | −71 | 23 |
| 14 |  Scarlets | 14 | 4 | 9 | −86 | 21 |
| 15 | Dragons | 14 | 2 | 9 | −83 | 21 |
| 16 |  Zebre Parma | 14 | 2 | 12 | −203 | 12 |
Dragons
W0, L4, D1Five URC matches without a win — four losses and a home draw against Benetton — and Dragons have settled into the competitive-but-losing pattern that has defined their season. The two-point defeat in Limerick and six-point loss in Swansea flatter a team that has now lost nine of fourteen. The only URC wins all campaign came against Connacht (48–28) and a pointless Scarlets (28–5) at Rodney Parade in late December — everything since has been a variation on heartbreak or hammering.
Bulls
W3, L1Bulls have been the form South African URC side outside the Stormers — three wins from their last four including a 40–7 demolition of Cardiff and a nervy 34–31 over Munster at Loftus. The only blemish was a home derby loss to the Stormers; everything else at Loftus has featured 40-point outputs. Johan Ackermann's men travel with a squad stacked with Springboks and a clear mandate: grab five points in Newport, climb the table, and lock in a playoff seed.
Head-to-Head Record
0 – 0 – 4
Dragons wins · Draws · Bulls wins (last 4 URC meetings)
Dragons (0)Bulls have won all four URC meetings since the South Africans joined the league — by an average margin of 28 points. Two of those were 55-point eruptions at Loftus, but even the two trips to Rodney Parade ended in comfortable Bulls wins (31–10 and 29–14). Dragons have never beaten this franchise in URC play.
Recent Results
| Date | Competition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| May 2025 | URC | Bulls 55–15 Dragons |
| Mar 2024 | URC | Dragons 10–31 Bulls |
| Jan 2023 | URC | Dragons 14–29 Bulls |
| Mar 2022 | URC | Bulls 55–20 Dragons |
Average score in the last 6 meetings: Bulls 42 – Dragons 15. Four meetings, four Bulls wins, zero closer than nine points.
Extended Form
Dragons3W, 14L, 3D (last 12 months)
URC wins — Connacht 48–28 (Dec), Scarlets 28–5 (Dec), Ospreys 23–21 (Sep). Challenge Cup wins — Zebre 35–32, Stade Français 36–31, Newcastle 35–12, Lyon 23–21. Heaviest defeats: Benetton 74–21 (Challenge Cup), Lions 60–10 (Challenge Cup), Bulls 55–15 (May 2025).
A year of losing. The Challenge Cup produced a flash of double away wins in April, but the URC ledger reads cruel: 22 URC matches across two seasons, just three wins. The closest thing Dragons have to a signature result is a 23–21 home squeak past the Ospreys — everything against the South African franchises has been a bloodbath.
Bulls12W, 10L (last 12 months)
URC highlights — Leinster 21–20 (Mar 2025), Lions 52–17 (Jan), Cardiff 40–7 (Mar), Munster 34–31 (Mar). Losses include Ulster 28–7 (Oct), Glasgow 21–12 (Oct), Lions 43–33 (Nov). Champions Cup Round of 16 exit to Glasgow 25–21 this month.
Ackermann's Bulls are a different animal at Loftus than on the road. But their travelling form has sharpened in 2026: a last-gasp win at Connacht in October, wins at Edinburgh and the Lions in January. A Rodney Parade trip against a Dragons side in freefall is the softest fixture left on their URC slate.
Dragons XV
Dragons team not yet announced. Aaron Wainwright — 103 URC carries this season, the most in their squad — captains a back row likely to include Ryan Woodman and Harry Beddall. Expect Angus O'Brien or Cai Evans at 10, Rhodri Williams at 9, and Rio Dyer (top-10 in URC metres made at 518) on the wing.
Bulls XV
Bulls team not yet announced. Watch for Embrose Papier (URC-leading 8 tries) at scrum-half, Handré Pollard pulling the strings at 10, and a back three of Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie and Sebastian de Klerk (634 metres made, 5th in the URC). Up front, Gerhard Steenekamp — Johan Grobbelaar — Wilco Louw is as heavy a front row as exists in the competition, with Marcell Coetzee leading the back row.
Key Matchups
There is no positional group where Dragons hold an edge, and the gap at halfback is the widest: Pollard–Papier is a Test-calibre axis against a home pairing whose team has managed 95 points in their last five URC outings combined. Up front, Steenekamp and Louw against a Dragons tighthead corner that conceded 42 to the Lions in Johannesburg should produce a penalty count and a maul platform that runs the game. Dragons' only genuine weapons — Wainwright's carry work and Dyer's metres out wide — are the reasons this doesn't read as the worst matchup sheet of any Round 16 fixture.
Match Forecast
Every scorecard dimension tilts Bulls' way, most of them heavily — squad strength, set piece, backline and H2H all at or near −5 from the home perspective. Ackermann's side have won all four URC meetings by an average of 28 points and arrive with a starting XV that reads like a Springbok training camp. Dragons' last five URC outings — L, L, D, L, L — say more than their 15th-place table position does.
The only way this tightens is weather: a soaked Rodney Parade slowing the Bulls' wide threats and turning the game into a driving-maul attrition fight. But even that scenario favours Steenekamp and Louw against a Dragons front row that has been one of the more porous in the URC. Expect Bulls to bonus-up inside 50 minutes and Dragons to scrap for a late consolation try that keeps the scoreboard respectable.
Bulls cover the four-try bonus by the hour mark — Dragons fight for pride, not a result.