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Ken Borland



Bulls & Stormers can drive buses through opposition defences, but tight derby expected between them 0

Posted on June 13, 2023 by Ken

There have been United Rugby Championship games where both the Bulls and Stormers have been able to drive buses through the opposition defence, but when last season’s finalists meet in a massive derby in Cape Town on Friday night, a tight spectacle is expected by the visitors.

Both teams were amongst the leading try-scorers last season and have thrived on counter-attack, with exciting back threes carrying the ball back to great effect. But Bulls fullback Wandisile Simelane said on Tuesday that he expects swarming defence to be a key feature of Friday’s humdinger.

“Any South African derby is always going to be difficult because we really study each other well,” Simelane said. “Games like these are great to be part of and it’s where you test yourself.

“I assume it’s going to be a tight match, a momentum game and putting points on the board will be crucial. I expect the defences to rush up on the faster guys, but opportunities will still come.

“If we don’t get five or six chances like usual, then there will be one or two and we have to make sure we make them really count. It’s about how well we execute in those one or two moments.

“Momentum will be very vital, we can’t throw the ball away, keeping it for a few more phases will be very beneficial. We mustn’t throw 50/50 miracle passes,” Simelane said.

While the romantics would love the match to be decided by a Simelane sidestep or a piece of Manie Libbok magic, the reality is it is the forwards who will have the key roles; from the tremendous platform laid by evergreen Stormers props Frans Malherbe and Steven Kitshoff, to the bruising gainline presence of Elrigh Louw and Marco van Staden that can leave opponents purple and pink.

Some big oaks have departed the Bulls kraal, but the shrubs that are coming up in their place show great promise. In the white-heat of battle, the 24-year-old Simelane knows being able to control and manage the contest will be crucial.

“Hopefully we will be calm enough to control the game and our game-managers can put us in the right positions. We love having ball-in-hand on attack, using our natural instincts, but there is a thin line between relying on natural instinct and building pressure through being more conservative,” Simelane said.

Smit to Roos: Stay close to the line without overstepping it 0

Posted on December 07, 2022 by Ken

Former Springbok World Cup winning captain John Smit has advised fiery Stormers eighthman Evan Roos to find a way to keep his passion on the field, but stay close to the line without overstepping it when it comes to ill-discipline.

Roos, who made his Springbok debut against Wales this year, was yellow-carded last weekend for an off-the-ball tussle, that saw him lean his elbow on his opposite number’s neck, in the 52nd minute of the Stormers’ win over Edinburgh.  It came at a bad time when the Stormers were under pressure, and it allowed the Scottish team to close the gap to 13-17.

Overseas critics have accused the 22-year-old of being unnecessarily confrontational, some calling his play dangerous and thuggish.

“Evan is a player who is really driven internally and he needs to find a way to control that emotion,” Smit said when asked at a Vodacom United Rugby Championship media call how he would handle a player like Roos if he were captain.

“Players get away with absolutely nothing these days, the most aggressive thing you’ll see on a field now is someone grabbing a collar and looking angry.

“Eben Etzebeth does it very well, controlling his passion right up to the end point of not getting in trouble. Evan needs to somehow know how to bottle that passion, and you don’t want to temper his enthusiasm.

“He just needs to be told though that losing control won’t just cost him but the team too. I would tell him that the angrier he gets, the more the team’s ability to succeed is diminished,” Smit said.

Smit of course had arguably rugby’s hardest ever enforcer to rely on to lay down the law in Bakkies Botha. But sometimes it took all of Smit’s considerable leadership wisdom to keep the legendary lock on the field.

“I had a few players in the Springbok team who sometimes suffered from over-stimulation!” Smit laughed. “Take Bakkies. Whenever I wanted to try gee up the team in the changeroom, I would wait for Bakkies to go to the toilet or get his knee strapped, otherwise my team talk would make him a bit over-zealous in the first five minutes! And that would be to our detriment.”

Fourie has been around for a while, but he has always had a burning desire to play for the Boks 0

Posted on August 08, 2022 by Ken

Deon Fourie has been around South African rugby for a while, making his senior debut for Western Province in 2005, and he also played in France for seven years with Lyon and Grenoble, but the 35-year-old Stormers hero has always had a burning desire to be chosen for the Springboks.

Following his sensational displays in leading the Stormers to the United Rugby Championship title, he was selected to the Springbok squad for the first time, alongside seven other uncapped players.

On Thursday, the utility forward had completed his first week of training with the Springboks and his face, battered as it has been this season from all his tremendous efforts at the breakdown, was beaming.

“The intensity is way higher up than at provincial level, and, at the age of 35, it takes me longer to get up and running and I’m feeling it a bit,” Fourie smiled at their Pretoria hotel.

“Some guys have waited 22 years for their dream to come true, but for me it’s been 35 years. So it’s just great to be here and to realise my dream,” he said.

Fourie’s Stormers team-mate Evan Roos, also immense in the URC triumph, is 22 years old and perhaps who the elder statesman was referring to.

“This is a boyhood dream come true,” Roos said. “I watched most of these guys growing up, so it feels a bit surreal to be in the same squad as them now.

“But I’m excited about working hard on my game and making sure the important little things get better,” Roos said.

While new faces certainly bring an injection of energy and fresh ideas into a squad, it is a universal truth in rugby that experience is vital at international level.

And Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber said that, coupled with a burning desire to restore their pride, will make Wales dangerous opponents in South Africa’s first three Tests of the year, starting on July 2 at Loftus Versfeld.

“We have an average of 26 caps per player, while Wales has 36 so they have experienced players who have been there before,” Nienaber said. “Their clubs also didn’t make the playoffs in the URC, so they have had a nice month to prepare.

“I’m not sure if they are pushing the restart button from the Six Nations, but I know from 2018 when we were desperate that you do desperate things. We changed our defensive system and the way we kick.

“They have had a lot of negative publicity, a desperate team is always dangerous and it is always a tough battle against Wales. Coach Wayne Pivac said their mission was to win a Test in South Africa for the first time.

“So we will prepare for what we think will come our way, but we will have to adapt on the field, do it on the run. We’re going to have to be unbelievably solutions-driven,” Nienaber said.

Jake did not care to discuss the nitty-gritty but rather made digs at the referee 0

Posted on August 01, 2022 by Ken

Bleak Bulls coach Jake White did not care much to discuss the nitty-gritty of the match but rather made thinly-veiled digs at referee Andrew Brace following his side’s 18-13 loss to the Stormers in the United Rugby Championship final in Cape Town.

While it was a game in which the bounce of the ball probably did not go the Bulls way, they were also penalised nine times compared to the five of the Stormers. But the home team also dominated in terms of territory (54%) and possession (55%) and, in terms of the scoreboard, the ultimate difference was that they scored two tries to one.

The Bulls also paid for not making more of their early dominance, only scoring seven points in the first half.

“We should have been up more at halftime but there were certain things that we just couldn’t control,” White said. “The referee can only blow what he sees and I thought the referee was outstanding, he saw what he saw.

“There were a lot of things we couldn’t control and you’re never going to be able to. It hurts, it really hurts, those little things. You can’t argue with the referee.

“Right before halftime, they were in our half once and they got a penalty for offsides. We were in their half six times and we did not get any penalties.

“I thought Deon Fourie and Steven Kitshoff were outstanding at the breakdown, but I don’t want to be seen as a whinger but a couple of times they went for the ball, missed, go back again and get rewarded. You can’t control that,” White fumed.

To make the 58-year-old’s mood even worse, the Bulls have also been knocked out of his beloved Currie Cup at the semi-final stage, losing 30-19 to Griquas.

“There are no positives, we lost twice in one weekend, which is the most we’ve suffered in a long time,” White said. “Other teams treated the Currie Cup as a development project, we’re going to have to do the same.

“The Stormers just kept building pressure and the game was never going to go away from them. The longer that pressure went on, the more things we couldn’t control and the game got away from us.

“We were never going to win this game,” White said.

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    1 John 2:5 – “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.”

    James 2:14 – “What good is it if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?”.

    Love without action is useless.

    If you love God unreservedly, you will offer your best to him and be willing to serve him wherever he wishes to use you.

    Love has to manifest itself practically.

    “Love requires uplifting and inspirational deeds.

    “How genuine can your love for God truly be if you are aware of a serious need and do nothing to alleviate it?”- Solly Ozrovech, A Shelter From The Storm



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