Ken Borland

The sign of a champion team is that even in the most frustrating or seemingly hopeless times, they ban all thought of defeat and find a way to win. The Bulls were that side as they snuck a 31-27 win over the Stormers at the death in their Rainbow Cup match at Loftus Versfeld.

It was more a case of frustration than hopelessness for the Bulls because they were clearly playing well enough to win comfortably, thoroughly dominating territory and possession. But like a tree dropping its leaves in autumn, their play was littered with mistakes – passes going astray, four tries disallowed due to errors in the build-up, and lineouts lost deep in the Stormers’ 22. But still they found a way and they rescued their unbeaten run in Pretoria via lock Ruan Nortje, who was immense along with flank Marcell Coetzee, forcing his way over for their fourth try on the final hooter.

Coach Jake White was asked after the game if he ever thought his team were going to lose as the Stormers built up a 17-7 halftime lead. His response was telling:

“No, we don’t think like that. You’ve got to believe you’re going to win and I saw it in the players’ eyes after I spoke to them at halftime that they believed in what I said that we will win this game. This team never lies down. It’s moments like these that you coach for – to come back from 7-17 down against a really classy side who have won twice in a row at the death before this match.

“I think we were a bit naïve when we had only 13 players against us, the ball went wide too quickly, maybe because it was two backline players yellow-carded. But we couldn’t just go around them and we got caught a few times because they defended very well and caught us behind the advantage line. As soon as we became more direct, going through the middle to compress the defence, we opened them up,” White said.

The Bulls were in position for their last-ditch win thanks to a scrum penalty won in the closing stages, and White said he was pleased with the way his team managed to keep the powerful Stormers scrum at bay.

“I said after our last game that we would sort the scrum out and we took their power away there today by going channel one and getting the ball out quickly. As the Bulls, we like to scrum and get first-phase dominance, but we showed great tactical awareness and game management there by keeping away from scrumming. And when we needed one at the end, we got the penalty.

“You don’t want to win like that but the guys really stuck at it. We had a lot of opportunities, four tries were disallowed, but we made it hard for ourselves,” White said.

Stormers coach John Dobson said he was proud of his team for denying the Bulls for so long, even though they had little more than 20% of territory and possession.

“We made more than 250 tackles at altitude, which shows huge character and I’m very happy with the conditioning, and the attack did some good things. To come up here and compete was great, but we are devastated to not close out the game and the changeroom is heartbroken,” Dobson said.

Given their complete dominance in terms of territory and possession, the Bulls should have ripped the Stormers to shreds in their Rainbow Cup match at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night, but instead they shot themselves amidships, never mind in the foot, before stealing a 31-27 win at the death.

The Bulls wasted three tries in open play, disallowed due to mistakes in the build-up, and conceded four through soft defence. The Stormers, on the other hand, deserve immense credit for their superb defence and their brilliant counter-attacking play. They led 17-7 midway through the North/South derby and managed to find extra reserves of energy in the second half after the Bulls scored two tries in quick succession to snatch a 21-17 lead.

Both those tries wee scored by hooker Johan Grobbelaar off lineout drives, and their first-half score by Marcell Coetzee, storming over just 13 minutes into his Bulls debut, also came via a rolling maul.

But the Stormers once again caught the Bulls a step behind at the restart as flyhalf Tim Swiel caught the ball, had a dart against a dozy chasing line and then passed to wing Rosko Specman, who exploded into action, stepping and swerving, before passing back to Swiel to score.

A Morne Steyn penalty regained the lead, but Stormers wing Edwill van der Merwe weaved his way over for his second try out wide to put the Stormers back in front 27-24 going into the last 10 minutes.

But it was ultimately the Bulls’ day as Jacques van Rooyen forced a scrum penalty against Frans Malherbe, putting the Bulls on attack. They bashed and bashed until lock Ruan Nortje, who put in an outstanding 80-minute effort, forced his way over at the hooter for a face-saving try.

For all the time they spent in the Stormers’ 22, the Bulls were extremely wasteful, losing the ball and lineouts way too many times for a team that aims to win in Europe. That they put their frustration aside to triumph was a positive, but adding to their difficulties was talismanic captain Duane Vermeulen limping off in the 34^th minute with a twisted ankle.

That will have the Springboks biting their nails as well.

Scorers

Bulls: Tries – Marcell Coetzee, Johan Grobbelaar (2), Ruan Nortje. Conversions – Morne Steyn (4). Penalty – Steyn.

Stormers: Tries – Damian Willemse, Edwill van der Merwe (2), Tim Swiel. Conversions – Swiel (2). Penalty – Swiel.

Late lapses cost the Sharks victory against the Bulls and the Stormers, and also made their game against the Lions before that closer than it should have been, and that is a key area of improvement coach Sean Everitt is looking for when his team travel to Ellis Park on Saturday for their Rainbow Cup encounter with the Gautengers.

And even though the Sharks are resting several Springboks as per the agreement with SA Rugby, Everitt has been able to name a powerful bench that should be able to have a late impact against the Lions. Their first-choice front row is amongst the replacements, Ruben van Heerden and Thembelani Bholi are seasoned forwards now, centre Jeremy Ward is an exciting runner and scrumhalf Grant Williams’ ability to lift the pace is perhaps his greatest attribute.

“When we played the Lions here at Kings Park, we had a lapse in the last 10 minutes, but the game was basically won. Fez Mbatha, Ox Nche and Thomas du Toit can hopefully be a bit of a bomb squad for us in Joburg and we can finish stronger than we have in the last few weeks, so things have worked out nicely in that regard. We’ve had a good break and have been able to work on the aspects that have let us down,” Everitt said.

The impressive coaching methods of Everitt have seen him create a real family atmosphere within the Sharks squad and he has always focused on ensuring the levels of performance are right rather than results. Now that the Sharks are under pressure to deliver a result against the Lions to keep them contending for the Rainbow Cup final, nothing will change.

“There is pressure to perform in all areas, not just to win. In some games our scrum hasn’t functioned and then our scrum will be good but the lineout fails. Results come with performance, ensuring we get those processes right first; performance goes hand-in-hand with results. We are still in the race and we have played good rugby up there recently.

“The conditions suit the exciting brand of rugby we want to play and in the last 18 months we have got the mental aspect of playing on the Highveld right. We know that the Lions have improved a lot over the last four weeks though, since our last game against them, and I am expecting a tough tussle,” Everitt said.

The Sharks have won their last four matches at Ellis Park, dating back to their defeat in the opening game of Super Rugby in 2018.

Ahead of such major events as a British and Irish Lions tour, it is obligatory for all South African rugby fans to choose their Springbok squad to take on the tourists and, for me, just running through the list of players available makes me confident the hosts can turn the Lions’ roar into a meow.

Not that I am predicting a 3-0 whitewash by any means, I am sure all three Tests will be epic contests and a 2-1 margin is most likely. But the Springboks, providing they can reach Test match intensity quickly having not played at that level in over 18 months, can really hurt the Lions.

The superb Springbok pack that won the World Cup final, barring a couple of retirees, is still intact. And Jacques Nienaber is able to add players who have dominated their European opposition at club level, like Marcell Coetzee, Jasper Wiese, Rynhardt Elstadt and probably one of the Du Preez brothers (Dan or Jean-Luc), to that mix.

Set-piece prowess is going to be a big factor in the series and South Africa have wonderful back-up props and locks in Lizo Gqoboka, Trevor Nyakane, Ox Nche, Marvin Orie, Jason Jenkins and either JD Schickerling or Ruan Nortje. Imagine if Lood de Jager and RG Snyman were fit as well!

While South African rugby’s strength has traditionally been up front, it’s not as if the backline is going to concede tries like the Melbourne Rebels do. Plus they have some of the best attacking players in world rugby in their midst like Cheslin Kolbe, Makazole Mapimpi and Handre Pollard. In midfield, Damian de Allende and Lukhanyo Am are like the mailman, they always deliver, and Faf de Klerk is still a pain in the opposition’s butt.

And I am looking forward to some dazzling new international careers being born for the likes of Aphelele Fassi and Wandisile Simelane.

Apart from speed merchants Mapimpi and Kolbe, there is ‘toe’ aplenty in back-up wings Sbu Nkosi, Yaw Penxe, Raymond Rhule and utility back Damian Willemse.

I feel desperately sorry for the likes of De Jager, Snyman, Warrick Gelant and Sikhumbuzo Notshe, who did his knee three weeks ago, who will miss the series due to injury. It makes me even sadder that Cornal Hendricks, such an inspiring revelation at inside centre for the Bulls, is likely to miss out purely for off-field reasons relating to his legal action against SA Rugby over the handling of his heart condition.

I have sympathy for Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus as they undertook the hellish task of choosing 45 players and breaking the hearts of several others. Who do you choose between Penxe and Madosh Tambwe? Even without Hendricks, does Andre Esterhuizen, so close to the 2019 World Cup squad, make it or do they recall Jan Serfontein?

What about Curwin Bosch? Does the squad need four flyhalves when you have the utility ability of Francois Steyn and Willemse?

Quality scrumhalves like Ivan van Zyl and Embrose Papier look set to miss out, while Jacques Vermeulen deserves a place for sheer tenacity, but is probably going to join one of the Du Preezs on the sidelines.

Even without De Jager and Snyman, there is probably only space for one of Schickerling and Nortje, and there are quality, in-form props like Carlu Sadie, Sti Sithole and Wilco Louw who will not get the nod.

Many of these players will just get to play in the one game against the Lions, for the SA A team in Cape Town on July 14, but they will forever have the experience of being in the Springbok camp, involved in the greatest series of them all, even if it is in a bio-bubble.

The squad will then be cut to 35-37 players depending on injuries, but in a hectic year for South African rugby, I’m sure many of those will be used in the team at some stage. There are going to be big squads chosen to sit in the bubbles in Australia and New Zealand for the Rugby Championship as well.

It is the nature of selection in a sport with such passionate provincial loyalties as rugby that everyone will have an individual player that they are adamant should have been in the squad. But these are the 45 men I would have in the Springbok squad (knowing full well that some of them are not going to be included):

Willie le Roux, Aphelele Fassi, Damian Willemse; Cheslin Kolbe, Raymond Rhule, Jan Serfontein; Lukhanyo Am, Jesse Kriel, Wandisile Simelane; Damian de Allende, Cornal Hendricks, Francois Steyn; Makazole Mapimpi, Sbu Nkosi, Yaw Penxe; Handre Pollard, Elton Jantjies, Morne Steyn; Faf de Klerk, Cobus Reinach, Ivan van Zyl; Duane Vermeulen, Marcell Coetzee, Jean-Luc du Preez; Pieter-Steph du Toit, Rynhardt Elstadt, Jasper Wiese; Siya Kolisi, Kwagga Smith, Marco van Staden; Franco Mostert, Marvin Orie, Ruan Nortje; Eben Etzebeth, Jason Jenkins; Frans Malherbe, Vincent Koch, Trevor Nyakane; Bongi Mbonambi, Malcolm Marx, Scarra Ntubeni; Steven Kitshoff, Lizo Gqoboka, Ox Nche, Thomas du Toit.