Ken Borland

It took the Bulls pack a while to get a lock on the game, but once they did, the home team seemed almost invincible as they surged to a 41-14 win over the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld at the weekend. But it was the fact that they overcame in such emphatic fashion a first quarter in which the visitors troubled them that pleased Bulls coach Jake White the most.

The Bulls conceded early scrum penalties and had their struggles at the breakdown, but they adapted and fixed both key areas. They were helped in the scrums by Sharks tighthead Thomas du Toit limping off after half-an-hour with a calf strain.

“We couldn’t get our maul right, the first couple of scrums we were penalised and we didn’t always get things the way we wanted. But the way we came back, the guys adapted, and that was a highlight for me,” White said after the convincing bonus point win. “I thought the way Duane Vermeulen captained the team after that first quarter, the way he pulled the guys in, was excellent and I was very pleased with the calmness of the team at halftime.

“It’s a relatively new team, they really haven’t played together much, so I was really excited to see how they fought through a tough start and a lot of learning has clearly taken place. I’m sure Thomas du Toit coming off was a turning point because he’s an incredible, very important player for them and important for the whole psyche of their pack,” White said.

It was certainly a top-class all-round display by the Bulls, who scored six tries but also defended extremely well to only allow a single try against them. Their forwards brought a ferocious and brutal physicality to the collisions, while the backs had a clinical, ruthless edge.

“I was very pleased to see the tries we scored and when the backs are scoring them it gives you great hope that you’re playing a balanced game. We were able to get that dominance up front, able to get a lot of front-foot ball, and then it’s easier for the backs to play. If our forwards are physical and strong enough, then we have a backline that can exploit it,” White added.

The loose trio of Vermeulen, Marco van Staden and Elrigh Louw was particularly impressive, with the experienced Arno Botha coming off the bench and also making an impact, and White has clearly done some in-depth planning when it comes to getting the loose forward combination right.

“We’re trying to find the right combination and how nice it is to be able to have Arno come off the bench and fit in and have an impact at both openside and blindside flank. It is still a work in progress, but when Duane is on song, he brings an aura. He has now played two consecutive games for the full 80 minutes and clearly the more he plays, the better for us. But we might need to give Arno a chance at eighthman some time too,” White said.

The Bulls claimed a bonus point 41-14 win over the Sharks in their Super Rugby Unlocked match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night and it’s exactly the sort of clinical, hard-hitting performance coach Jake White has been waiting for.

The commanding display by the Bulls was made even more impressive by the fact that they initially struggled, being pushed back in the scrums and losing momentum through the penalties they conceded in that set-piece, and they also had problems again at the breakdowns, where the Sharks came hard at them.

But by the end of the match, both those problem areas had been emphatically fixed.

The Sharks had the misfortune to lose tighthead prop Thomas du Toit to injury after half-an-hour, and with Springbok Trevor Nyakane replacing Marcel van der Merwe in the Bulls front row around the same time, the visitors lost their edge in the scrums. By the end of the match, the Bulls were camped in the opposition 22, winning a succession of scrum penalties.

Led by Marco van Staden, but with fellow loose forwards Duane Vermeulen and Elrigh Louw also contributing strongly, the Bulls also turned the tide at the breakdowns.

Otherwise, it was a typically physical display by the Bulls and they put their bodies on the line in ferocious fashion, in a hard-fought match full of brutal, often bloody, collisions.

Flyhalf Morne Steyn gave a top-class display of tactical kicking, even if it was a mediocre night by his high standards when it came to kicking for poles – the veteran succeeding with five out of seven shots.

The Bulls were leading 17-9 at the break and, after Louw won the breakdown penalty, it was Steyn’s superb kick right into the corner that allowed the Bulls to get a maul rolling and Van Staden grabbed his second try.

The Sharks pulled back to 14-24 down when hooker Dylan Richardson, a standout player for the visitors, powered over, but Steyn settled the contest with a brilliant grubber into space that was gathered by wing Kurt-Lee Arendse, who took the tackle and then offloaded for Stedman Gans to score his second try.

It was also a strong defensive performance by the Bulls, who showed patience and faith in their system.

Scorers

Bulls: Tries – Stedman Gans (2), Marco van Staden (2), Marco Jansen van Vuren, Embrose Papier. Conversions – Morne Steyn (4). Penalty –Steyn.

Sharks: Try – Dylan Richardson. Penalties – Curwin Bosch (3).

Springbok fullback Warrick Gelant scored a controversial 78^th minute try to save the Stormers from a humiliating defeat as they edged out the Pumas 42-37 in their Super Rugby Unlocked match in Nelspruit on Friday night.

Gelant produced a fine finish, stepping inside to evade a tackler and then racing away to beat the cover-defence and score the try, but the pass he received from flyhalf Tim Swiel was ‘flat’ enough to raise suspicions in even the most ardent Western Province fan. Referee Marius van der Westhuizen referred the decision to TMO AJ Jacobs and there was certainly enough evidence to rule out the try.

The Stormers were able to come back from a horror first half and they trailed 14-37 after 52 minutes, but they scored three tries in the last 10 minutes to steal the spoils.

The Pumas came with a simple and highly-effective game-plan by coach Jimmy Stonehouse but they were able to execute it perfectly in the first half as they raced into a 30-14 lead.

It was an epic effort by the Pumas, led by inside centre Wayne van der Bank, who took over the generalship duties after an injury to flyhalf Eddie Fouche, and the underdogs produced an outstanding display of clinical rugby to race into a 30-14 lead at the halftime break.

The Pumas were able to overcome an unfortunate blow five minutes into the second half when flank Jeandre Rudolph, an enormous figure in an asphyxiating display by the Pumas pack, was harshly yellow-carded by Van der Westhuizen after an innocuous jersey-pulling episode that saw Stormers scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies end up in the advertising boards.

It was Van der Bank who created an opportunity for an overwhelming 37-14 lead as he rounded off an armada of strong carries by breaking the gain-line and then producing a brilliant offload for wing Niel Maritz to score.

But it all served as an enormous wake-up call for the Stormers and tries from close range by replacement prop Neethling Fouche and hooker Bongi Mbonambi, followed by a classic backline try by wing Leolin Zas, brought them right back into the contest before an unfortunate end to the game for the plucky home side.

The Pumas may have lost, but what they clearly showed is that there is certainly an abundance of talent outside the big franchises and Stonehouse remains an extremely effective manipulator of that talent.

The Bulls take on the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night in what should be a mouthwatering Super Rugby Unlocked game as both teams strive to gain momentum in the competition.

The Bulls struggled to victory in Pretoria over lowly Griquas and then lost to the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, while the Sharks, who were magnificent at the start of the year, have battlled to reach the same heights, losing badly to Jake White’s team on SuperFan Saturday at Loftus Versfeld and then meandering to a narrow win over the Lions in Durban.

Here are the areas to marvel over as Captain America takes on Black Panther:

The Sharks are out for revenge after losing 49-28 to the Bulls a month ago & have promised a different mindset – “We’re going with a totally different mindset. We took a squad of 30 that day and we wanted to look at combinations and youngsters who had shown progress to measure where they were. But it’s back to business now, we have a settled squad and a much more experienced team, with lessons learnt on that SuperFan day. It will certainly be a different ball game,” coach Sean Everitt said.

There will be pace & power aplenty in the loose forward battle as Vermeulen, Louw & Van Staden clash with Notshe, Buthelezi & Venter – “I’ve seen Elrigh Louw train for a while now and as soon as he arrived with us he showed such good energy. He’s young but confident, he loves to carry the ball and defend. Plus he’s like a sponge with how much he has picked up already. He’s an exciting player and I’m looking forward to playing alongside him.

“I played together for a couple of seasons with Sikhumbuzo Notshe at the Stormers and he has grown a lot as an eighthman. He was one of the star players in Super Rugby before Lockdown and I know what he can give, I’m looking forward to a really good match-up,” Duane Vermeulen said.

Both coaches, White & Everitt, are expecting their sides to find some rhythm on Saturday – “I would like to see more cohesion, but the guys have not played much together and we have been making changes to the team. I would just like to see more rhythm in attack and defence and the team that gets that right the quickest, that hits their straps first, will create the most problems. So far this competition has been very stop-start with lots of mistakes slowing everything down,” White said.

“Getting one’s rhythm back sometimes takes time and we were unfortunate that after SuperFan Saturday we had a bye with the Green and Gold game, we played the Lions and then we had another bye. It did not help our continuity, but I expect this weekend to see a performance from Super Rugby level. There’s no more time to hang around and wait to hit form, and I hope to see a spectacle on Saturday night,” Evertt said.

A tremendous tussle in the scrums with Marcel van der Merwe starting at tighthead for the Bulls for the first time since 2016, with Trevor Nyakane on the bench – “Marcel had surgery on his ankle but he has responded really well and now is his opportunity to showcase what he can do, he’s also a Springbok. Having played abroad he would have picked up different things and as a scrummager you learn quickly in the French league. Plus we have Trevor coming off the bench and everyone knows what he can provide,” Vermeulen said.

“When I coached Montpellier, Marcel played for Toulon and they had one of the strongest packs. He’s now had three or four weeks of practice, the conditioning team have worked hard on him and he’ll be right for Saturday. I’ve also been very impressed with Jacques van Rooyen at loosehead, Springbok scrum coach Daan Human was here this week to see him scrum and I think he was impressed too. I thought Lizo Gqoboka and Trevor Nyakane would be away with the Springboks and Jacques can scrum both sides and is an unbelievable team man,” White said.

Teams

Bulls:  David Kriel, Travis Ismaiel, Stedman Gans, Cornal Hendricks, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Morné Steyn, Ivan van Zyl, Duane Vermeulen (C), Elrigh Louw, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Jason Jenkins, Marcel van der Merwe, Johan Grobbelaar, Jacques van Rooyen. Replacements – Joe van Zyl, Gerhard Steenekamp, Trevor Nyakane, Sintu Manjezi, Arno Botha, Embrose Papier, Chris Smith, Marco Jansen van Vuren.

Sharks: Manie Libbok, Sbu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am (c), Marius Louw, Werner Kok, Curwin Bosch, Sanele Nohamba, Sikumbuzo Notshe, Phendulani Buthelezi, James Venter, Hyron Andrews, Ruben van Heerden, Thomas du Toit, Dylan Richardson, Ox Nche. Replacements – Kerron van Vuuren, Mzamo Majola, John-Hubert Meyer, JJ van der Mescht, Henco Venter, Grant Williams, Jeremy Ward, Yaw Penxe.

Kickoff: 7pm.