Ken Borland

The Sharks scraped home with a 19-16 win over the Lions in the opening Super Rugby Unlocked match at Kings Park in Durban at the weekend. It was certainly a mixed performance by the pacesetters earlier this year, as relieved coach Sean Everitt admitted afterwards when he said “we were fortunate to survive”.

What Everitt was unhappy with –

The error count of his team: “We made quite a few mistakes, our mistakes let us down, and we were pretty much responsible for our own demise. It was not a polished performance and getting that cohesion takes time. We let it slip on the scoreboard because of our own mistakes and we put ourselves under pressure, at the end of both halves we were really under the pump.”

The set-pieces: “We need to sort our set-pieces out and I wasn’t happy with the lineout. But this pack have only played 40 minutes together at Loftus and it was never going to be a complete performance. Dylan Richardson is a young hooker who is transitioning from loose forward, but he’s a great rugby player, a future Springbok in my mind, so I’m not worried, we will sort it out.”

The number of turnovers when they were on attack: “The attacking breakdown is all about reaction and ball-placement otherwise there’s always the risk of losing the ball on the ground, and I thought Jaco Kriel was outstanding for the Lions. We’ve got to work harder on that dynamic, the referees have said they’re going to reward the jackal and AJ Jacobs certainly did.”

What Everitt was happy with –

The rugby they played in the first quarter: “I asked for a fast start, especially after the slow start to the Bulls game two weeks ago, and I was happy with that, we could have scored a couple more tries. We played some amazing rugby in the first 20 minutes, our contestable kicks – we had some really good ones, similar to in Super Rugby – and defence were outstanding.”

The defence: “The defence shows this team works for each other and it was a team effort to get the result despite not playing as well as we would have liked. We were fortunate to survive, but we finished strongly. We had some massive turnovers, this team lives for those and they work really hard on that. The Lions came with a power game and we did really well to keep them out, we stopped their momentum and did very well to not give them the gain-line.

A Bulls team comprising 11 Springboks was pushed all the way by a Griquas side without a single international in their Super Rugby Unlocked game at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria at the weekend, with the home team eventually coming back from deficits of 10-0 in the first half and 18-10 early in the second to win 30-23.

As Griquas coach Scott Mathie pointed out afterwards, even when you take the Springboks out of the equation, the Bulls have about R30 million rand more to spend on players than the minnows from Kimberley, and yet it was the visitors who handed out many lessons on Saturday night.

Here are the main things new coach Jake White would have learnt about the Bulls from the tough encounter:

There is enough character and skill in the team when they are under pressure

Having played half-an-hour of poor rugby, wasting several chances, the Bulls did not panic and managed to go into halftime all-square at 10-10. Similarly, after conceding eight points early in the second half, they stuck to the revised game-plan in the second half and closed out a vital win.

“There was good character shown by the team, to be 10-0 down after 35 minutes and to be able to go into the changeroom at 10-10 was a good character test. Credit to Griquas for stopping our momentum, the way they defended and chased everything showed a lot of fight and spirit. I would have preferred we played like we did against the Sharks and got five points, but you see different things under pressure.

“I don’t really know a lot of the players very well and I got time to see the players and how they react under pressure tonight. Fortunately we were able to win the little battles, those championship moments, and we scored 30 points despite not playing well. Everybody wants to see the perfect game and maybe some people expected that tonight, but it’s not always going to happen,” White said.

The Bulls, for all their attacking potential, have to ‘build an innings’, they need to be more direct first before trying to exploit space out wide

The Bulls backline again looked threatening with ball in hand and some ambitious rugby was played in the first half. But they were guilty of going wide too quickly and players were often isolated and turned over, while not using the forwards to punch holes first and get opponents on the floor, meant Griquas were able to flood the breakdown, winning numerous turnovers.

In the second half, the Bulls showed more patience and the likes of Marco van Staden, Jason Jenkins and replacement eighthman Elrigh Louw were able to get in behind the defending side.

“What was important in the second half was that from playing side-to-side in the first half, we were more direct. We were able to get the forwards with the ball under their arm, Jason Jenkins burst through, so did Elrigh Louw and Marco van Staden had a couple of good runs. We realised after the first half that we had to be more direct in our structure.

“So I told them at the break to be more direct, not to play so much touch rugby in the middle of the field. I was very happy with the set-pieces, we got enough ball and our forwards were relatively strong. I’m happy that we found a way to win,” White said.

The Bulls need to work on their breakdown strategy and need to commit more cleaners on their own ball

The Bulls conceded seven turnovers in the first half, mostly because of isolated players simply being rucked off the ball by the willing Griquas pack. Not enough attention was paid to the clean-out by the Bulls, who wanted players on their feet, but perhaps erred too much in that direction and did not focus enough on ensuring they secured the ball at the breakdown first.

“We didn’t have much rhythm and at times Griquas got away with it at the breakdown, but winning 16 penalties to eight conceded shows we could not complain. Because we had such a good shape against the Sharks two weeks ago, we probably thought things would be a lot easier at the breakdown. We probably should have put one or two more players in early on.

“We did not do enough early on to secure our ball and that gave them a sniff. We were probably a bit seduced by the last game and how easily we got quick ball, so tonight we didn’t think we needed to go in there and fetch it. And the side carrying the ball definitely wasn’t rewarded as much tonight, at one stage we had 65% possession and we were still getting penalised. But we showed we can win ugly, sometimes it’s not easy and you have to do that,” White said.

Morne Steyn did not have his greatest outing but he remains one of the best game-managers around

White admitted that Steyn did not have his best game, but the way the Bulls dominated territory in the final quarter was crucial. Possession was fairly equal throughout the game, but Griquas were forced into trying to play too much rugby in their own half, largely thanks to Steyn’s tactical kicking.

“We didn’t manage the game well enough and we need to be better at that,” Mathie admitted. “Our exits from our own half should have been better and we will be working on our decision-making. We sent too much time in our own half and didn’t exit as well as we should have. Just before halftime, we should have controlled the scrum better and then we would have gone into the second half in the lead.

“Those are the small moments that matter and you need clear heads at those times, you need to eliminate risk. We just needed a few better decisions but we’ve taken a point at Loftus and we will take a lot of energy from that and that we were able to win this game, we did enough to win,” Mathie said.

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said he was terribly disappointed by their narrow defeat to the Sharks in Durban but proud of his team for the character they showed and the big improvement in competitiveness compared to their dismal start to the year.

The Lions went down 16-19 to the Sharks in their opening Super Rugby Unlocked match, but they turned down a penalty that could have given them a draw to rather go for a win, only to be penalised at a five-metre scrum after the hooter. But having won just one of their six games in the regular Super Rugby season, to then push the form side in South Africa all the way to the end was heartening, especially after a poor start in which the Sharks led 13-0 after half-an-hour.

“Obviously we’re bitterly disappointed to lose, but the character and fight for the whole 80 minutes the guys showed was unbelievable. So I’m happy with the effort but sad about the result. The Sharks obviously started well and put us under pressure, but we had a bit of hope and momentum going into the second half, we felt that shift.

“Being direct had started to work and the Sharks live on turnovers so that’s what we wanted to negate. So there were a lot of positives, especially the good fight and character the guys showed for 80 minutes, and a lot of individuals put up their hands. We want to challenge the players to adapt to different opponents and we had a specific plan for tonight,” Van Rooyen said after the game.

Lions captain Elton Jantjies also pointed to the big improvement in performance by the side.

“Tonight was probably a 7/10 for us in terms of performance, and that’s coming from a 3/10. So we will just keep training hard and believe, to only lose by three points here shows that we are doing the right things,” Jantjies said.

Neither Van Rooyen nor Jantjies were throwing their toys out of the pram over the final penalty at the scrum that cost the Lions. The Sharks had been under pressure for most of the game in that set-piece, but had also won a couple of penalties earlier in the match.

“The Sharks obviously have a quality front row and I felt we handled them adequately. Obviously there are one or two scrums we will look at again, but generally I felt the scrums went well. The scrum was a good battle, some of them we dominated, but there’s still a bit for us to work on,” Van Rooyen said.

“Both sides had opportunities to win the game and we scored one try each. I had a penalty against the posts, but that happens in rugby. There were other moments at the set-piece that were crucial as well,” Jantjies said.

The Lions showed tremendous heart as they kept coming back from the hits before eventually being foiled by a scrum penalty five metres from the Sharks line after the final hooter, giving the home side a 19-16 win in the opening Super Rugby Unlocked match at Kings Park in Durban on Friday night.

It’s a horrible way to lose after captain Elton Jantjies had elected to go for the win at 16-19 down when the Lions were given a penalty deep inside the Sharks 22. It was made even worse by the irony of ironies that the Sharks had been under pressure in the scrum all night.

Thomas du Toit and Ox Nche struggled to handle the pressure exerted on them by Sti Sithole and Carlu Sadie, and with the Sharks lineout also a bit hit-and-miss in breezy conditions, it deprived the Sharks of a vital platform for their attacking intent.

The Sharks opened the match with the sort of ball-in-hand continuity and expansive play that made them such hits in proper Super Rugby earlier this year, but their supercharged play lost momentum after the first quarter.

They had raced into a 13-0 lead in the first half-hour as Lukhanyo Am, surely one of the best outside centres in world rugby, combined superbly with livewire flank Phendulani Buthelezi to send Werner Kok racing down the left touchline to score.

But this current Lions side, in a rebuilding phase, showed that even if they lack the electrifying skills of the side that took them to three successive Super Rugby finals, they have enormous grit and are willing to scrap for whatever they can get.

Under the calm leadership of Elton Jantjies, and with their pack cutting off the Sharks set-piece supply and successfully slowing down the flowing game they prefer, they very nearly stole the spoils at Kings Park.

Scorers

Sharks – Try: Werner Kok. Conversion: Curwin Bosch. Penalties: Bosch (4).

Lions – Try: Jamba Ulengo. Conversion: Elton Jantjies. Penalties: Jantjies (3).