Ken Borland

Coach Jake White said he wants to use the Bulls’ traditional strengths but play in a different way after his tenure in Pretoria began in superb fashion with a 49-28 win over the Sharks in their SuperFan Saturday match at Loftus Versfeld at the weekend.

The first half display was particularly impressive as the Bulls raced into a 35-0 lead in the first half-hour, blowing away the shellshocked Sharks with five tries. Only the first was from a driving maul and the Bulls backline dazzled as the likes of Kurt-Lee Arendse, Stedman Gans, Cornal Hendricks and Gio Aplon were able to use turnover ball with ruthless efficiency.

While the backline steppers and speedsters stole the show, it was up front, however, where the Bulls’ dominance began. Their scrum was a solid platform and their lineout provided good ball, while the brutal physical power of the pack repeatedly stopped the Sharks from gaining any momentum. The visitors’ ball was also slow from phase play thanks to the effective efforts of the Bulls at the breakdown.

“The scrum was fantastic and the driving maul was strong, the physical dominance was what we wanted. Those things are a massive part of the Bulls’ DNA and we wanted to go back to the things that we know – like Real Madrid or Barcelona, they play the same type of football from academy level. I can wax lyrical, but it was just a wonderful start as a team.

“So obviously I’m very happy with those things that are part of the DNA, but there were a lot of reasons to be happy. We started really physically and accurately, which is what we wanted. We’re trying to play in a different way and we showed good tempo and finished nicely. From a defensive point of view we didn’t allow the Sharks into our 22 for long periods,” White said after his winning start.

The highlight of the game was wing Arendse racing away to score from 80 metres out after the Sharks, hard on attack, had knocked-on in a rolling maul, and White, who had warned of their danger ahead of the match, was full of praise for the Sevens speedsters who tore the Sharks apart.

“It’s the first time that backline has played together and we saw what they can do with Kurt-Lee’s fantastic try. For a first hit-out I was very impressed there were so few mistakes and we kept the ball well. Coming from coaching in Japan, the whole game is about tempo and I was surprised how quickly the guys picked that up. Practically the whole backline comes from Sevens and even Duane Vermeulen [eighthman] played it in Nelspruit.

“It’s the first time I’ve worked with Cornal Hendricks and the fact that the ball went wide so often shows moving him to inside centre worked. He’s not just a basher, he made a couple of line-breaks and was excellent in defence too. It looked like he’s played there for years. I think all the Blitzbokke have such good basics and their coach Neil Powell has done an outstanding job with them,” White said.

It took no more than half-an-hour of their SuperFan Saturday game against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld for the Bulls to head off into the west and disappear into the sunset, such was their dominance in terms of power and pace on their way to a 49-28 victory.

In that opening half-hour, the Bulls were simply dazzling as they raced into a 35-0 lead with five wonderful tries. The Sharks struck back with a try after the halftime hooter, and went into the break 7-35 down. The Bulls replaced almost their entire 1^st XV after 52 minutes, and the visitors were able to make the scoreline less embarrassing.

But there was no doubting they had been blown off the park in the first half by the Bulls’ dazzling combination of immense forward power and extreme pace and elusiveness in the backline, with veteran flyhalf Morne Steyn running the show with aplomb and thoroughly enjoying all the front-foot ball he was given.

The Bulls opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a fairly typical driving maul try scored by hooker Schalk Erasmus, but thereafter it was the guys with the fast feet and rocket-pace at the back who stole the show. Coach Jake White had said during the week that we should watch out for the likes of Gio Aplon, Stedman Gans and Kurt-Lee Arendse and they did not disappoint, while former Springbok wing Cornal Hendricks shone as he moved into the inside centre position.

Outside centre Gans stepped brilliantly and raced away after the Sharks had failed to handle a bomb from Steyn, wing Arendse then scored the try of the game as he outpaced everyone from 80 metres out after the Sharks, hard on attack, had knocked on in the maul, and lovely work by Hendricks then sent Arendse over for his second try 10 minutes later. Gans also turned provider as he set up wing Travis Ismaiel for the fifth try.

As sparkling as the running of the backs was, it was obviously the tremendous graft of the pack that made it possible. The sheer physicality of prop Jacques van Rooyen, locks Ruan Nortje and Jason Jenkins, and loose forwards Duane Vermeulen and Arno Botha meant the Bulls won the battle of the gain-line, while Marco van Staden was the terror of the breakdowns.

There was no doubting the character of the Sharks though, and the defence of the Bulls was also given a good workout and generally stood up well.

The Sharks dominated the latter stages of the second half, scoring four tries in all. But the loss of momentum, both on the field on Saturday and in terms of where they left off in Super Rugby, will be of great concern for coach Sean Everitt.

Points scorers

Bulls – Tries: Schalk Erasmus, Stedman Gans, Kurt-Lee Arendse (2), Travis Ismaiel, David Kriel (2). Conversions: Morne Steyn (5), Chris Smith (2).

Sharks – Tries: Grant Williams, Marius Louw, Daniel Jooste, Jaden Hendrickse. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (2), Jordan Chait (2).

What I am hoping to see from the Bulls

The Bulls have splashed out on some high-priced imports and hopefully, for Jake White’s sake, they hit the ground running and show that they will make a difference to the battling outfit. Gio Aplon, Nizaam Carr, Arno Botha, Jason Jenkins and Jacques van Rooyen are all quality players who have been lured from overseas and they will want to prove they are prized acquisitions.

What I am hoping to see from the Sharks

The brilliance of Aphelele Fassi, Sbu Nkosi, Andre Esterhuizen, Makazole Mapimpi and Louis Schreuder left the Sharks at the top of the Super Rugby table when rugby stopped, but now the KwaZulu-Natalians are without those backline stars. Playing at Loftus Versfeld encourages running rugby and the Sharks will certainly be trying to maintain their up-tempo style, and hopefully Curwin Bosch, Sanele Nohamba, Lukhanyo Am and Jeremy Ward can continue to spark the attacking approach, with the likes of Manie Libbok, Marius Louw, Werner Kok and veteran JP Pietersen being valuable contributors to it as well.

Who I am excited to see in action in the Bulls team

Jake White has spoken about locks being an area of focus for him, expressing his desire to bring back the sort of yster second-rower Bulls rugby is famous for. Jason Jenkins is the sort of rampaging No.4 who could fit the bill. Given the injuries at lock in the Springbok squad, Jenkins should be roaring around the field on Saturday.

Who I am excited to see in action in the Sharks team

Coach Sean Everitt has spoken about the great returns his team have obtained from contestable kicks, giving them plenty of turnover ball to play from, and it will be interesting to see whether scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba has the applicable skills to drive this. “We’ve lost experience at scrumhalf in Cameron Wright and Louis Schreuder, but we have good depth. Sanele, Jaden Hendrikse and Grant Williams haven’t had much opportunity though. Sanele is quick, he can get around the field and is a threat on the counter-attack, our link between forwards and backs. Jaden was voted the best U20 player in South Africa and Grant is as quick as a guy like Mapimpi,” Everitt said this week.

Who I think will win this match, and why

Jake White has assembled a very good pack, so if they can deny the Sharks at source then it will be tough for the visitors. But the Sharks are a fine attacking side, able to expoit any mistakes and defensive weaknesses offered to them by the Bulls. It should be a very good clash of styles.

The poor rugby players of the Eastern Cape have been put through the mill by their administrators, which is particularly sad because this is the hotbed, the nursery of Black African rugby in this country.

As we have discovered in cricket, a players’ union has an important role to play in safeguarding the interests of the sport’s major assets, so it was pleasing to see MyPlayers issue a strongly-worded statement in defence of those Southern Kings players who have been left high-and-dry by the decision to liquidate the franchise.

The South African Cricketers’ Association have demonstrated that they can bring self-serving administrators to book and force them to honour their contracts with the players, and now it is time for rugby’s players’ trade union to follow suit. The success of SACA is largely due to the unity displayed by the players in getting behind their union, and the excellent work of president Omphile Ramela and the two CEOs of recent times, Tony Irish and Andrew Breetzke.

The players put their faith in their union once they see it achieving palpable successes and hopefully the strong stance taken by MyPlayers earlier this week in condemning the administrators of unions which just liquidate their commercial entities, leaving their creditors (which includes the players) out of pocket and simply carrying on like normal, continuing to enjoy their seat on the gravy train, will see the players’ union develop into an even more powerful stakeholder in rugby.

When the Kings just closed operations, the administrators responsible just sailed on with no consequences, but it was hell for the players, who were told just six days before they were due to get their salaries that there would be nothing paid to them.

“It is just not good enough for a union to shift all the financial blame to the commercial entity that was set-up and co-managed by the union. It is an easy buck to pass when you suffer no consequences for the failings of your commercial entity. Come Monday, it will be life as normal for the union. It will still enjoy its voting rights on the SARU General Council and be allowed to make important commercial strategic decisions on the direction of the professional game even though their own commercial entity failed.

“They will still receive their normal financial distributions from the professional game from SARU and be allowed to participate on the field in the professional game although their own commercial entity was liquidated. However unthinkable, they will be allowed to immediately set-up a new commercial entity like the one they had just voluntarily liquidated. There is thus a clear incentive for unions to liquidate commercial entities and walk away from financial obligations to get a clean second bite at the cherry while creditors and employees are left in the dust to pick up the pieces,” MyPlayers CEO Eugene Henning said in the statement.

Given that our cricketers have not yet gone on strike despite all the damage done to the game and their livelihoods by Cricket South Africa, rugby will carry on but it is a dangerous game with limited earnings time for the players and we can expect them to flex their muscles even more now that they have broken the ice.

Much like when former CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe mobilised against SACA, we can expect pushback from the dinosaurs amongst our amateur administrators who probably don’t want trade unions in rugby. Especially when they quite rightly start wanting to have a say in how rugby is run, no longer limiting themselves solely to wage negotiations.

Now that MyPlayers have started digging into maladministration at the unions – the Valke have also liquidated their commercial entity, while Western Province and Border have followed the same route – we can expect more and more holes in the governance of rugby to become apparent.

And MyPlayers have also suggested certain tools to ensure fairer treatment for the unfortunate players who are shafted by these delinquent unions.

After the liquidation of a commercial entity, the union should not be allowed to participate in professional rugby until such time that they have demonstrated their capacity to adequately manage a commercial entity. During this time, unions will receive substantially smaller distributions from SARU; they will forfeit their voting rights on SARU’s General Council on any matters pertaining to professional rugby and their directors will have to undergo a professional rehabilitation process and only be allowed to operate a company and participate in professional rugby competitions again once they have demonstrated that they are capable of running a successful and sustainable commercial entity.

The seeds of a much more professional game in this country are right there in the MyPlayers’ proposal, hopefully SA Rugby will not dibble around and delay implementing these much-needed changes, especially with all the unions fishing around for equity partners.

With rugby being such a global game now and South African rugby set to expand its footprint into Europe, our unions must remember that from a sponsor’s viewpoint, there are plenty of other fish in the sea.