Ken Borland

The Valke, with their pack making the hard yards, successfully stymied the dangerous Border backs as they beat the Bulldogs 33-11 (half-time 19-6) in their Absa Currie Cup First Division match at Buffalo City Municipal Stadium in East London on Friday.

The Valke’s dominant, bulky pack was able to make life very difficult for the Bulldogs backs, who had to put up with back-foot ball almost throughout the game.

The weather might have been cooler in East London, but the Valke were hot, with flank Jacques Nieuwenhuis, freshly back from France, and flyhalf Karlo Aspeling revelling in the platform provided by their tight forwards.

Aspeling showed the silky handling skills of flyhalves in a bygone era as he dummied his way through for the opening try, in the fifth minute, and his deceptive running also set up the try on the stroke of half-time by centre Willie Odendaal that gave the Valke a 19-6 lead.

The Valke then scored in the first minute of the second half as Nieuwenhuis charged over and, even though the Bulldogs replied with a fine try by eighthman Lubabalo Mzwakali, it was a forlorn enterprise as the Gautengers remained in control and added to their tally with a second try to Namibian international Nieuwenhuis.

Aspeling’s fine game also extended to his kicking, as he also slotted four conversions.

The Valke’s other try came in the 38th minute as they kept things tight and hooker Werner du Preez, a tidy replacement, forced his way over the line.

While Aspeling was one of the standout players, he was well-served by scrumhalf Jaco Snyman, who invariably took the right options. The Valke were also helped by having two formidable locks in Johann de Bruin and Christopher Yearsley.

SCORERS

Border Bulldogs – Try: Lubabalo Mzwakali. Penalties: Reinhard Gerber (2).

Valke – Tries: Karlo Aspeling, Werner du Preez, Willie Odendaal, Jacques Nieuwenhuis (2). Conversions: Aspeling (4).

http://www.supersport.com/rugby/currie-cup-first-division/news/120706/Valke_beat_Bulldogs

Pierre Spies has served the Springboks under Jake White, Peter de Villiers and now Heyneke Meyer, and the eighthman says South Africa’s newest coach’s strengths of precise planning and mental skills will keep the team moving forward.

“It’s been a great privilege to play under three Springbok coaches now and they’ve all had a significant impact on my career,” Spies tells Midi Olympique at his home fortress of Loftus Versfeld.

“Heyneke has such amazing plans set out for the team and has a great pride in the Springbok jersey. He is someone who really enjoys the psychological side of things and he always has an interesting story to tell which motivates the players.

“That’s what makes him special and also that he is such a meticulous planner.”

Spreading the ball wide is not a major feature of the Meyer plan and Spies explains that this was because he wanted the Springboks to play to their strengths – massive forwards who can carry the ball and dominate the tight phases.

“It’s important for us to get momentum, to build pressure and then convert that into points, because that’s what rugby is about. The result is all that matters,” Spies says.

The Springboks began the Meyer era with a 2-0 series win over England, but the final Test was drawn 14-14 in Port Elizabeth with the home side struggling to match the hunger and intensity of the visitors.

“It’s important that we learn from the last game, but I think the series as a whole went really well. We were together as a group for just three weeks and it was a massive challenge because England had been together for the whole Six Nations and were desperate for the result.

“We had to work really hard, but Heyneke and the management team planned things properly and we were able to build and lay a good foundation for the Rugby Championship,” Spies says.

While the 27-year-old believes the Springboks can only get better, he adds that England have sent out a clear message that they are gearing up well for another World Cup challenge on home turf in 2015.

“England have some great players and if they can keep this squad together for a few more years, then they will definitely be a threat at the next World Cup,” Spies says.

“But we’ve also laid a good foundation. England were definitely fresher than us and had much better preparation because we came straight off SuperRugby, while they played Six Nations together and then had a break.

“That’s why it was such a good result for us. We hadn’t played together for a while and the only way for us to get better is by playing together,” Spies says.

The former wing is heading into a crunch game for his Bulls team on Friday night when they take on the Sharks in Durban. Defeat for Spies and his men will signal the end of the road for their hopes of topping the South African Conference.

But even so, it has still been an impressive campaign for the Bulls, considering they have lost so much experience with the departures of Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez, Bakkies Botha, Danie Rossouw, Gurthro Steenkamp, Gary Botha and Derick Kuhn.

“As a group, at the beginning of the season, we looked at the calendar and set goals for ourselves. Even though we lost a lot of experience, we still have the right mix of youth and talent and experience. Hopefully this will set us up for the years ahead.

“The management group has set us up nicely for the final run-in now and we’re heading into an exciting part of the tournament. There’s a lot at stake, but we must just focus on our play and our processes.”

With the changing of the guard at Loftus Versfeld, Spies was given the captaincy and the committed Christian has handled the added responsibility relatively easily.

“It’s a journey on which I learn every day. I’m just very proud to be part of such a talented group. There’s a great environment created by the management and the culture around the players is very special.

“It’s a great honour and I learn a lot every day. Hopefully I’ll be captain for a few more seasons,” Spies says.

With the publication of his autobiography, More than Rugby, last year, Spies revealed an impressive ability to rise above hardship – the loss of his father when he was still a teenager and injuries that kept him out of the U19 World Championship and the 2007 World Cup with a potentially career-ending blood condition.

So it is no surprise that he still believes the Bulls have a date with destiny with the SuperRugby final on August 4.

“Our mentality is the same as always, we want to win every game.”

And after that comes the Rugby Championship, which the Springboks will finish on October 6 at the stunning FNB Stadium in Soweto, the venue for the 2010 Soccer World Cup final.

Last October seems a long time ago now for Lions fans as their union gets knocked from all sides, not just on the playing field but also in the boardroom.

John Mitchell, having overseen their fairytale Currie Cup triumph on October 29 last year, has now been suspended, adding to all the financial worries and the threat of SuperRugby expulsion hanging over the Lions’ heads.

To say Mitchell has an overbearing personality would be putting it mildly. There are very few people in Lions rugby who are willing to say they will be sad to see him go.

The New Zealander deserves credit for restoring pride to the Lions, but once he had done that, his limited man-management skills came to the fore and Mitchell’s old-school views on discipline and treating players like kids in boarding school eventually lost him the team.

In this professional era when even the players’ breakfasts are measured,  getting them to run a marathon around the Johannesburg Stadium athletics track just two weeks before their opening SuperRugby fixture looks pretty dumb.

Mitchell has had a simmering relationship with the media as well. While any dissenting voices amongst the team were quickly put in their place, any questions from the press that Mitchell did not approve of would lead to cold-shoulder treatment and public ridicule.

I was not the only journalist who was told “Well I don’t know what match you were watching, mate.” Mitchell seemed to take delight in cutting down the media, preferably in front of large audiences in the Lions auditorium, as he did one day to the 94.7 Highveld Stereo man, who’s question was totally well-meaning and non-confrontational. And that’s the same radio station that have been long-term sponsors and supporters of the embattled team.

The players have been the brunt of some criticism suggesting they wanted to get rid of Mitchell because they just wanted a nice holiday when it came to training.

But it took enormous courage, led by impressive captain Josh Strauss, for them to stand up to their bullying coach. There is a good spirit of hard-working endeavour at Ellis Park, as president Kevin de Klerk pointed out.

“The spirit in the camp is very good and, if you think where the Lions were three years ago, we are substantially better off now. Rugby is a dynamic business and we would love it to be a plain-sailing ship, but we fool ourselves if we think that will be the case. We will deal with the John Mitchell matter with the correct protocol,” De Klerk said.

When De Klerk says the correct protocol, he is not beating around the bush – the Lions will have to religiously stick to the straight and narrow in the disciplinary process if they are going to successfully rid themselves of Mitchell.

The 48-year-old will show the same street-fighting attitude he imbued in the Lions in challenging his suspension. Mitchell has done it before – in 2008 the Western Force’s senior players staged a similar intervention, but his watertight contract meant they could not sack him.

Which is why there has been no criticism of Mitchell spewing forth from either the players or the board, and why De Klerk has made an about-turn and stressed that the suspension was not driven by the team.

“It’s inaccurate to say it was player-driven, it was not just the players on their own. And one can’t say Josh Strauss led the complaints, that would be inaccurate too. There were a number of issues,” De Klerk said.

The reason for this is that if it was just the players that had complaints about their treatment, Mitchell could turn around and say he was merely doing his best as the coach to make them a winning team, tough-love if you like. A lot of what coaches do to their teams could be considered unfair, but would it be illegal in terms of labour law?

Fortunately, it’s not just the players and media that Mitchell has alienated. It’s sponsors as well.

Did you see a whole heap of extra Lions coverage during their SuperRugby tour this year?

No, and that’s despite the considerable amount of money that MTN were willing to pay for two journalists to travel with the team. The sponsors obviously felt that their effort would be rewarded with extra coverage for the Lions and exposure for themselves.

Unfortunately, the journalists were left to survive on the same scraps given to the Australian and New Zealand reporters … Mitchell would not go out of his way to give them anything extra.

The Lions, under pressure from all sides, desperately need good PR, so it is time they called an end to the John Mitchell era.

The Bulls used their general dominance in the tight phases to set up an emphatic 40-24 (half-time 26-0) victory over the Cheetahs in their all-South African SuperRugby match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Bulls enjoyed a wonderful attacking platform from their dominant lineout and scrum, and thrilled their home crowd by running in six tries on their way to a 40-0 lead after an hour.

The Cheetahs saved themselves from further humiliation as they grabbed four well-taken tries in the final quarter.

The visitors held the Bulls for the first 18 minutes and even threatened when they managed to maintain possession through several phases, matching their hosts’ physicality in the collisions.

But the Bulls were able to use their dominance in the set-pieces to wear down the Cheetahs and slick finishing saw them score four tries and earn a bonus point before the break, on their way to a convincing triumph.

Far from playing uninteresting, forward-dominated rugby, the Bulls looked full of ideas and their opening try by eighthman Pierre Spies came after wing Akona Ndungane had counter-attacked off a poor kick.

A scintillating break by scrumhalf Francois Hougaard then set up the second try, by outstanding loosehead prop Dean Greyling, although part of the blame must lie with the Cheetahs lineout, who failed to take their own ball cleanly five metres from their tryline.

The Bulls’ third try, after 28 minutes, was a more bland affair, with fullback Zane Kirchner having a simple run-in after the Cheetahs failed to gather a massive up-and-under from flyhalf Morne Steyn.

Another Cheetahs mistake eight minutes later was ruthlessly punished by the Bulls as eighthman Ashley Johnson spilt the ball behind a retreating scrum and Hougaard pounced for an easy try.

A massacre looked in the offing as the Bulls kept up the pressure in the second half and the Cheetahs were reduced to 14 men as centre Andries Strauss was yellow-carded for pulling the hair of flank Jacques Potgieter while he was in a ruck.

Tighthead prop Werner Kruger was the final recipient of the ball and scored the fifth try after a series of forward drives by Greyling, hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle and replacement lock Wilhelm Steenkamp; and wing Bjorn Basson then scored the try of the match as he sped clear from turnover ball 60 metres out, his deceptive footwork and pace beating the Cheetahs’ cover defence.

“Our defence was good in the first half and we squeezed some turnovers. All our tries in the first half came from turnover ball. Looking at the big picture, I’m definitely satisfied with our performance tonight,” Bulls coach Frans Ludeke told a news conference after the game.

“It’s the story of our season so far. We didn’t have any intensity or momentum and the Bulls played off our mistakes. We made too many mistakes in the first half, but we were better in the second half,” Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske said.

But the visitors dominated the final quarter as WP Nel, the replacement tighthead, charged over for two tries, fullback Willie le Roux sprinted over from 55 metres out and flank Heinrich Brussow showed the pace of a wing to score the bonus point try.

The win puts the Bulls in fourth place on the overall standings, eight points behind the first-placed Chiefs, while they are still second in the South African Conference, four points behind the Stormers.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Pierre Spies, Dean Greyling, Zane Kirchner, Francois Hougaard, Werner Kruger, Bjorn Basson. Conversions: Morne Steyn (5).

Cheetahs – Tries: WP Nel (2), Willie le Roux, Heinrich Brussow. Conversions: Sias Ebersohn (2).