Ken Borland

The Canterbury Crusaders wasted the early advantage and were then accused of two counts of eye-gouging by the Northern Bulls as the New Zealanders were beaten 32-30 (half-time 9-13) by the South African team in their SuperRugby match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

South African Jaco Peyper issued white cards for further consideration of television evidence by the citing commissioner, after Bulls hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle and eighthman and captain Pierre Spies approached the referee and accused the Crusaders of eye-gouging them in the ruck in the 40th and 41st minutes respectively.

The Bulls won penalties for other ruck offences at the same time, with flyhalf Morne Steyn kicking both to bring the home side to within a point of the Crusaders (13-12).

The Crusaders had dominated the early stages of the match as they raced into a 10-0 lead in the first 13 minutes.

A crunching tackle by centre Ryan Crotty set up a penalty for the Crusaders, who kicked the ball to touch, won the lineout and then had captain and eighthman Kieran Read crashing through on a terrific angle to score the opening try, which was converted by flyhalf Dan Carter.

Carter then added a penalty after Crotty’s wonderful offload to fullback Israel Dagg, keeping the centre company on his shoulder, had taken the Crusaders back into Bulls’ territory.

Steyn kicked penalties in the 17th and 23rd minutes to cut the deficit to 10-6. Carter replied with a drop goal and missed a 28th-minute penalty, before Ralepelle stole the ball at a ruck and earned the Springbok flyhalf his third successful shot at goal, and then made the first startling allegation of eye-gouging.

Spies added to the drama straight after the kickoff when he complained of the same offence, with Steyn kicking a penalty for hands in the ruck to close the gap to 13-12.

The Bulls then surged into the lead in the 44th minute when, after a period of driving play by the forwards, flank CJ Stander burst clear and offloaded to loosehead prop Dean Greyling, who threw an outrageous dummy before charging to the tryline. Steyn converted to give the three-time champions a 19-13 lead.

Replacement centre Tom Taylor and Steyn exchanged penalties before the Bulls opened up a 32-16 lead with nine minutes remaining thanks to another penalty by Steyn and a try by centre Wynand Olivier, who was able to dot down the bouncing ball in the in-goal area after Dagg had failed to clear a Steyn chip-through, trying to kick the ball instead of falling on it.

The desperate Crusaders held sway in the last seven minutes as wing Sean Maitland’s weaving run pulled apart the Bulls’ defence and his fellow wing Zac Guildford showed good hands to take the try-scoring pass. Carter’s conversion closed the gap to 23-32.

Steyn then missed a penalty and Taylor had a try disallowed due to obstruction by Carter, but it had little influence as replacement fullback Tom Marshall burst through to score for the Crusaders immediately afterwards.

Carter converted but was left to rue his 64th-minute penalty miss from the middle of the field.

The Bulls defended stoutly in the closing moments to hold off the seven-time champions and record their fourth victory in six games, which moves them to fourth on the overall standings, four points behind fellow-South African Conference members and early pace-setters, the Stormers.

The Crusaders’ losing bonus point takes them to 19 points, seventh overall and seven points behind New Zealand Conference leaders, the Waikato Chiefs, who are second overall.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Dean Greyling, Wynand Olivier. Conversions: Morne Steyn (2). Penalties: Steyn (6).

Crusaders – Tries: Kieran Read, Zac Guildford, Tom Marshall. Conversions: Dan Carter (3). Penalties: Carter, Tom Taylor. Drop goal: Carter.

They say international sportsmen never lose the desire to go out there and play, and this must be especially true in the case of Victor Matfield who played 110 Tests for South Africa.
The lock retired at the end of last year’s World Cup and is now a forwards consultant with the Bulls, the team he led to three SuperRugby titles, as well as working as an analyst for broadcasters SuperSport.
“The change has been a bit different, and I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t miss playing,” Matfield told Midi Olympique.
The 34-year-old was a highly-respected man in rugby circles because of his astute reading of the game and, in particular, his mastery of the lineout that gave the Springboks the most feared set-piece in the world. Thanks to Matfield, South Africa were able to build an entire game plan around their lineout.
And it is Matfield who the new generation of Springbok locks – Andries Bekker, Flip van der Merwe, Eben Etzebeth and Juandre Kruger – will be looking up to for advice.
New Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer worked closely with Matfield at the Bulls and there is little doubt he will call his former captain in on a consultancy basis.
“I’ve always loved the game and I want to stay in the game, so coaching is obviously something I’m looking at seriously. The people I’m working with are the same people I’ve played with for the last four or five years and I know them very well.
“The Bulls job is working in almost the same way as when I was playing – I chat with the guys and then we come to a decision about what we’ll do. I’m just doing the chatting in an office now!” Matfield said.
Matfield ran the Springbok lineout for so long and he was pitch-side for SuperSport last weekend when the Bulls and the Stormers clashed in a massive SuperRugby derby that would determine first place in the conference.
The Stormers triumphed 20-17 in an epic battle and both lineouts impressed Matfield.
“Their lineout is one of the Stormers’ big weapons, but if you look at the stats so far this season, I think the Bulls have done better. In Juandre they have someone who really understands the lineout and manages it well. Both teams have five jumpers, and it’s a big challenge to everyone to counter their lineouts.”
So it seems there is a steady flow of locks waiting to replace a big hole in the Springbok second row left by Matfield’s retirement and Bakkies Botha’s move to Toulon.
Matfield, of course, helped Toulon to a promotion in 2008 and he believes his old mate Bakkies and the club are a perfect fit – a top-class forward going to a top-class club.
“The whole town gets behind the team and there is a tradition that the pack does not stand back for anyone. They need to dominate their opponents and Bakkies will definitely bulk up their pack.
“Their president, Mourad Boudjellal, is also a great guy, he really loves the game and the team.”
Matfield believes Boudjellal, who has been criticised for being too closely involved with the team, is busy baking up something special with Toulon.
“I think he wants to do something huge with Toulon. He’s very passionate, he’s poured his own money into the club and I think it’s great that he’s in the forefront. He’s got the team up in the first division and they might even push for the title this year. They’re also looking at a Heineken Cup place,” Matfield said.
There have been jokes suggesting Matfield will be lonely now that his long-time second-row partner Botha has gone to France, but the former captain said Bakkies is apparently having a great time in France.
“It sounds like Bakkies is really enjoying himself, he and Carl Hayman are cycling together to training and they both like the outdoors. I just told him that he must work on his French because he won’t hear a lot of English!” Matfield said.
Nowadays, mountain bike racing provides a salve for the absence of tough physical contact for Matfield, who does, however, still jump (and often beat) the Bulls locks in lineout training.
Matfield is just one of several Springboks who will no longer be wearing the Green and Gold this year, but his presence on the sideline should solve many of the problems Meyer will have in putting a new generation of stars together.
“If we left and that culture wasn’t instilled in the younger generation, we would not have done our job, so we believe we transferred that same work ethic and really caring and playing for each other. It is looking good at the moment,” Matfield said.

The Canterbury Crusaders used their forward dominance in the second half to beat the Gauteng Lions 23-13 in their SuperRugby match at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The Lions scored their only try four minutes before half-time to claim a 13-10 lead at the break, but struggled to get out of their territory in the second half as the Crusaders’ forwards took control, using tight play and direct running.

The New Zealanders regained the lead four minutes after the break as wing Sean Maitland gleefully ran on to a lovely grubber from fullback Israel Dagg, after the Lions had suffered a costly turnover in their own 22.

Centre Tom Taylor, who played at flyhalf for much of the second half as Dan Carter was substituted after an hour upon his return from groin surgery, kicked the conversion to make the score 17-13.

Taylor then failed with a 51-metre penalty attempt, but succeeded with penalties in the 48th and 63rd minutes to complete the scoring.

“We were really disappointed with our start, we were really inaccurate. But we played with better intent in the second half after sitting back in the first half. We had good field position and we wanted to be a lot more direct and go through the middle,” Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder told a news conference after the game.

“But we absolutely let a bonus point slip because we were really inaccurate, which is frustrating.”

The Lions dominated the first half as they kept possession for long periods. But it proved a false dawn for the SuperRugby strugglers as they battled to penetrate the tight Crusaders’ defence.

There were promising breaks by the home side, but captain and flank Josh Strauss passed straight to opposition centre Taylor with the tryline in sight, and lock Franco van der Merwe was held up over the line by scrumhalf Andy Ellis.

Ruck infringements accounted for the first points of the match for both sides as Lions flyhalf Butch James (19th) and Taylor (21st) kicked penalties.

Taylor’s first kick at goal came after wing Zac Guildford had opened up the Lions defence with a mazy run and the 23-year-old All Black also scored the opening try 10 minutes later when he raced on to Carter’s slick pop-pass on the inside after centre Robbie Fruean had crashed the ball over the advantage line.

Prop Pat Cilliers scored the Lions’ only try as he burst off the back of a ruck.

“The moments after half-time were the turning point. We just didn’t control possession and we weren’t accurate enough. It’s very obvious our lineout’s not working as we’d like and it’s unacceptable,” Lions coach John Mitchell said.

The Lions have now won just one of their five SuperRugby matches this season, while the Crusaders complete their two-match South African tour by playing the Bulls in Pretoria next Saturday.

Scorers

Lions – Try: Pat Cilliers. Conversion: Butch James. Penalties: James (2).

Crusaders – Tries: Zac Guildford, Sean Maitland. Conversions: Tom Taylor (2). Penalties: Taylor (3).

The MTN Golden Lions ran powerfully with the ball as they charged to a 71-25 (half-time 24-6) victory over the Griffons in their Vodacom Cup match at Coca-Cola Park in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The Griffons were outmatched up front and poor defensively, allowing a lively Lions backline to cut them apart, and the Northern Free Staters eventually conceded 11 tries.

The visitors started well enough, with flyhalf Reinard Erwee kicking a fourth-minute penalty to convert promising territory into points.

But the tightness of the Lions’ defence was such that the Griffons had to work hard for their points, while the sharpness of the Lions’ young midfield – flyhalf Marais Schmidt and centres Robert de Bruyn and BJ Moolman – meant the scoreboard became very ugly for the Northern Free Staters.

The Lions backs called the tune early on as Schmidt’s inside pass to De Bruyn led to the opening try and wing Anthony Volmink fed fullback Ruan Combrinck for the second try in the 13th minute.

Outside centre Moolman had a top-class game and scored two tries, although the grounding for his first five-pointer looked rather fishy after he had powered down the left-hand side and dotted down with just a finger’s worth of downward pressure in opposite number Werner Griesel’s tackle.

The Griffons were trailing 17-3 but seemed to be making a strong finish to the half as Erwee kicked another penalty and fantastic runs by fullback Virgil Russel and left wing Shane Hancke were both stopped a metre from the tryline.

The Lions’ clearance after the hooter went back to Hancke and he counter-attacked, but the Griffons lost the ball forward. The Lions then spread the ball wide and Moolman went sprinting over for the try from 55 metres out after throwing an outrageous dummy to befuddle the Northern Free State defence.

Schmidt added his second conversion of the half to give the Lions a 24-6 half-time lead and they put the Griffons to the sword after the break.

Lock Paul Willemse charged over from a ruck to open the second-half scoring, before burly centre Japie Nel dived over to give the Griffons some cheer.

Tighthead prop Ruan Dreyer, who had also given the Griffons a tough time in the scrums, burst from a ruck to score in the 52nd minute, Schmidt’s fourth conversion taking the score to 38-11, but the Griffons were still fighting, their efforts bringing a second try – replacement scrumhalf Tertius Carse breaking clear from a ruck, feeding prop Kewan Voysey, whose running and handling skills gave Russel the time and space to score.

Replacement flank Etienne Oosthuizen then scored for the Lions from his first touch of the ball, before Volmink scored a great try from the kick-off as he weaved his way out and in from the halfway line.

Volmink became the second Lions player to score two tries in the match with his intercept effort in the 76th minute, before the Griffons’ flanks, Willie Britz and Martin Sithole, combined superbly for a try to the latter.

Lions’ replacement wing JR Esterhuizen had been watching most of the match from the sideline, but took out his frustration in the last two minutes with two dazzling tries.

The final two points of the match came via the boot of replacement flyhalf Guy Cronje, as the Lions emphatically demonstrated the gap between the resources of the big unions and the minnows.

The bonus-point victory lifts the Lions to within touching distance of the North Section leaders, while it increases the misery of the Griffons, who have lost all three of their matches by wide margins.

SCORERS

MTN Golden Lions – Tries: Robert de Bruyn, Ruan Combrinck, BJ Moolman (2), Paul Willemse, Ruan Dreyer, Etienne Oosthuizen, Anthony Volmink (2), JR Esterhuizen (2). Conversions: Marais Schmidt (6), Guy Cronje (2).

Griffons – Tries: Japie Nel, Virgil Russel, Martin van Wyk. Conversions: Tiaan van Wyk (2). Penalties: Reinard Erwee (2).

http://www.supersport.com/rugby/vodacom-cup/news/120331/Lions_charge_to_victory_over_Griffons