Ken Borland

The Stormers are not going to relinquish the South African Conference title without a fight judging by their brilliant 35-22 victory over the previously-unbeaten Brumbies at Newlands in the pick of the weekend’s SuperRugby action.

Although the Stormers are currently lying third in the conference standings, they are just three points behind the first-placed Sharks.

The Sharks have gone to the top of the conference after a thumping 64-7 win over the Rebels in Durban, but not too much should be read into that because the Melburnians were desperately poor and unable to secure much first-phase possession.

The Stormers, in contrast, were up against the competition-leading team who had dismantled the Sharks so impressively the weekend before. But this time the Brumbies were not able to physically dominate the opposition and, with the superb Stormers’ pack matching them in the collisions, the Australians were always chasing the game.

Brumbies coach Jake White perhaps divulged too much during the week when he expressed his confidence that his side could physically dominate the Stormers as well; if nothing else, it fired up the home side and the likes of Andries Bekker, Duane Vermeulen, Siya Kolisi and De Kock Steenkamp came out in a ferocious mood.

And the Stormers’ backs were no less impressive.

Current Springbok captain Jean de Villiers produced an inspirational performance at inside centre, while Gio Aplon was electrifying on attack. Elton Jantjies may not be the incumbent Springbok flyhalf, but on Saturday night’s showing he might just be the form number 10 in the country as he pulled the strings beautifully for the Stormers’ backline, showing wonderful vision, skill and awareness.

But the premier reason why the Brumbies’ four-match unbeaten run was finally ended was their failure to get forward momentum and Bekker was immense and prominent all over the field in ensuring the Stormers had the front-foot ball. South Africa’s best number 5 lock left many bemoaning the fact he is off to Japan at the end of the competition and will probably not be available for the Springboks.

In Durban, the Rebels made a tasty meal for the Sharks as the home side made up for their anonymous display against the Brumbies with a record 10-try feast.

Such was the dominance and vigour of the Sharks’ tight five that the Rebels were made to look rather foolish, conceding a couple of tightheads, making no impression in the lineouts and comprehensively losing the crucial battle of the gain-line.

Hooker Kyle Cooper, who is rapidly becoming a cult figure at Kings Park, gave another livewire display and scored a memorable try from 20m out, while 20-year-old Pieter-Steph du Toit looks a top-class prospect.

A thoroughly dominant scrum gave a rampaging loose trio a wonderful base to launch from and Keegan Daniel, Ryan Kankowski and Jacques Botes produced a marvellous display of support play and skilful attack.

Coach John Plumtree’s changes obviously sparked a more enthusiastic display from the Sharks and the Kings Park hierarchy will be delighted that members of the younger generation like Cooper, Wiehahn Herbst, Du Toit, Cobus Reinach, Pat Lambie and Paul Jordaan are making such progress.

But veterans such as Meyer Bosman, a sly old hand at inside centre, Tendai Mtawarira, the cornerstone of their pack, Franco van der Merwe, the leader of the lineout, their loose trio, and exciting backs Louis Ludik, Lwazi Mvovo and JP Pietersen are also still making vital contributions.

The other South African winners over the weekend were the Cheetahs, who completed their most successful tour ever with their third victory, 19-10 over the Western Force in Perth.

Apart from getting themselves in trouble by exorbitantly trying to run the ball from their own 22 on a couple of occasions, the Cheetahs were impressive, especially in defence.

Their attempt in the 27^th minute to run the ball out of their own 22, having held the Force scoreless until then, was particularly expensive as a flustered Raymond Rhule passed the ball into a Force player, the visitors regained possession and quickly spread the ball wide for Winston Stanley to dive over in the corner for their only try.

It gave the Force the lead and they held it until the last 10 minutes when the Cheetahs showed the character and new maturity that had been missing in the last couple of seasons when they went down to numerous narrow defeats.

Riaan Smit, the replacement for the injured Johan Goosen in the number 10 jersey, then kicked a couple of penalties and then made the crunching tackle that dislodged the ball as the Force desperately attacked in the closing minutes. The loose ball was hacked ahead and right wing Willie le Roux, a conspicuous absentee from Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer’s plans thus far, was on hand to claim the match-winning try.

Another Cheetah who has been given short shrift by Meyer – openside flank Heinrich Brüssow – returned to the starting line-up and had a huge impact, especially at the breakdowns.

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke’s controversial selection backfired as the Bulls slumped to a 23-18 defeat at the hands of the Reds in Brisbane.

The introduction of some fresh faces up front, especially the return of Dewald Potgieter to the loose trio, certainly added some extra intensity to the Bulls’ early efforts, but the backline defence and the poor game plan gave little protection when the Reds’ elusive backs began stepping and weaving.

The Reds’ kickers did not pose any such threat and the Bulls could easily have won this game had they stuck to kicking the home side into the corners and pressurising their lineout.

But a flatfooted, often porous defence did not put any pressure on the Reds’ ball-carriers and, just to add to the growing sense of frustration, referee James Leckie did not officiate with any consistency either.

The one area where Leckie was consistent was in the yellow-carding of Jono Lance and Lionel Mapoe for tip-tackles. According to the details of the law, the decisions were correct because both Lance and Mapoe lifted their opponents’ legs beyond the horizontal. But neither tackle had any malicious intent whatsoever and Mapoe was particularly unfortunate because, in his case, prop James Slipper was actually leaping upwards anyway to evade the tackle.

The current rule on tip-tackles is ridiculous because it is open to exploitation by the ball-carrier and, if the IRB law-makers had any feel for the game, they would amend it. Reinach was the third unfortunate casualty of the nonsense law during the Sharks game.

Just to show how easily the Bulls could have won the game, outside centre JJ Engelbrecht came within inches of scoring a match-winning try after the hooter, but had just stepped on the touchline.

The Southern Kings were the least surprising South African losers of the weekend, going down 55-20 to the seven-time champion Crusaders in Christchurch. The Kings actually scored first with a first-minute penalty by Demetri Catrakilis, but the Crusaders replied with two tries in the opening 15 minutes as the rookies seemed overawed by playing in Christchurch, away from home for the first time.

The in-your-face defence that characterised their previous games was strangely absent and they were soundly dominated in the rucks, again not committing enough players.

Flank Wimpie van der Walt did drive over for a try in the dying moments of the first half, but the Crusaders went into the break 31-13 in front.

The nerves obviously settled a bit in the second half and the Kings gave a better account of themselves, even though there was still some hesitancy in defence. Fullback George Whitehead capped an impressive game as he rounded off a great try in the closing moments, but the Kings now know that being on the road in Australasia is not a cosy experience for greenhorns.

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It was generally ugly, but the Vodacom Blue Bulls got the job done and beat the Toyota Free State Cheetahs 31-22 to stay alive in the competition in their Absa Currie Cup match in Bloemfontein last night.

The amount of aimless kicking had irked the Bloemfontein crowd throughout the game and it was ironic that it was a charged-down attempted drop-kick by Cheetahs flyhalf Willie du Plessis that sealed the Bulls’ win.

Replacement flank Wian Liebenberg was up quickly in defence and the ball rebounded off his hands for wing Sampie Mastriet, who had a wonderful game, to gather and streak away for the try.

But where the Bulls really won the game was in the period of excellent ball-retention and multiple phases they put together to earn Jacques-Louis Potgieter a penalty shot in the 77^th minute. The sharpshooting flyhalf nailed the kick from 5m in from touch to cancel out a 73^rd-minute drop goal by Du Plessis that had snatched a 22-21 lead for the home side.

The Bulls had the upper hand in the first half, but they once again squandered opportunities on attack and they paid for poor discipline with both Potgieter and lock Paul Willemse being yellow-carded and Du Plessis kicking four penalties to keep Free State in touch.

The Cheetahs will be bemoaning their poor performance at the scrum, where they were penalised several times by referee Marius van der Westhuizen, but the Bulls will be pleased with the character they showed in denying the home side despite a much-improved second-half display.

Mastriet scored in the first half after props Dean Greyling and Werner Kruger went on the charge to earn a penalty, and a slick lineout move then created space for the wing, who regularly injected some much-needed pace into the Bulls’ attacks, to dot down.

But young Liebenberg will be the toast of Pretoria after ensuring that the Bulls will still have a chance of making the semi-finals when they take on the Pumas (away) and Griquas (home) in their last two games.

Scorers

Free State Cheetahs – Try: Sarel Pretorius. Conversion: Willie du Plessis. Penalties: Du Plessis (4). Drop goal: Du Plessis.

Blue Bulls – Tries: Sampie Mastriet (2), Grant Hattingh. Conversions: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (2). Penalties: Potgieter (4).

Continuity has always counted for a huge amount with Sharks director of rugby Jake White, so it’s no surprise that Currie Cup coach Brad Macleod-Henderson employs the same strategy, rewarding the team that so impressively beat the Blue Bulls at Loftus Versfeld with just one injury-enforced change for Saturday’s match against the EP Kings in Durban.

Flank Jacques Botes is the only player to miss out on selection, with the veteran suffering from a sprained shoulder joint. His place in the number six jersey will be taken by Khaya Majola, a product of Westville Boys’ High and a member of the 2012 IRB Junior World Championship-winning SA U20 side.

It will be the 22-year-old’s first start after making his debut off the bench last weekend in Pretoria.

There are two changes to the bench with Springbok lock Stephan Lewies returning after an injury-enforced intermission, while scrumhalf Conrad Hoffman is also fully fit again and replaces Hanco Venter amongst the replacements.

Although the Kings are propping up the bottom of the log after seven straight defeats, Sharks forwards coach Paul Anthony is expecting a full-on onslaught from the visitors.

“EP Kings will be difficult because they have nothing to lose, they can play as they want, with some sort of freedom. There won’t be any pressure on them, so we need to settle down, focus and go hard at them. We have to play well and have a good game, we have to man up defensively and we just have to keep winning,” Anthony said.

A climb to second place in the standings is not totally out of the question for the Sharks: if the Lions slip up against Griquas in Kimberley and the KwaZulu-Natalians secure a big bonus-point victory against the Kings, then the rapid improvement in log position will continue for Macleod-Henderson and his team.

Team: 15-SP Marais, 14-S’bura Sithole, 13-Paul Jordaan, 12-Andre Esterhuizen, 11-Lwazi Mvovo, 10-Lionel Cronje, 9-Cameron Wright, 8-Tera Mtembu, 7-Etienne Oosthuizen, 6-Khaya Majola, 5-Marco Wentzel, 4-JC Astle, 3-Lourens Adriaanse, 2-Kyle Cooper, 1-Dale Chadwick. Replacements – 16-Franco Marais, 17-Danie Mienie, 18-Stephan Lewies, 19-Johan Meyer, 20-Conrad Hoffmann, 21-Tim Swiel, 22-Tonderai Chavhanga.

It was a scintillating Saturday for left wing Seabelo Senatla at Loftus Versfeld as he scored a magnificent try and set up a brilliant second one as Western Province beat the Blue Bulls 23-18 in an entertaining Absa Currie Cup match.

Western Province bided their time, defending superbly as the Bulls dominated territory for long periods, and when they struck it was potent and clinical.

While the Bulls’ attack was mostly narrow, their forwards driving and mauling the ball up ad infinitum, Western Province kept their width and weren’t afraid to use it.

And the Bulls erred enough times while on attack to provide the visitors with counter-attacking opportunities. One of those was on the hour mark when wing Sampie Mastriet coughed up possession and Western Province fullback Cheslin Kolbe ran the turnover ball across the field and linked up with Senatla, who was holding position out wide on the 22m line.

Senatla had space, which is a recipe for disaster when defending against the Sevens star, and he embarked on a dazzling 80m run that saw him ignominiously burn William Small-Smith on the outside, before dancing infield and then bursting through Jesse Kriel’s tackle to score a try that will be remembered for many a day.

That brilliant try came just three minutes after Western Province had scored their first try, which was also a superb effort and possibly even more thrilling for the coaching staff because it came off a set-piece move.

From a lineout, flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis looped with eighthman Nizaam Carr and inside centre Jaco Taute then gave a super inside ball to Senatla, who came flying up from the left wing. The 21-year-old showed his wonderful feet as he danced through the gap and then fed the ball out wide to Kobus van Wyk, who had done well to keep his width, and finished with great pace himself.

Although Senatla was helped off the field soon afterwards after twisting his ankle, the injury is apparently not a major one and certainly not season-ending.

Catrakilis converted both tries and suddenly Western Province were 20-10 up when just five minutes earlier it had looked to be the Bulls’ day as they led 10-6 after a penalty by replacement flyhalf Tian Schoeman rewarded an excellent scrum by the home side.

“To play like that and to lose can make your mind go,” Bulls coach Frans Ludeke lamented after the match. “Credit to the players for a huge improvement and there were a lot of positives from that game. But we just lost momentum in the second half at crucial times, we didn’t exit well enough and there were soft moments.”

“I’m really very happy to beat a desperate Bulls side which showed a big improvement tonight, at altitude. It’s their first loss at Loftus Versfeld this year and if they’d played like that before they would have had many more points on the log. We made mistakes but it takes a tight team to pull through here,” Western Province coach Allister Coetzee said.

“Our defence is a non-negotiable, but we’ve also got the players to turn defence into attack. The outside backs were really switched on to that tonight and the half-backs also play a big role in that. We have strength, speed, guile and power in our backline and it’s a good combination.

“There’s a good balance to our play, it doesn’t depend on where we are on the field of play either, and we’re devastating at the moment from broken play,” the former Springbok assistant coach said.

The opening points of the match only came after 34 minutes of intriguing ball-in-hand action and massive defence by both sides.

A good kick by Kurt Coleman, on while Catrakilis was in the blood bin, forced the Bulls to concede a lineout just outside their 22 and the Western Province rolling maul earned the substitute flyhalf a penalty shot at goal.

Bulls flyhalf Joshua Stander  missed an easy penalty just a minute later and, after playing their best rugby of the campaign in the first half, dominating territory but hardly kicking, and pounding the advantage line, the home side would have been disappointed to have gone into the break scoreless.

Catrakilis landed a second penalty for Western Province five minutes into the second half – it came after a period of Bulls-like driving and mauling by the visitors – but it took just three more minutes for the hosts to score their first points, through a great try by storming flank Jacques du Plessis.

The Bulls were defending a lineout 30 metres from their line after a poor clearance by Kriel, but when Western Province threw over the top and eighthman Jono Ross won the ball, they again refused to just kick possession away. Instead Ross ran and found mobile lock Grant Hattingh, who burst clear into space. Mastriet then dashed down the right wing before the ball went back inside and Du Plessis charged over for an impressive try.

Stander converted and then his replacement Schoeman kicked a penalty to put the Bulls 10-6 up.

“We wanted to keep the pace and tempo of the game up, get numbers to the ball, and it was just our final passes that let us down,” Ludeke said. “We were really attacking the gainline and slowly but surely getting somewhere, but then we would give them broken field play and that’s where their tries came from. We need to look after the ball better, but I thought we had the better of them in the scrums and our lineouts were good.”

But then Senatla showed his extraordinary finishing talents to put Western Province firmly in control.

The Bulls held on to the ball well for the next 10 minutes to earn another penalty for Schoeman, but Dean Greyling’s high tackle on Kolbe gave Coleman the opportunity to restore a 10-point lead (23-13) just four minutes later.

The Bulls hammered away at close quarters in the final minutes and belatedly got quick ball out wide to Mastriet, who powered through two tackles from 20 metres out to score.

Schoeman missed the touchline conversion and the Bulls were unable to breach the phenomenal Western Province defence again before the final hooter sounded.

“We need the same effort but with more accuracy,” Ludeke concluded.

For Coetzee, Western Province’s fourth successive win not only stretches their lead at the top of the log to three points but could also be a watershed moment in their Currie Cup campaign.

“There’s a complete integration in our play and we need to keep going, be driven by our own standards and run our own race. Winning makes that easier and I must compliment the leadership for getting four points under these conditions: against a very desperate Bulls side at altitude,” Coetzee said.