Ken Borland

Canterbury Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder backed his team against charges of eye-gouging against the Northern Bulls during their 32-30 SuperRugby loss at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, saying he was concerned the new white card system could be manipulated by teams.
South African referee Jaco Peyper issued two white cards against the Crusaders after Bulls hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle, on the stroke of half-time, and eighthman and captain Pierre Spies, on behalf of lock Flip van der Merwe from the second-half kick-off, made allegations of eye-gouging at rucks.
Sanzar, SuperRugby’s ruling body, introduced the use of white cards this season for when referees suspect foul play but have not seen the incident or are unsure of the culprit. The card alerts the citing commissioner to view television replays of the incident and check whether it requires judicial action.
“Personally, I’m bemused. If the allegations made are shown to be false then I expect an apology because they’re pretty serious allegations and otherwise anyone can make allegations and we’ll have white cards all over the place. I’m not sure the system is designed for that,” Blackadder told a news conference after the game.
“There’s a process in place, but I would be very disappointed if the allegations are shown to be true. I know my players well, they’re guys of character and there’s no way they would do that [eye-gouge]. I’ll be interested in the outcome.”
The former Canterbury captain, who led his team to a hat-trick of Sanzar titles between 1998 and 2000, said he was proud of his team’s fightback after they had trailed 16-32 with just seven minutes remaining.
“We were right there at the end and I was really pleased by the fightback and we’ve gained a lot of self-belief here. We took a point from the game, there was a huge improvement and we’re back on track,” Blackadder said.

The former All Black captain bemoaned a lack of direct running, especially in the first half, when the Crusaders allowed the Bulls to claw their way back to 9-13 at the break, after the visitors had led 10-0 after 13 minutes.

“We played too far behind the advantage line, we attacked from far to deep. We moved the ball side-to-side and we did not engage the defence enough. When we fought back, that’s what we tried to do in the first half,” Blackadder said.

Spies said the Bulls had shrugged off the incidents.

“It’s just something that happens sometimes in the game and it’s in the hands of the referee and the judicial officers. We just stayed focused and as disciplined as possible, we wanted to keep the penalty count as low as possible,” Spies said.

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke said eye-gouging had no place in the game and he would be upset if the allegations were proven.

“There’s no place for foul play and silly incidents like that. There will be a review and there may be nothing, but it’s not part of the game. No-one wants to see that sort of thing.

“It’s tough to say what happened, but we’ll leave it for the judicial officers, they specialise in that,” Ludeke said.

The coach praised a top-class kicking performance by flyhalf Morne Steyn, who succeeded with eight out of 10 shots at goal for a tally of 22 points, for securing a crucial win for the Bulls, after the Stormers had opened up a sizeable lead in the South African Conference with a 21-6 victory over a strong Otago Highlanders team in Dunedin earlier on Saturday.

“It was a vital win for us and Morne’s kicks just before half-time and soon afterwards were the turning point for us. It gave us a positive mindset and the momentum for that opening try. We had good moments in the last 10 minutes of the first half and that’s when the momentum changed,” Ludeke said.

The penalty just after half-time closed the gap to 12-13, after which the Bulls scored two tries and Steyn added both the conversions and two penalties to put the home side in the driving seat.

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.

The Pune Warriors bowlers were able to break through regularly as they limited the Mumbai Indians to 100 for nine to clinch a 29-run victory in their Indian Premier League match at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday.

– http://www.supersport.com/cricket/article.aspx?id=1329151

It was a shock victory for the Warriors, who finished last in their debut IPL season last year and were playing away from home at the daunting stadium of one of the tournament favourites, and especially since they were only defending 130.

But the Mumbai Indians were in trouble immediately as new T20 sensation Richard Levi was stumped by Robin Uthappa for a duck off the second ball of the innings bowled by left-arm spinner Murali Kartik.

Ashok Dinda then opened the bowling from the Garware Pavilion End and produced a performance to rival that of Mumbai Indians’ star Lasith Malinga.

Dinda produced a double-wicket strike in his first over, having Ambati Rayadu caught at slip and then having Rohit Sharma caught behind by Uthappa, both for singles.

Mumbai were five for three before James Franklin and Dinesh Karthik added 49 for the fourth wicket to stabilise the innings. But the required surge of runs never came, although an exciting ending still looked likely as the home side reached 48 for three after 10 overs.

But the Pune spinners tightened their grip to strangulation point, with Karthik (32) surprised by a quicker, big-turning delivery from Kartik and being stumped by Uthappa.

Debutant Suryakumar Yadav was then bowled for a duck by a fizzing arm-ball from off-spinner Marlon Samuels and Kieron Pollard (8) was bowled by a similar quicker delivery by leg-spinner Rahul Sharma.

The big-hitting Pollard had been left with too much to do by Franklin, who tried none of the big hits required in the closing stages of a T20 match when more than 10 runs an over are required.

It’s fitting that when Franklin did finally try and hit out, in the 18th over, the bat went flying from his hands and the ball was skied to Callum Ferguson at long-on to give Dinda his third wicket. The New Zealander initially did a good job for his team, but it was heartbreaking for the home crowd to see him pushing singles when so much more was required. Franklin finished with 32 off 42 balls and his dismissal ended Mumbai’s hopes.

Pune captain Saurav Ganguly said at the toss that he expected the pitch to turn more in the second innings, and his trio of spinners produced a top-class performance to back up a canny display of leadership in the field.

While seamer Dinda finished with a phenomenal 4-17 in four overs, it was the pressure exerted by the spinners that helped him to his success.

The merry tunes played by Kartik (3-0-14-2), Rahul (4-0-16-1) and Samuels (4-0-21-1) would see the Mumbai batsmen spellbound and frustrated as Pune pulled off an impressive mugging at a packed Wankhede Stadium.

South African left-armer Wayne Parnell bowled a couple of top-class deliveries as he finished with a creditable 1-18 in three overs, claiming a late wicket when he had Malinga caught behind by a slick Uthappa for five.

The fact that none of the Pune bowlers conceded more than 6.5 runs per over told the story as the Mumbai Indians showed the fragility of their batting line-up without the injured and talismanic Sachin Tendulkar, who has not recovered from the finger injury suffered in the opening game.

IPL’S LEADING WICKET-TAKER

Malinga had earlier become the leading wicket-taker in IPL history as the powerful Mumbai Indians attack restricted the Pune Warriors to just 129 for nine.

Malinga, the Sri Lankan star, led the way with outstanding figures of 2-16 in his four overs – the first runs scored by a batsman off his bowling came after 11 balls.

The unorthodox slinger now has 65 wickets in 44 matches, overtaking Rudra Pratap Singh’s 64 wickets in 56 games.

Malinga was magnificent up front after the Mumbai Indians had decided to bowl first, bowling Manish Pandey for a duck in a wicket-maiden first over and then conceding just three runs in his second over. The 28-year-old returned in the 17th over with almost the same effectiveness.

Despite the slog being on, he conceded just 13 runs in his last two overs and bowled the dangerous Samuels for four with another trademark swinging yorker.

With off-spinner Harbhajan Singh sharing the new ball and doing a great job as well, the Pune batsmen were feeling their way from the start and Uthappa (36 off 33 balls) and Steven Smith (39 off 32) were the only ones to bat with any authority.

Paceman Munaf Patel also produced a top-class display as he took 2-26 in four overs, nipping a delivery back into Parnell (11) and bowling the South African left-hander, and then having Smith caught off a slower ball in a marvellous final over that cost just five runs.

Mumbai captain Harbhajan was also impressive with 1-16 in three overs, dismissing opposite number Ganguly (3).

Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha would come on later and also do a great job, taking 1-23 in four overs and turning the ball sharply.

Morne Morkel continued his wonderful form with the ball as he set up the Delhi Daredevils’ eight-wicket win over the Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday.

– http://www.supersport.com/cricket/article.aspx?id=1328391

The strike bowler, one of four South Africans in action in the match, took 3-18 as Kolkata, who were sent in to bat, were restricted to 97 for nine in their 12 overs in a rain-reduced match.

Morkel’s batsmen then made slightly heavy weather of the chase and it needed new-ball bowler Irfan Pathan’s 42 not out off just 20 balls to see Delhi home with five balls remaining.

After captain Virender Sehwag was well-caught by Iqbal Abdulla, running around the long-on boundary, off Rajat Bhatia for 20 off 13 balls, the Daredevils were 57 for two in the eighth over, needing 41 off 28 balls.

Medium-pacer Bhatia finished the over well and Delhi needed 39 off the last four overs, with Irfan having faced just four balls.

But he hit Jacques Kallis for six in the next over and then he hammered Marchant de Lange for two more sixes in the 10th over to get the required run-rate down to less than a run-a-ball.

It was surprising that Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir decided to bowl the inexperienced De Lange in the 11th over, the rookie South African conceding 17 runs as he bowled too short to Irfan, with the vastly-experienced Brett Lee still having an over left.

Aaron Finch scored 30 to ensure the Daredevils were off to a solid start, before Kallis (3-0-23-1) bowled a precise cutter to bowl the Australian.

De Lange had done much to ruffle the batsmen with some fiery bowling but Irfan was able to take his team home.

BRILLIANT YORKERS

Delhi Daredevils fast bowlers Morkel and Umesh Yadav had earlier crippled the Kolkata Knight Riders innings as they restricted them to 97 for nine in their 12 overs.

Morkel set the tone for the Daredevils’ dominance as he bowled Kallis (4) and Manoj Tiwary (0) with brilliant yorkers off successive deliveries on his way to superb figures of three for 18 in his three overs.

The South African giant had an impressive supporter in Indian star Yadav, who took two for nine in two overs, conceding just three runs in the penultimate over and claiming the wicket of top-scorer Laxmi Shukla for 26.

The match was played over 12-overs-a-side after a rain delay of two-and-a-half hours in Kolkata and, after being sent in to bat, the Knight Riders were quickly in trouble as Morkel and Roelof van der Merwe, his teammate at the Titans, reduced them to 20 for three after three overs.

Left-arm spinner Van der Merwe trapped Brendon McCullum lbw for nine before Morkel’s double-strike. Things only got worse for the Knight Riders as Yadav, who is not short of pace, had Yusuf Pathan caught behind for a duck as he got himself into a tangle against a short-pitched delivery.

Morkel, who took 6-23 in national colours in his last outing, then returned to bowl Indian star Gambhir, who failed to handle the extra bounce and chopped on, for 16.

Kolkata were 54 for five, but the Daredevils were guilty of taking their foot off the throat a bit as Debabrata Das was dropped on two and Shukla was able to hammer a four and two sixes.

Das scored 18 off nine balls and Shukla 26 off 17 but not even their efforts could save Kolkata from a half-baked innings.

Excellent bowling at the death by Yadav and Van der Merwe ensured that the Knight Riders’ run-rate never rose to any great extent, despite some lusty blows by Das and Shukla.

Morkel was obviously the best of the Delhi bowlers, but the efforts of Yadav and Van der Merwe (two for 28) were also of great value.