Stegmann & scrum should hold Bulls in good stead 0
|
Beyers has amnesty after one game 0
“Ulrich was withdrawn from the match against the Sharks for personal reasons, it was an off-field matter and we’re happy with the way the disciplinary hearing went,” Bulls coach Frans Ludeke said on Tuesday, without revealing any further details, although there have been suggestions the misdemeanour was alcohol-related.
The return of Beyers is one of four changes to the backline, with the Bulls welcoming back Springboks Akona Ndungane, JJ Engelbrecht and Piet van Zyl.
Engelbrecht’s campaign to get back into international rugby begins in earnest on Friday and the 25-year-old will fill the number 13 jersey left vacant by William Small-Smith’s knee injury suffered against the Sharks last weekend. With the outside centre position in the Springbok team the subject of much debate, Engelbrecht will be eager to finish the year strongly.
The Port Elizabeth-born Engelbrecht played the last of his 12 Tests in November against Scotland at Murrayfield and the time for him to impress is short, with the Bulls struggling to make the Currie Cup playoffs.
The Cheetahs are the team immediately above the Bulls on the log, five points ahead in fifth place, so the importance of victory for Frans Ludeke’s team in their third-last round-robin game is clear. And the coach has responded to the urgency by making six changes to his starting line-up, four of them in the backline.
Apart from Engelbrecht’s return, long-serving star Ndungane replaces fellow Springbok Bjorn Basson, who is yet to regain his spark after a long injury layoff, on the wing, Beyers is back at fullback in place of Kriel after being dropped for the Sharks game for disciplinary reasons, and Van Zyl will be the starting scrumhalf, rotating with Rudy Paige.
There are just two changes up front with captain Deon Stegmann returning in the number six jersey after serving a one-match suspension for elbowing an EP Kings player, and Bongi Mbonambi rotating with Callie Visagie at hooker.
Although flank Jacques du Plessis did not train on Monday due to a badly-bruised thigh, he will be fit for the Bloemfontein trip.
Ludeke said his team are still in the running for the knockout stages of the Currie Cup in October, but they need perfect execution of their game-plan from here on in.
“We’re still in the running, but talking about it doesn’t help, we have to come out and perform. Exerting pressure will be vital, it’s knockout rugby for both teams, and ball-control will be vital for us, we have to be clinical and play in the right areas.
“A bunch of things work for us – like our shift to being more dangerous from broken play, the driving maul from the lineout – we just need to get it all to come together this weekend. We need to get the crucial decisions right in this game,” Ludeke said on Tuesday.
Team: 15-Ulrich Beyers, 14-Akona Ndungane, 13-JJ Engelbrecht, 12-Burger Odendaal, 11-Sampie Mastriet, 10-Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9-Piet van Zyl, 8-Jono Ross, 7-Jacques du Plessis, 6-Deon Stegmann, 5-Grant Hattingh, 4-Paul Willemse, 3-Werner Kruger, 2-Bongi Mbonambi, 1-Dean Greyling. Reserves – 16-Callie Visagie, 17-Morne Mellet, 18-Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19-Wiaan Liebenberg, 20-Rudy Paige, 21-Tian Schoeman, 22-Jesse Kriel.
Full report – http://citizen.co.za/247061/bulls-beyers-off-the-hook/
Lineouts the death of the Bulls – Ludeke 0
Lwazi Mvovo was a consistent threat to the Bulls defence
Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke admitted after his team’s 26-15 defeat at the hands of the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld that the disintegration of their lineout had been the death of their chances in their Absa Currie Cup match on Saturday night.
“Our lineout collapsed tonight and you need those sort of basics in order to win, that meant we weren’t able to put pressure on the Sharks through that. The way the Sharks contested the lineout put us under huge pressure, they would move just before the call and we didn’t adapt well enough and it meant we lost a key weapon. We need to be smarter at the lineout because it has a huge mental impact in our game, if you lose your lineouts then you’re always on the back foot,” Ludeke said after the match.
The defeat left the Bulls woefully off the pace in the Currie Cup, in sixth place, five points behind the Pumas and Cheetahs, and killing the momentum from two wins in a row.
“Trusting the process is the main thing, it was able to get us out of a bad start in the competition and we had some good wins. We had some good momentum with wins at home and we don’t want to lose here. The big thing is getting the tactical decisions right under pressure,” Ludeke said.
The Bulls thoroughly dominated the first half, but only had four Jacques-Louis Potgieter penalties to show for it, adding one more in the second half, while the Sharks were able to make much better use of their possession, scoring tries through wings Lwazi Mvovo and S’bura Sithole.
But according to Ludeke, their inability to cross the tryline is not a problem.
“The reason we didn’t score any tries is because of infringements at the breakdown, we had three penalties there and that’s where tries come from. We were in control in the first 40 minutes, but every time we got three points, we wouldn’t exit properly and they would get an easy three points back. We want to build the innings and take the three-pointers,” he said.
Mvovo scored a 50-metre intercept try a minute before half-time to allow the Sharks to go into the break with a 13-12 lead despite looking totally out of the contest and at odds with referee Quinton Immelman’s interpretations.
Buoyed by the late bonus, they came out a different side in the second half and held on to their possession much better, often simply refusing to let the ball die. Their second try, nine minutes into the second half, was a case in point.
Mvovo burst clear on a splendid run off a lineout move to put the Sharks on attack, and Sithole on the right and fullback SP Marais on the left flank both went to great lengths to keep the ball alive, while eighthman and captain Tera Mthembu’s storming run took the visitors into the Bulls’ 22.
From a ruck in the 22, flyhalf Lionel Cronje then produced a deft cross-kick for Sithole to score in the corner.
Cronje added the conversion and two more penalties to complete a fine game for the former Bulls player.
“We knew it would take an 80-minute effort up here and it was great to see such huge commitment. They showed a huge amount of character, making tackle after tackle and they kept working for each other.
“We’ve struggled this year to take our opportunities, but that was good tonight which was great to see. We also had good reward at the breakdown, which kept the Bulls under pressure, while the lineouts were a huge bonus. We know they like to maul, so we were able to deprive them of the opportunity to do what they’re really good at. I’m very happy with the contesting,” Sharks coach Brad Macleod-Henderson said.
‘The most boring game of rugby I’ve seen in a while’ – Ackermann 0
“The first half especially was so poor, we just couldn’t get our game to flow, it was penalty after penalty. The Bulls would just bomb it back, we wouldn’t be able to control the ball so we’d scrum again. It was the most boring game of rugby I’ve seen in a while and it’s not good for the supporters either.
“It was just penalty after penalty, high ball after high ball. A disappointing match with strange decisions,” Ackermann said after the game.
The Bulls totally dominated territory in the first half as they racked up a 19-12 lead at the break. The home side then stretched that to 29-12, but the Lions dominated the final quarter and the introduction of Sevens Springbok Kwagga Smith at eighthman and fullback Andries Coetzee moving to scrumhalf saw them score two tries in five minutes to close the gap to 29-26.
But the impressive comeback was ended in the 79th minute when the Lions were penalised at scrum time, with the Bulls front row going up, and lock Grant Hattingh scored from the rolling maul set up from the lineout.
Ackermann said the decision by referee Marius van der Westhuizen puzzled him.
“I’d like to know what we did wrong at that last scrum when the score was 29-26, is the referee saying you’re no longer allowed to dominate a scrum?
“I think the referee wasn’t certain what was happening in the scrums, all the props were guilty of not binding properly, but it was one penalty for me, one penalty for you the whole match. It was frustrating because I think we had the scrums under control but still had a few penalties against us. Normally the apology comes on the Monday, but by then it’s too late. Something urgently needs to be done about the scrums,” Ackermann pleaded.
Bulls coach Frans Ludeke, on the other hand, felt the referee had made the right decisions.
“The scrums were a huge battle and there were problems with the binding and hinging of both packs. I thought all the decisions were accurate and both packs got penalised. It depends on how you view the scrums, Johan Ackermann probably feels they had an edge at the scrums and they didn’t get the benefit of that. But I thought we were better than them in all other facets,” Ludeke said.
The Bulls coach said he felt his team were turning the corner after losing three of their first four games.
“It’s a great feeling because we worked hard and the way we reacted because we were under pressure. It brought us together and we backed each other. I felt the gain-line and collisions were better in this match than in any other game and that’s why we got reward.
“The Lions like to counter-attack from broken field, they like to move the ball around from deep, that’s their strength, but our first-time tackling was great and if you can defuse that then you get a lot of energy from that. The hunger to succeed was massive and we’ll take a lot from this,” Ludeke said.
`Ackermann acknowledged that his team did not have the energy of the Bulls.
“We just need to look at ourselves and work out why the levels of intensity and energy weren’t there. Everything just looked slow in the first half, we didn’t react to the Bulls’ game and back ourselves to play more. There wasn’t enough ball-in-hand, not enough flow.
“We lost patience and suddenly had one-off runners against a hungry, desperate side, which doesn’t help. There was no tempo or speed to our game, they slowed down our ruck ball and the stop-start game suited the Bulls,” Ackermann said.