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.

Defending SuperRugby champions the Queensland Reds came horribly unstuck at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday as the three-time champion Northern Bulls hammered them 61-8 (half-time 16-3).

This is the second time in five years that the Bulls have humiliated the Reds at Loftus, following the record 92-3 massacre in 2007.

The Reds are missing several injured or suspended members of their triumphant 2011 team, most notably flyhalf Quade Cooper, centre Anthony Faingaa and wing Digby Ioane, and they were never in the contest on Saturday.

“It was a bad night in the office all round, the performance was poor by us and a couple more injuries have added salt to the wound,” Reds coach Ewen McKenzie admitted afterwards in a news conference. “We hit a red-hot Bulls team tonight, they were very fresh and powerful.”

The Bulls scored just one try in the first half, through fullback Zane Kirchner after a five-metre scrum, but flyhalf Morne Steyn kicked three penalties and a conversion to give them a handy lead.

The Reds’ scrambling defence kept the damage down to just the single try, and centre Jono Lance missed two late penalties that would have kept them in touch.

But the Bulls were creating space on attack almost at will, and the Reds plunged into despair midway through the second half as the Bulls scored three tries to open up a 37-3 lead.

The powerful running of flank Jacques Potgieter and the great hands of Steyn put centre Wynand Olivier over for a try in the second minute of the half, before the strength of lock Flip van der Merwe carried him over the line in the 15th minute.

Potgieter then scored the try of the match as he burst clear from the halfway line and held off the cover defence to score the bonus point try.

“Everything came together tonight, it was a special performance, everyone brought something. It just wasn’t the Reds night, they were disrupted by injuries and citings, and I feel sorry for them,” Bulls captain Spies said.

The Reds responded by keeping ball in hand in entertaining fashion, fullback Rod Davies dashing down the right before wing Dom Shipperley rounded off on the left for the visitors’ only try.

But then it was back to the slaughter as the Bulls restored their dominance through keeping the ball close to the forwards. Eighthman Spies led from the front with several rampaging runs, while hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle and wing Akona Ndungane were also impressive.

Alert replacement scrumhalf Jano Vermaak sniped over from a ruck in the 66th minute, before flank CJ Stander, who chased turnover ball well all evening, scored from a rolling maul six minutes later.

Replacement flyhalf Louis Fouche’s conversion put the Bull score into the fifties and, even though coach Frans Ludeke cleared the bench, the substitutes continued to tear into the Reds, with centre JJ Engelbrecht and fullback Bjorn Basson scoring tries in the last five minutes.

“It was important we stayed focused in the second half and we finished strongly, it just kept getting better! I felt we had good momentum when we carried the ball,” Spies said.

The win took the Bulls, who last won the southern hemisphere franchise championship in 2010, into first place in the overall standings, one point ahead of the Waikato Chiefs. Fellow South Africans the Stormers will overtake them at the top if they beat the Gauteng Lions later on Saturday.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Zane Kirchner, Wynand Olivier, Flip van der Merwe, Jacques Potgieter, Jano Vermaak, CJ Stander, JJ Engelbrecht, Bjorn Basson. Conversions: Morne Steyn (5), Louis Fouche’. Penalties: Steyn (3).

Queensland Reds – Try: Dom Shipperley. Penalty: Jono Lance.

Flyhalf Morne Steyn became the third player to score 1000 SuperRugby points as he converted all six of the Northern Bulls’ tries and added three penalties in their impressive 51-19 hammering of the Central Cheetahs at Free State Stadium on Saturday.

Steyn joined Canterbury Crusaders star Dan Carter (1,272 points) and Australian Stirling Mortlock (1,031) as he became the first South African to reach 1000 points. He has now scored 1012 points in 91 games, all for the Bulls.

The Bulls played with 14 men from the 64th minute after Francois Hougaard, who had moved from scrumhalf to wing, was harshly red-carded by referee Craig Joubert for a tip-tackle, and finished the match with 13 men as flank Jacques Potgieter was yellow-carded for a shoulder-charge in the 78th minute.

But it was the Cheetahs who ended the match in a distraught state as, try as they might, they could not get through a fierce Bulls defensive line, led by their highly-physical but mobile tight five.

Props Dean Greyling and Werner Kruger, both capped for the Springboks last year, scored the first two Bulls tries from close range, the visitors’ potency on attack being largely due to their ability to secure quick ruck ball.

Cheetahs flyhalf Johan Goosen again kicked immaculately, succeeding with three penalties to keep the home side in touch heading towards half-time at 9-17 down.

But tremendously aggressive defence by the Bulls led to turnover ball, which Hougaard kicked deep into Cheetahs territory. Wing Akona Ndungane then managed to win possession, before the ball was spread wide for the other wing, Bjorn Basson, to beat a prop on the outside for another try.

The Bulls then scored on the half-time hooter to open up a commanding 31-12 lead. Centre Wynand Olivier’s lovely step inside created space on the outside for Ndungane, who burst clear before passing inside for fullback Zane Kirchner to score.

The Cheetahs dominated in the opening minutes of the second half, but incredible defence saw the Bulls resist 16 phases close to their own line, before Steyn landed his second and third penalties to stretch the lead to 37-12 after 58 minutes.

“We’re very disappointed, but credit to the Bulls, tactically they were better than us and credit to their defence. We were on their line for a while, but we couldn’t get through,” Cheetahs captain Adriaan Strauss said.

Hougaard was then red-carded, despite centre Robert Ebersohn twisting around in the tackle and deliberately going to ground head-first, and concerted pressure inside Bulls territory eventually saw hooker and captain Adriaan Strauss cross for the Cheetahs’ only try.

But the inspired Bulls remained in control and scored two more tries in the last 10 minutes, replacement centre JJ Engelbrecht pouncing on an intercept inside the Cheetahs 22 and Kirchner scoring a fine individual try.

“It’s easy to play well when 15 players are so willing to work hard for each other,” outstanding Bulls hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle said, before adding “Morne Steyn is a special athlete, well done to him.”