Ken Borland

The Bulls will complete another sad SuperRugby campaign in Pretoria today against the Cheetahs and, by the end of the game, Victor Matfield could be the last person remaining at Loftus Versfeld with any link to the glory days of 2007-2010 when they won the competition three times in four years.

The Bulls confirmed yesterday that the match against the Cheetahs will be the last for captain Pierre Spies and flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter as they join the overseas exodus of players that will also include Jacques du Plessis, Flip van der Merwe and Akona Ndungane, while Francois Hougaard is heading for Japan but negotiations are underway for him to return for next year’s SuperRugby tournament.

Matfield is not playing against the Cheetahs because he is being rested as per the agreement with the Springbok management, but he has already announced that his playing days will be over after the World Cup.

But the veteran lock is bound to be back at Loftus Versfeld in the new year because he is the favourite to replace Frans Ludeke as coach. The man who was behind the 2009 and 2010 wins faced the Bulls board yesterday in a last-ditch attempt to save his job, but unless there was a late change in heart, Ludeke is also on his way out.

So there will be a sombre mood at Loftus Versfeld tonight, made worse by the knowledge that even a Bulls victory will do little to change their fortunes in another season that has fallen way short of expectations.

At least the rugby on offer could provide some entertainment.

New Cheetahs coach Franco Smith is preaching an expansive, linking style of play, while Spies has stressed how determined the Bulls are to end on a high.

“There’s plenty of motivation because we want to end on a high. If we can get five points and finish in the top eight on the log then the picture looks a bit better. We want to play a good attacking brand of rugby and hold on to the ball for a few more phases. There should be plenty of broken-field play and the Cheetahs love that as well,” Spies said.

Putting their bodies on the line in defence is probably not going to rank too high on either side’s list of priorities, but the Bulls should have a slight edge in motivation as they look to avoid a third defeat on home soil this season.

He may well merely be delaying the inevitable, but Bulls coach Frans Ludeke on Thursday made four changes to his starting team for their final SuperRugby match against the Cheetahs at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Whatever happens, the Bulls cannot make the playoffs and Ludeke’s fate as coach will be decided by a board meeting at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.

Jan Serfontein, Deon Stegmann, Dean Greyling and Lappies Labuschagne are all unavailable due to injury, while Handre Pollard and Victor Matfield are sitting out as part of the Saru rest agreement.

Matfield is replaced in the second row by Grant Hattingh, with Arno Botha coming in for Labuschagne at flank. Greyling, who was only ruled out on Thursday morning due to a tight hamstring, will be replaced by Morne Mellet at loosehead prop, while Adriaan Strauss is back at hooker after having his Springbok rest.

Unless there is a change of heart amongst the board, Ludeke is expected to be relieved of the SuperRugby coaching duties, but is likely to stay in charge for this year’s Currie Cup before moving into a director of rugby type position.

Matfield, who is currently doubling up as the team’s attack and lineout coach, is the heavy favourite to be named as Ludeke’s successor and South Africa’s most capped SuperRugby player confirmed that the board can call on him as the new head coach.

“I’ve always said that after rugby I would like to go into coaching and we will see what is decided on Friday. I would love to be the head coach of the Bulls and it’s been fantastic coming on board the coaching team the last couple of years. Rugby is my life, I hate to lose and you can really feel the disappointment at Loftus at the moment,” Matfield said.

The board will surely have Matfield on speed dial on Friday and the 38-year-old hinted that he would lay down the law if he became the Bulls’ new head coach.

“In Super Rugby, the margins are so small and to win, everything has to be 100% right. We have to look at how we do things both on and off the field in order to get that winning culture back into the team,” Matfield said.

The irony is that Matfield must share the blame for the lame attacking displays of the Bulls that led to their demise in the competition.

Ludeke is a top-class human being, but a coach has a shelf-life with any team and his journey with this particular group of players would appear to be over. But the most experienced coach in SuperRugby was able to put a positive spin on his situation at Loftus Versfeld on Thursday.

“I’ve had positive meetings with management this week, there’s been transparency and honesty. After tomorrow [Friday] we will know more. I will give the board a review of the season and prepare for any questions they have. I will be accountable and we’ll also look at the way forward.

“We take responsibility because we haven’t achieved the goals we set ourselves and there are no excuses. But we have made big strides forward, the scrums have been a huge improvement, the maul has been really good and we’re definitely playing more ball-in-hand rugby and with more width. We’ve scored some great tries from open field and a lot of youngsters have come through who will play a lot of games for South Africa in the future,” Ludeke said.

Team: Jesse Kriel, Francois Hougaard, JJ Engelbrecht, Burger Odendaal, Travis Ismaiel, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Rudy Paige, Pierre Spies, Jacques du Plessis, Arno Botha, Grant Hattingh, Flip van der Merwe, Marcel van der Merwe, Adriaan Strauss, Morné Mellet. Bench – Callie Visagie, Trevor Nyakane, Werner Kruger, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Roelof Smit, Bjorn Basson, Tian Schoeman, Jurgen Visser.

The Bulls have to beat the Rebels in Melbourne this morning to remain in SuperRugby contention and they are also playing for the future of their coach, Frans Ludeke.

This is not only the Bulls’ last match on tour but it is also the final game before Ludeke faces the board back at Loftus Versfeld on Friday, the day before they host the Cheetahs. They will be out of contention for the playoffs by then, however, if they don’t beat the Rebels and end their 10-match losing run overseas. There are already noises emanating from Pretoria that Ludeke will be relieved of his duties unless his team stages a dramatic turnaround.

To do that, they are going to have to show much greater intensity in the collisions than they did in the lame display against the Brumbies last weekend.

“The Rebels are obviously a much-improved side, they beat the Crusaders away and the Chiefs. They have the most ball-carries and the best retention percentage, so they keep the ball and hold on to it. They have a strong set-piece, most of their tries come from the lineout, and they wear you down,” Ludeke said.

“We will have to squeeze turnovers, they concede a lot and we will have to make sure we force them with a good defensive line and not wasting people at the breakdown. The Rebels aren’t scared to take risks, they throw the ball around, so if we work hard in defence then we will get opportunities.”

The Rebels were poor in losing to a mediocre Sharks side last weekend in Durban and are now out of playoffs contention, but they were still talking a good game this week.

“I feel like there’s a lot riding on these last two weeks. Just because there’s only two games left, it doesn’t mean we can’t send a message about next year.

“We didn’t take our opportunities against the Sharks, for whatever reason, and this time we need to play smarter. We’re pretty confident of what we’re going to get presented with this week, so it’s another huge opportunity for us.

“The Bulls forward pack will be awesome; they’re so big so we’re really going to have to shut them down with two-man tackles. If we can shut them down that will take away a lot of their forward momentum,” lock Luke Jones said.

The Vodacom Bulls went top of the South African SuperRugby conference as they pipped the Emirates Lions 35-33 in a wild, thrilling evening at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

After the scintillating match between the Hurricanes and the Crusaders earlier in the day, the Bulls and Lions showed that here in Africa there is also skill and running rugby.

It was the Bulls who stampeded out of the blocks first, racing to an 18-7 lead and they were comfortably ahead 25-13 at the break. Both sides played with pace and intensity and were not afraid to spread the ball wide, but there was also plenty of uncompromising forward play, defence and fiercely-contested rucks.

Bulls scrumhalf Piet van Zyl scored the first two tries in a dazzling three minutes and it was a pity he had to leave the field injured in the 36^th minute because it robbed the Bulls attack of some fluency and also penetration out wide because Francois Hougaard had to move in and play halfback.

Van Zyl’s first try came after a superb counter-attack by the Bulls, who ran from deep and used long passes as flank Arno Botha was eventually stopped in the left corner, the scrumhalf then dummying at the ruck and diving over to dot down.

Three minutes later the Bulls again went wide and it didn’t matter that it was the big men there – locks Victor Matfield and Flip van der Merwe both handled with aplomb to send Botha charging down the left again, before he passed inside to centre Jan Serfontein, who then found Van Zyl, who battled through two tackles to score.

Van Zyl’s opposite number, Faf de Klerk, then lit up Loftus as he provided a brilliant finish to a break by right wing Ruan Combrinck and the conversion by flyhalf Elton Jantjies cut the Bulls’ lead to 12-7.

Pollard kicked two penalties to stretch the gap to 18-7, before Jantjies kicked his second penalty.

But the Bulls ensured they maintained a healthy cushion when JJ Engelbrecht teared off through the middle of the field after Serfontein had popped the ball up in the tackle, the outside centre racing clear and then sprinting around the cover defence for an extraordinary try, converted by Pollard.

Jantjies is staking a strong claim for a World Cup place behind Pollard and Pat Lambie, and he maintained his good goalkicking form with his second penalty of the first half.

This Lions team is a never-say-die outfit and the Bulls’ weakness is the scrum, which they managed to largely avoid in the first half. But with the second half starting with several scrums, the Lions were able to squeeze penalties out of the Bulls, denying them possession for long periods and dominating territory as well.

Referee Marius van der Westhuizen is clearly no scrum expert, but there was no denying the clear change in momentum as Jantjies kicked two penalties to close the gap to 19-25 and then the Lions took the lead for the first time in the 54^th minute.

Replacement Courtnall Skosan provided an injection of pace down the left and with impressive flank Jaco Kriel making an incisive run, the Lions swept into the Bulls’ 22, from where their forwards began driving and loosehead prop Jacques van Rooyen was able to go over for an easy try, converted by Jantjies.

Bulls captain Victor Matfield was getting increasingly frustrated with the referee, the Bulls being denied a crucial advantage at one stage, but it was regular captain, Pierre Spies, coming off the bench, who took control of affairs.

The eighthman leapt high to control a chip-kick and then sparked a counter-attack with Hougaard that ended with a ruck penalty inside the Lions’ 22. Spies immediately tapped the ball and powered his way through several tackles, scoring the crucial try that regained the lead for the Bulls with 12 minutes remaining. The Springbok has certainly been playing with tremendous authority in recent weeks.

The momentum also shifted in the scrums, with a massive shove earning the Bulls a penalty in the 76^th minute, Pollard slotting a 50m effort to stretch the lead to 35-26.

The smart money would then have been on the Bulls, but the Lions have a well-earned reputation for earning their pay over the full 80 minutes and the home side still have fresh scars from their last-minute loss a month ago at Ellis Park.

And sure enough, the Lions ensured a grandstand finish as they scored a 78^th-minute try to narrow the Bulls’ lead to 35-33. Coach Johan Ackermann had called on the services of Ross Cronje off the bench at scrumhalf and he sparked a counter that saw wave-after-wave of Lions attacks. Eventually the Bulls simply ran out of defenders and Kriel, one of the Lions’ consistent stars, had an easy run-in for the try.

But the Bulls were particularly effective in the rucks on Saturday night and they were able to claim a turnover from the kickoff and ended the match with a scrum five metres from the opposition tryline.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Piet van Zyl (2), JJ Engelbrecht, Pierre Spies. Conversions: Handre Pollard (3). Penalties: Pollard (3).

Lions – Tries: Faf de Klerk, Jacques van Rooyen, Jaco Kriel. Conversions: Elton Jantjies (3). Penalties: Jantjies (4).

http://citizen.co.za/374533/bonus-point-35-33-win-for-bulls-in-loftus-thriller/