Ken Borland

The Xerox Golden Lions produced a magnificent first half but fell off the rails in the second, before holding on for a thrilling 36-28 victory over the Vodacom Blue Bulls in their Absa Currie Cup match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.

Seen through the lens of the Currie Cup as a whole, the win should ensure the Lions finish top of the log and host whatever knockout matches they are in, while for the Bulls, their superb comeback failed to earn them a second bonus point, but they are still five points clear of third-placed Western Province.

The Bulls endured a nightmare start when nothing went their way in terms of refereeing decisions and they looked half-asleep, crashing to a 0-30 deficit after 34 minutes, but the way they performed in the second half is perhaps a truer reflection of their quality and the smart money will be on them getting a chance for revenge against the Lions in the final.

Whether referee Marius van der Westhuizen has cataracts or can only raise his right arm was the subject of furious debate for the fans of both sides as he blew the Bulls out of the first half and then proceeded to do the same to the Lions after the break.

The first bad omen for the Bulls would occur in the third minute when the Lions produced a massive shove at the first scrum, winning a tighthead. From there, outside centre Stokkies Hanekom burst through the line out wide and, from the resultant ruck inside the 22, flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff put a pinpoint kick into the hands of Courtnall Skosan for the opening try.

A string of decisions then went against the Blue Bulls, which television replays showed to be incorrect, and they spent the rest of the first quarter manning up in defence. They did that tremendously well, a notable effort being when prop Marcel van der Merwe and lock Jacques du Plessis held Lions loosehead Jacques van Rooyen up over the line, and conceded just a penalty and a drop goal to Boshoff in that time (13-0).

Van der Merwe, unfortunately, was the man responsible for the Lions’ second try, as his pass to nobody fell to centre Howard Mnisi, who charged forward and then passed inside for lock Franco Mostert to storm over the line. The Bulls tighthead was not helped, though, by flyhalf Tian Schoeman’s inexplicable decision to take a short 22m drop-out when the home side were desperately trying to get out of their half.

The deadly-accurate Boshoff added his second conversion and then gained a penalty for offsides four minutes later, putting the Lions 23-0 ahead.

The third try was also gifted to the Lions when the Bulls backline were throwing the ball around well behind the gain-line and Ruan Combrinck stepped up and outside centre Dries Swanepoel promptly passed the ball straight to him, the wing dashing away for a 45m intercept try.

The Bulls looked half-asleep for most of the half, stunned by the intensity, pace and accuracy of the Lions, but as the first half drew to a close, they awoke from their slumber with a try made with surgeon-like precision down the blindside by scrumhalf Francois Hougaard, fullback Warrick Gelant and wing Jamba Ulengo, who made the touchdown.

The Bulls’ problems started in a scrum that battled to contain the powerful Lions unit, but the lineout was a set-piece that worked well for the home side even during the calamitous first half.

The second half saw the momentum totally switch as the Bulls used their lineout to set up some strong driving play.

Boshoff stretched the Lions’ lead, against the run of play, to 33-7 with a 52^nd-minute penalty, but the Bulls quickly responded with a try as eighthman Arno Botha forced his way over from a lineout drive.

Replacement flank Deon Stegmann muscled his way over on the hour mark, finishing powerfully after Hougaard had used quick ruck ball to send substitute lock RG Snyman charging over the advantage line, although the Lions could justifiably moan that the dynamic loose forward had placed the ball in the tackle and then grabbed it again as the ruck went over the line.

The Bulls’ fourth, bonus-point try was a messy affair but Ulengo and Galant deserve credit for their footballing skills as they kicked the ball down the right touchline before Ulengo dotted down for his eighth try of the campaign.

Schoeman slotted another excellent touchline conversion to set up a grandstand finish at 28-33, but Boshoff was the man who had the final say with his golden boot, nailing a penalty after a ruck offence.

The Bulls youngsters would have gained a tremendous amount of confidence from their second-half comeback, but the Lions proved they are a top-class outfit and undoubtedly the team to beat.

A powerful pack is brilliant at scrum time, they are a potent force at the breakdown and a backline boasting plenty of pace – Skosan was a handful for the Bulls on Saturday night – offers a cutting edge to the Lions.

Coach Johan Ackermann has built a formidable unit and they confirmed their status as favourites for the title at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.

Scorers

Vodacom Blue Bulls – Tries: Jamba Ulengo (2), Arno Botha, Deon Stegmann. Conversions: Tian Schoeman (4).

Xerox Golden Lions – Tries: Courtnall Skosan, Franco Mostert, Ruan Combrinck. Conversions: Marnitz Boshoff (3). Penalties: Boshoff (4). Drop goal: Boshoff.

Springbok scrumhalf Piet van Zyl’s failure to produce accurate kicks from the base has seen him left out of the Bulls’ match-day 23 for their Vodacom SuperRugby match against the Cell C Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Van Zyl’s service was also not as clean as Frans Ludeke would have liked, but it was the sight of him kicking up-and-unders when the Bulls were trying to exit their own half against the Hurricanes last weekend, with the prodigious boot of Handre Pollard largely left unused, that has caused the Bulls coach to temporarily call time on the 25-year-old’s participation in the side.

“It was poor execution on those kicks from just outside our 22, because the opposition will just carry the ball back then, it gives them a crucial opportunity to get back into our territory. The kicks were definitely too short,” Ludeke said.

Van Zyl’s demise has led to a promotion to the starting line-up for Rudi Paige, who is often sharp on attack and generally provides crisp service for his backs.

Left wing Francois Hougaard is going to provide scrumhalf cover and the only other changes to the team that lost to the Hurricanes see Marcel van der Merwe, Tian Schoeman, Travis Ismaiel and Jurgen Visser coming on to the bench.

Prop Van der Merwe is being eased back into action after a knee injury, and he and Dean Greyling are obviously going to have a key role to play in the second half if the Bulls are to maintain a solid scrum against a Sharks pack that scrummed the highly-rated Lions to pieces last weekend.

“Marcel and Dean will be used as impact players in the second half, and we’ve obviously been concentrating on the scrums. It’s about endurance, staying there and finishing the job, and then clearing the base well.

“The Sharks have huge strength at the scrum and success always comes from your forwards giving you that sort of base,” Ludeke said at the Bulls team announcement at Loftus Versfeld on Thursday.

Ismaiel has been preferred to fit-again veteran Akona Ndungane because the 21-year-old was more involved in the Bulls’ warm-up program.

Reserve flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter was withdrawn on Thursday morning due to a thigh strain, allowing the uncapped Schoeman to come on to the bench, while outside centre JJ Engelbrecht is going to have to pass a fitness test on Friday. Ludeke said fullback Jesse Kriel would shift to 13 if the Springbok is not fit, with Visser then going to fullback.

*Sharks director of rugby Gary Gold has made two changes to the team that beat the Lions with a bonus point last weekend, with mobile eighthman Ryan Kankowski coming in for Tera Mthembu and powerhouse inside centre Andre Esterhuizen included instead of Heimar Williams.

There is also a change on the bench with Springbok Lourens Adriaanse replacing British Lion Matt Stevens.

Teams

Bulls: 15-Jesse Kriel, 14-Bjorn Basson, 13-JJ Engelbrecht, 12-Jan Serfontein, 11-Francois Hougaard, 10-Handrè Pollard, 9-Rudy Paige, 8-Pierre Spies, 7-Lappies Labuschagne, 6-Deon Stegmann, 5-Victor Matfield, 4-Jacques du Plessis, 3-Trevor Nyakane, 2-Adriaan Strauss, 1-Mornè Mellet. Replacements – 16-Callie Visagie, 17-Dean Greyling, 18-Marcel van der Merwe, 19-Grant Hattingh, 20-Hanro Liebenberg, 21-Tian Schoeman, 22-Travis Ismaiel, 23-Jurgen Visser.

Sharks: 15-SP Marais, 14-Odwa Ndungane, 13-Waylon Murray, 12-Andre Esterhuizen, 11-Lwazi Mvovo, 10-Pat Lambie, 9-Cobus Reinach, 8-Ryan Kankowski, 7-Renaldo Bothma, 6-Marcell Coetzee, 5-Pieter-Steph du Toit,
4-Lubabalo Mtyanda, 3-Jannie du Plessis, 2-Bismarck du Plessis, 1-Dale Chadwick. Replacements – 16-Kyle Cooper, 17-Thomas du Toit, 18-Lourens Adriaanse, 19-Marco Wentzel, 20-Jean Deysel, 21-Conrad Hoffmann, 22-Fred Zeilinga/Lionel Cronje, 23-Jack Wilson.

There was once again precious little to cheer about for Bulls fans at Loftus Versfeld over the weekend as they went down 13-17 to the Hurricanes, but captain Pierre Spies still believes they are on the right track.

“We believe what we are doing is right, we’re just not executing it well enough. We believe we’re on the right track, although we’re not getting there at the moment,” Spies said after the Bulls’ second successive loss at Loftus Versfeld, where they were unbeaten last season.

For all the big names in the squad, the aura of home invincibility has gone as first a young Stormers pack and now a journeymen Hurricanes eight bossed them around, but Spies is talking as if there are only minor problems to fix.

“You need the bounce of the ball to go your way, although you mustn’t depend on it. I’m hopeful that next week things will fall our way. But we first need to look at ourselves and be more clinical.

“These defeats can still pull the team together, you only learn in tough times, and in 2007 we started with two losses but still had a good season. We’ve worked hard, so I know it will come together,” Spies said.

Spies’s memory of the Bulls’ first SuperRugby title in 2007 is not quite accurate, because they only lost two of their first three games, and only one of those was at home. The Bulls seem to have forgotten the art of winning rugby games when you’re not playing well and coach Frans Ludeke, no doubt feeling the pressure to keep his job, did not tip-toe around their performances in the first fortnight of SuperRugby.

“After two performances like that, you just have to keep quiet and fix it. There are no grey areas, we know what cost us. We have to be more accurate, we have to play with more urgency – we lost a lot of ball at the breakdowns simply because we didn’t have numbers there,” Ludeke said.

The weak refereeing of Andrew Lees at the breakdown certainly had a detrimental effect on the Bulls’ chances, but even there they have only themselves to blame.

Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd said they had “detected” that Lees “lets the contest go on much longer than most” at the breakdown, while the lack of urgency and support play the Bulls showed in getting to the rucks made their one-off ball-carriers easy prey.

The only positives for the Bulls were that flyhalf Handre Pollard had a threatening game with ball in hand and kicked well, Jesse Kriel had some nice runs from fullback, and Trevor Nyakane was solid at tighthead prop.

But it’s been two dismal weeks for the Bulls; the fire has just not been there. One would have expected there to have been a big step up in intensity after the Stormers upstaged them, but if anything, the Bulls were even worse against the Hurricanes.

http://citizen.co.za/331534/bulls-upbeat-despite-two-defeats/

The Hurricanes got away with their fingers and thumbs being in all the wrong places in the rucks, while the Bulls paid dearly for one hand allegedly sliding ever-so-slightly out of play as they went down 17-13 to the Wellington-based side in their Vodacom SuperRugby match at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

Replacement lock Grant Hattingh had slid over in the left-hand corner in the 77^th minute for a ‘try’ that would have put the Bulls 18-17 up with the conversion to come, but Australian referee Andrew Lees, who gave a sub-standard performance throughout, referred the decision upstairs.

South African TMO Johan Greeff, famous for messing up high-profile television replays in the past, ruled that Hattingh’s hand had brushed the touchline before dotting down the ball, although the evidence certainly didn’t confirm this.

But even though the Bulls did not get the rub of the green when it came to decisions by the officials, this was a game they did not deserve to win. Everyone was really expecting them to up their game after last weekend’s shock defeat at the hands of the Stormers, but if anything they were worse against a disappointing Hurricanes team.

The Bulls had enough possession and territory to put the Hurricanes away, but they invariably messed up on attack through poor handling, a lack of protection for the ball at the ruck, or just plain bad decision-making.

The signs were not good for the Bulls from the outset as they spent the opening minutes in the Hurricanes half but had nothing to show for it as they kept turning over possession.

The 11 774 spectators started to get restless as the Hurricanes then picked up two penalties (6-0) by flyhalf Beauden Barrett when they visited Bulls territory, but it was Handre Pollard, the home side’s most potent attacking threat, who snatched a 10-6 lead with nine minutes left in the first half.

The flyhalf first of all slotted a brilliant penalty from the halfway line and then knifed through for a try, which he converted, after the Bulls looked set to waste the strong counter-attacking runs made by fullback Jesse Kriel and flank Lappies Labuschagne.

Beauden Barrett did pull a penalty back (9-10) just before the break as the Bulls scrum disintegrated on Morne Mellet’s loosehead side twice in succession.

The Bulls’ scrum did get better in the final quarter when Dean Greyling and Callie Visagie came on, but the lack of set-piece momentum, a couple of crucial lineouts also going astray, certainly hurt the home side.

Barrett regained the lead (12-10) for the Hurricanes with a 47^th-minute penalty before it was Pollard’s turn three minutes later to slot a penalty and put the Bulls 13-12 up.

The decisive moment as far as the visitors were concerned came in the 67^th minute as the Bulls messed up their own lineout throw deep in their own half and a period of sustained pressure saw the Hurricanes awarded a penalty.

Wing Julian Savea had only popped up sporadically up till then, but he took a quick tap penalty and Victor Matfield, Piet van Zyl and Bjorn Basson were not up to the task of stopping the powerful All Black from scoring the match-winning try.

The Bulls swarmed back on to attack but their failure to protect their ball at the breakdown hindered their efforts to break through. Eventually there was enough space on the outside for Hattingh to dive over, but TMO Greeff ruled he had slid his hand on to the touchline at the same time or before he dotted down the ball.

At a ruck shortly thereafter, inside the Hurricanes half, replacement scrumhalf Rudi Paige was blatantly pulled into the melee but referee Lees gave the penalty to the Hurricanes instead.

It’s the sort of bad luck the Bulls are having at the moment, but the bottom line is that they are not playing well enough to win.