Ken Borland

Last weekend’s SuperRugby action was filled with some tremendous games of rugby and superb individual performances.

The Bulls versus Stormers game at Loftus Versfeld took us back to the good old days of real war on the gainline, full of big hits and turnover attempts.

The Stormers will be disappointed to lose because they had opportunities they didn’t take, but the Bulls will be very excited to return to winning ways after their tour. They were under pressure after losing four in a row and questions would certainly have been asked if they had lost last weekend too.

What made the difference in the match was the kicking game of the Bulls, their ability to get the ball behind the Stormers wings and then put in a good chase, and they scored two excellent maul tries.

The Bulls were obviously all motivated to put in a big performance for Adriaan Strauss in his record appearance. I remember him wandering up to my office at Loftus as a 19-year-old, many moons ago, and then when he was 21, at the end of 2006, he decided to further his career with the Free State Cheetahs. And then he came back to Pretoria as a seasoned Springbok.

Adriaan is currently in great shape, the rest he took during last year’s Currie Cup clearly did him good and he is still a really quality player. Directing things at the back of the maul, where you have to sense when and where the momentum is, is not an easy job.

Stormers flyhalf Damian Willemse, for all the hype, really struggled against the pressure the Bulls exerted on him through the rush defence. His option-taking was not great and he wanted to kick or go around the rush defence, when actually you must go through it and then you have lots of numbers on the fullback. If you go around the rush defence then the fullback is in the defensive line and it closes down your options.

Jake White did not do young Willemse any favours with his comments about the 19-year-old needing to be picked for the Springboks right now. Willemse still needs time to develop.

He is, however, a real talent and you have to credit Stormers coach Robbie Fleck for playing him so early. Willemse has a lot of strengths – he tackles well and has silky running skills, but the tactical appreciation is not quite there, which is so important. He doesn’t have the kicking game yet, that appreciation of space that allows a flyhalf to play the suffocation game that is so important in Test rugby. I don’t think Rassie Erasmus will change the blueprint he presented to us when we were the Springboks coaching staff – a strong kicking game and a big pack of forwards.

I thought the two Bulls flankers, Hendre Stassen and Roelof Smit, had a huge effect on the breakdown. It’s interesting because the Stormers had Nizaam Carr and Siya Kolisi, both possible Springboks later this year, but there’s no doubt that the Bulls did win the breakdown battle at the back end of the game.

Stassen is just 20 and will be a heck of a player. In the last few weeks he has really announced himself, he’s tough and he goes hard on the ball.

For both teams, the defence on the wings was not good, guys shot up and opened holes in the defensive line. It’s a concern in our game at the moment that we don’t seem to get the right decisions being made in defence out wide. We have Springbok wingers there and they are not covering themselves in glory on the outside at the moment.

For the Sharks, what a turnaround!

To score 63 points in New Zealand when they were really under pressure, what a response that was! To out-score a New Zealand side so convincingly deserves great credit.

I could certainly see the effect of Dick Muir in the coaching staff, they played with no fear whatsoever. Jean-Luc du Preez had a colossal game and to see him swatting off defenders really bodes well for the Springboks later this year.

Flyhalf Robert du Preez may be in the Springboks mix himself, along with Handre Pollard. Du Preez is a consistent goal-kicker, he has steered teams to big wins in finals before, and he knows where the space is behind. He’s also a big guy, but he does struggle a bit to find the right level to hit guys when defending. But Du Preez can certainly win you a game.

It’s been a funny four weeks for the Lions, starting when they came so close in the Blues game, with the TMO overturning a try. But in SuperRugby, every team goes through some sort of mini-crisis because it is such a tough competition. It’s about how you deal with it and recover.

After the bad result in Argentina, the Lions gave the Crusaders a huge run for their money and 14-8 is not a typical Lions score. Coach Swys de Bruin takes great pride in outscoring the opposition, but it was good to see their defensive system function well, even though they did not do enough to get the win.

They are missing their captain, Warren Whiteley, hugely; just the calmness he brings and he is much more comfortable with the tactical side of the job. Franco Mostert is also an inspirational captain but he is more of the follow-me type leader.

As far as the Lions not taking that kick at goal at that penalty midway through the second half, sometimes the coach will put on a message to kick for the corner because he believes the momentum is with his side; but sometimes a captain just goes for the corner when the coach wants the team to go for poles!

It happens in rugby and is reminiscent of that famous SuperRugby semi-final at Loftus Versfeld in 2013.

John McFarland won three SuperRugby titles (2007, 09, 10) with the Bulls and five Currie Cup crowns with the Blue Bulls as their defence coach. In all, he won 28 trophies during his 12 years at Loftus Versfeld.

He is currently the assistant coach of the Kubota Spears in Japan and was the Springbok defence coach from 2012 through to the 2015 World Cup, where they conceded the least line-breaks in the tournament and an average of just one try per game.

Malibongwe Maketa is spending the winter as the head coach of the national academy at the CSA Centre of Excellence at the University of Pretoria, but the Warriors mentor is already thinking ahead to how he will handle the greater expectation that their excellent performances at franchise level have created for the Eastern Cape side.

In his second full season in charge, Maketa led the Warriors to both limited-overs finals and they were strongly in contention through the first five rounds of the Sunfoil Series as well, before losing their last three matches to finish last.

“It’s a great honour to be entrusted with such great talent at the academy, and as a group we’re going to commit to world-class standards. As a coach, I’m going to learn and grow as we try and keep South Africa as the number one cricketing nation. It should be the most memorable three months.

“I am happy with the progress the Warriors made last season, their hard work was rewarded. But the true test comes now because the supporters will expect us to box in that weight division from now on. As much as people say we don’t have any big names, we have a lot of very intelligent players and that is a big part of our success,” Maketa told Saturday Citizen at the CSA Centre of Excellence.

Many South African sports treat their up-and-coming coaches with almost criminal neglect, but it seems CSA certainly have a plan for Maketa, and his stint in charge of the academy is indicative of that. How does the 36-year-old see his own career pathway?

“I believe I’ve really grown as a coach. The players are also looking to grow and I’ve set barriers for them to get over, in a way I have to keep up with their growth. I enjoy all aspects of coaching, you have to give the players a lot of reassurance. If you don’t want to get better as a coach then you must not do this, because it’s about personal development, you want to see your players going up to the representative teams.

“I also want to go to higher levels as a coach, which means internationally, but the main thing is building relationships with the players. They must have enough trust that they know I am doing what is best for them,” Maketa said.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-kzn/20170610/282385514491146

The Cell C Sharks sung the blues once again on their overseas tour as they were unable to overcome their own first-half mistakes, a fired-up Waratahs side and one of the most disgracefully one-eyed officiating performances in Sanzar history in losing 33-18 in their Vodacom SuperRugby match in Sydney on Saturday.

Referee Rohan Hoffman, TMO George Ayoub and the assistant referees were so determined to sing the home side’s tune that the Sharks never had a chance, despite turning in an excellent second-half performance against a team that surely does not have it in them to be repeat SuperRugby champions unless other forces are at play. The fact that Sanzar are based in Sydney does not ease the speculation that was running rampant on social media on Saturday nor the genuine fears that rugby is totally naïve when it comes to matchfixing, much as cricket was.

The decisions to award wing Taqele Naiyaravoro’s 53^rd-minute try, although he lost control of the ball and there was absolutely no evidence of grounding, and the TMO’s call to disallow opposite number S’bura Sithole’s touchdown in the 70^th minute, were particularly damaging to the Sharks.

Waratahs flyhalf Bernard Foley was also able to kick four penalties as Hoffman punished the Sharks for a high tackle when the ball-carrier had clearly slipped and fallen into an arm that was at a perfectly legal height and for ruck offences when the home team were clearly not supporting their own body weight.

As outrage grew on South African social media, Sharks CEO John Smit told The Citizen: “I’m sure Sanzar leadership is strong enough to do something before we need to enquire … I hope”.

It looked like it was going to be a miserable day for the Sharks right from the outset as centre Adam Ashley-Cooper scored after 55 seconds, but that was entirely down to the visitors’ lacklustre defence and the brilliance of the Waratahs in exploiting the gaps.

The Sharks kicked out on halfway from the opening kickoff, and scrumhalf Nick Phipps passed inside after the lineout tap to livewire flank Michael Hooper, who burst through a huge gap the visitors were shockingly slow to close, before passing out to Ashley-Cooper, who powered over the line.

Sharks centre Francois Steyn pulled back a penalty from a scrum in the 17^th minute, but Foley was able to stretch the lead to 10-3 at the end of the first quarter after captain Marco Wentzel, in a bid to turnover a loose ball, held on under pressure from Ashley-Cooper and conceded a penalty after another Waratahs attack sparked by Hooper.

The Sharks would have begun to feel Hoffman was screwing them over in the 28^th minute when he made a ridiculous forward-pass call against Bismarck du Plessis, the Waratahs then being given another penalty as the scrum went down, Foley making the score 13-3.

Steyn narrowed the gap to 6-13 five minutes before the break after a sneaky hand in the ruck by the Waratahs was penalised. They then managed to win a Waratahs lineout throw on their own line after brilliant scramble defence stopped fullback Israel Folau from scoring and won a penalty. Hoffman told the Sharks it was halftime, so they kicked the ball straight out only for the disgraceful referee to give the Waratahs the lineout!

The Sharks were certainly in the game after the shock of conceding that first-minute try, but a shaky defence – six tackles were missed in the first 10 minutes and 15 in the first half alone – and their own basic mistakes were really hurting them as their promising attacks lacked the finishing touches.

Consultant Brendan Venter was seen addressing them during the break and the Sharks dished up some impressive fare in the second half.

They claimed the vital first score of the second half when they closed the gap to 11-13 thanks to flyhalf Lionel Cronje’s brilliant crosskick from a penalty, that was well-finished by wing Odwa Ndungane.

But three minutes later, it became clear that the officials would ensure the Sharks could say farewell to any chance of a morale-boosting win against the defending champions.

Massive wing Taqele Naiyaravoro powered down the right but lost control of the ball in the tackle by Sithole on the goal-line. With two pairs of legs rolling over and the ball seemingly stuck in between them, TMO Ayoub, (the whole of South Africa rejoiced when he was no longer an on-field referee), awarded the try despite there being absolutely no evidence of grounding.

Foley’s conversion gave the Waratahs a crucial 20-11 lead after 53 minutes but the Sharks lifted themselves when veterans Du Plessis and Steyn showed that they are not rugby oupas by slickly combining for the centre to score, Cronje also providing some vital touches in the build-up.

Steyn’s conversion made it a two-point game (18-20), but the Sharks were knocked back to the mat as Hoffman awarded two more controversial penalties against the Sharks – the ridiculous high-tackle call against Cronje when centre Kurtley Beale slipped and fell over into the tackle and a harsh deliberate knock-on call against JP Pietersen.

There was much to enthuse about the Sharks’ second-half display on attack, none more so than when they got the ball wide to Sithole and he powered down the left in a thrilling run, but the fun for the visitors was soon ended when Beale shoulder-charged the wing into the corner flag. That does not mean he is in touch, of course, but Ayoub decided he was and Beale escaped punishment for his no-arms tackle.

Any chance of even taking a point out of a game that they could well have won given decent officiating disappeared in the 79^th minute when a poor pass from the otherwise good scrumhalf Stefan Ungerer was fumbled by Cronje and Foley pounced, kicking the ball through and re-gathering to score.

These days, any referee appointed by Sanzar could be incompetent, but this game seemed different in that there weren’t any bad calls against the Waratahs.

Whether any action will be taken by Sanzar remains to be seen, but past experience suggests the carpet in their Sydney headquarters will merely have more swept underneath it.

Scorers

Waratahs: Tries – Adam Ashley-Cooper, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Bernard Foley. Conversions –Foley (3). Penalties – Foley (4).

Sharks: Try – Odwa Ndungane, Francois Steyn. Conversion – Steyn. Penalties – Steyn (2).

http://citizen.co.za/sport/sport-rugby/383666/sharks-sing-the-blues-once-again/

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke sat with a big fat grin in the post-match press conference and with good reason as his team had produced one of their best performances this season in beating the Sharks 17-10 in a hard-fought local derby at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday.

The Bulls have struggled to win away from home in recent years, with the win over the Cheetahs in the first week of March their first victory on the road in two seasons, so the triumph over the Sharks could be a watershed.

“It’s a great feeling, we haven’t had a lot of wins here over the last few years and it’s always a tough assignment. You have to be at your best, and we played well and we played for the full 80 minutes, closing the game well by squeezing penalties,” Ludeke said.

The Bulls certainly did play well, enjoying the bulk of possession and territory, as their big ball-carriers dominated the attacking rucks and their pack, as a unit, exerted huge pressure at the defensive breakdown.

“We had all the possession and field position, especially in the first half, because we worked hard. We knew they would be competitive at the breakdown, so we put in an extra effort there in terms of ball-security, which all starts with the ball-carrier,” the coach said.

Sharks director of rugby Gary Gold said his team were in the contest throughout and said there was a very narrow line between winning and losing.

“There was no lack of effort, in fact it was a massive effort against such a big, physical team and we were in the game for a large part of it. But if you don’t take literally two or three opportunities and they do, then you’re going to lose,” Gold said.

The defeat has seriously trimmed the Sharks’ chances of winning the South African Conference as they are now seven points behind the Bulls, who have a game in hand, but Gold said their hopes have not been killed yet.

“There is still hope, even though there is unbelievable disappointment and it’s a very sombre dressing room.”