Ken Borland

The Sharks’ reserve depth showed that they do not like water and sank without a trace, a naïve and lacklustre effort in the rain seeing them being hammered 35-0 by Cardiff in their United Rugby Championship match at Kings Park on Sunday night.

The Sharks had already made a sloppy start to the match as they conceded a breakdown penalty soon after the kickoff, slotted by flyhalf Jarrod Evans, when heavy rain arrived at the stadium and the home side’s hopes were seemingly washed away from that point.

Even though Cardiff suffered a yellow card to captain and flank Josh Turnbull for head contact with fullback Anthony Volmink – who must surely have suffered a concussion given what an absolute shocker he had thereafter – the Sharks could make no headway as they forced passes in the wet, giving away possession, and also tried to run the ball out of their own territory.

Cardiff’s other flank, Thomas Young, had a rampaging game and he earned the penalty try that gave the Welshmen a 13-0 lead after 26 minutes. Picking up a ball spilt at a ruck, he broke clear and kicked ahead, but wing Marnus Potgieter was winning the race to the ball in the in-goal area. But Potgieter deliberately slapped the ball over the dead-ball line, instead of trying to ground it, the referee awarding a penalty try and also issuing a yellow card.

Two glaring errors by Volmink in his own 22 then gifted Evans with his third penalty and Young with his second try, on the halftime whistle, as the fullback simply dropped the ball five metres from his own line.

In conditions that were tailor-made for the visitors from a UK city that is often wet, Cardiff stretched their halftime lead from 23-0 to 35-0 up with two more tries in the third quarter. Young scored from a maul as the Sharks conceded back-to-back penalties, and another rampaging run by the son of former Wales prop Dai Young provided front-foot ball deep in the 22, Evans producing a lovely delayed pass that sent fullback Ben Thomas over for the try.

The Sharks did rouse themselves a bit at the tail-end of the game, but they failed to break their duck due to their own inaccuracies, especially at the breakdown, or a TMO who definitely seemed to be looking for reasons to penalise them. They did have a try disallowed due to an intervention by TMO Eoghan Cross after the conversion had already been taken, and he also interrupted other promising Sharks positions.

Scorers

Cardiff – Tries: Penalty try, Thomas Young (2), Ben Thomas. Conversions: Jarrod Evans (2). Penalties: Evans (3).

The Vodacom Blue Bulls regressed back into the uninspired type of rugby that was derided as being stereotypical of their province as they sank to a disappointing 31-8 defeat at the hands of the Waratahs in their SuperRugby match in Sydney on Saturday.

They showed encouraging endeavour in the first half, operating off a strong scrum platform, but their error-rate was not befitting SuperRugby contenders and they failed to round off a number of promising opportunities. Their only points in the first half came after the hooter as a big scrum earned a penalty kicked by flyhalf Tian Schoeman.

The Waratahs were also guilty of handling errors and poor finishing in the first half, perhaps rattled by the loss of ace centre Kurtley Beale inside the first minute when he suffered a knee injury chasing after a kick and slipping as he tried to launch himself airborne.

The Waratahs scored the only try of the first half when scrumhalf Rudy Paige’s kick was charged down and Schoeman then knocked-on to give the home side territory deep inside the Bulls 22. New South Wales flyhalf Bernard Foley went on a strong run and scrumhalf Nick Phipps then went on a sniping run and, having not been held by the first tackler, he got up and dived over the line.

Foley converted and the Waratahs led 7-3 at the halftime break.

The second half was a miserable affair for the Bulls. They just could not get their hands on the ball, not helped by the tendency to launch poor up-and-unders from the middle of the field, and the Waratahs spent most of the last 40 minutes inside the Bulls half.

The memo that the Bulls clearly didn’t get or ignored – just to hang on to the ball through phases and build pressure on a slippery, poor surface at the Allianz Stadium – was followed to the T by the Waratahs in the opening minutes of the second half.

The home side kept the ball tight, using the pack to pick and go, driving forwards, until Phipps went wide, the draw-and-pass sucking in prop Marcel van der Merwe and allowing flank Dean Mumm to burst through the gap and score the second try.

Foley converted and then kicked a penalty for the Waratahs to lead 17-3 going into the last 10 minutes. They extended that scoreline with two further tries as the Bulls simply froze, unable to break out of their shells.

Israel Folau, the darling of the great city of Sydney, made two separate breaks in the build-up to Phipps’s second try, while a very disappointing game for the Bulls ended with replacement prop Angus Ta’avao rumbling over to secure a bonus point win for the Waratahs.

The visitors did manage to score a single try, in the 74^th minute, when replacement centre Dries Swanepoel burst through in midfield after the Bulls showed how capable they are of opening up defences when they hang on to the ball for several phases.

The Bulls are now returning home and are going to have to ask themselves some tough questions about their desire to advance their rugby. They are being outworked and outmuscled by sides, which are not good signs.

There are few Bulls players who can feel satisfied with their performances; flank Lappies Labuschagne was immense and his work-rate was exceptional, while loosehead prop Lizo Gqoboka scrummed superbly along with Van der Merwe, and was good in the loose as well. Fullback SP Marais showed some fine touches on attack, but the Bulls are not attacking nearly enough.

Scorers

Waratahs – Tries: Nick Phipps (2), Dean Mumm, Angus Ta’avao. Conversions: Bernard Foley (4). Penalty: Foley.

Vodacom Blue Bulls – Try: Dries Swanepoel. Penalty: Tian Schoeman.

http://citizen.co.za/1115465/bulls-regress-to-uninspired-stereotypical-rugby/