Ken Borland

The Vodacom Blue Bulls go into the final round-robin match of the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division, against the GWK Griquas at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, without having to worry about all the permutations that so often confuse the issue at this stage of the season.

Thanks to collecting nine points in the last two weeks, against their main rivals for fourth place on the log – the Free State Cheetahs and the Pumas, the Bulls now just need to beat Griquas to assure themselves of a place in the semi-finals.

The clarity of the situation has also allowed coach Frans Ludeke to make six changes to the team, most of them rotational as they eye out the semi-finals.

Handre Pollard, the newest Springbok flyhalf sensation, will start off the bench on Saturday, a wise move giving the youngster the chance to catch his breath after a dizzying last week and reintegrate himself with the Bulls ahead of the knockout games. Ludeke said there is still a 5% chance that a niggling ankle problem will keep Pollard out, in which case Tian Schoeman will be the reserve flyhalf.

The scrum is one area where the Bulls have really shone in the latter stages of the Currie Cup, but Ludeke will nevertheless field an entirely new front row, with Springbok Marcel van der Merwe starting at tighthead, Bongi Mbonambi at hooker and Morne Mellet in the number one jersey. Callie Visagie and Springbok Werner Kruger will be on the bench.

The rotation continues at scrumhalf with Piet van Zyl starting ahead of Rudy Paige, but as the Bulls surely transit towards the semi-finals, there is one backline position where Ludeke is perhaps still unsure of who the first-choice should be.

Springbok Bjorn Basson starts on the left wing on Saturday in what will probably be his last chance to supplant Sampie Mastriet, who has made great strides in his game this season.

William Small-Smith will return in the number 13 jersey instead of JJ Engelbrecht, who has been stood down as a contracted Springbok – a ridiculous decision by SA Rugby that will not benefit anyone.

Engelbrecht has missed large swathes of the season due to injury and desperately needs to string some games together to rediscover his old form. Instead, he will be forced to sit on the sidelines until next year and will not be able to push for a place on the end-of-year tour.

“The presence of Marcel and Handre will give the team a big boost, they are quality players who produced a high standard in the Rugby Championship. The players working for each other will make us a dangerous team and you can see the team-work, the players complementing each other, and we’re getting momentum, playing off the front foot and scoring tries. But that will only happen if there’s work off the ball,” Ludeke said at Loftus Versfeld yesterday.

The coach will be hoping for a repeat of the display against the Pumas last weekend in Nelspruit, when the Bulls romped to a 37-6 victory.

“Last week against the Pumas was our most clinical performance and I feel like we will be peaking at the right time, which is vital. We need to be quick to spot the big moments because they swing momentum your way,” Ludeke said.

Bulls team – 15-Ulrich Beyers, 14-Akona Ndungane, 13-William Small-Smith, 12-Burger Odendaal, 11-Bjorn Basson, 10-Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9-Piet van Zyl, 8-Jono Ross, 7-Jacques du Plessis, 6-Deon Stegmann, 5-Grant Hattingh, 4-Paul Willemse, 3-Marcel van der Merwe, 2-Bongi Mbonambi, 1-Morne Mellet. Reserves: 16-Callie Visagie, 17-Werner Kruger, 18-Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19-Wiaan Liebenberg, 20-Rudy Paige, 21-Handre Pollard, 22-Jesse Kriel.

The Vodacom Blue Bulls produced their most passionate performance since the start of the Absa Currie Cup season as they beat the Xerox Golden Lions 36-26 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Mobile lock Grant Hattingh, who produced a top-class performance in open play and the lineouts, sealed a second win this season for the Bulls with his 79^th-minute try off a rolling maul, but the home side had to see off a ferocious comeback from the Lions.

A burst of two tries in five minutes between the 69^th and 74^th minutes saw the Lions substantially reduce a commanding 29-12 lead for the Bulls, wing Ruan Combrinck’s two conversions closing the gap to 26-29 and giving him a perfect record of six from six at goal.

But the Bulls, with their front row pulling out of the set-piece, were then awarded a controversial scrum penalty, which they kicked into the corner and set up the rolling maul from which Hattingh scored.

The Bulls controlled proceedings for the opening hour, their clinical kicking game keeping the Lions pegged back in their own territory and a robust defensive performance ensuring that the visitors were not able to break the shackles when they tried to run from their own half.

Referee Marius van der Westhuizen was also strict with the whistle and regularly penalised the players, leading to Combrinck and Bulls flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter exchanging penalties in the first quarter.

The Bulls were leading 9-6 in the 23^rd minute when Hattingh pounced on a misunderstanding between Lions scrumhalf Ross Cronje and his backline that led to a loose ball on the ground. The rangy lock burst clear and, after sending the ball wide and then back infield, the Bulls had a ruck in the shadow of the Lions’ posts. Potgieter threw a flat pass to fullback Ulrich Beyers, who went through one tackle and scored.

Potgieter converted and that was followed by one more penalty to the Bulls and two more to the Lions as the home side went into the break 19-12 up.

That became a 29-12 lead in the 51^st minute as Potgieter kicked a 40m scrum penalty and centre Burger Odendaal scored the Bulls’ second try as he gathered a grubber from Potgieter that rebounded off the rushing Lions defence in front of their poles.

The Lions’ task looked even more hopeless when tighthead prop Ruan Dreyer was yellow-carded for collapsing a Bulls maul – the fourth time the visitors had infringed in that way – but Johan Ackermann’s team were inspired by the arrival on the field of Sevens Springboks Kwagga Smith and Mark Richards.

Smith, playing eighthman, showed a nose for the line when he slithered over in the 69^th minute and, five minutes later, his foray from the base of a scrum led to replacement lock Martin Muller galloping over for the Lions’ second try.

The Bulls had somehow lost the spring in their steps, but were fortunate to win a scrum penalty while on the retreat, which allowed them to claim the match-winning try and condemn the Lions to just their second defeat in five matches. That has allowed the Pumas to leap into second place on the log, five points behind Western Province.

Points scorers

Blue Bulls – Tries: Ulrich Beyers, Burger Odendaal, Grant Hattingh. Conversions: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (3). Penalties: Potgieter (5).

Lions – Tries: Kwagga Smith, Martin Muller. Conversions: Ruan Combrinck (2). Penalties: Combrinck (4).

The Lions finished their most successful SuperRugby season in style with a 60-25 thrashing of the Cheetahs at Ellis Park on Saturday night to claim seven wins in a campaign for the first time.

“Obviously we’re very pleased and it was good to see everything come together tonight. The players have always been positive, even in those bad patches just before and on tour, so I’m very pleased for them,” Lions coach Johan Ackermann said in the wake of the Lions’ biggest SuperRugby triumph.

It is a wonderful story of the underdog, who everyone expected to be the whipping boys upon their return to SuperRugby, rising above their individual talents and proving that hunger and good coaching can take a team a long way. Although they only finished in 12th place, the Lions had as many wins as the three sides immediately above them on the log – the Stormers, Blues and Bulls.

“We have a good team profile, although maybe we don’t have the biggest guys, but they can run and play. They’ve shown the willingness to work hard, they were asked to play with commitment and pride, and that comes from deep inside. The challenge is to keep that hunger,” Ackermann said.

Even the overwhelming win over the Cheetahs was not achieved without the hard work that has become the hallmark of this Lions side.

The Cheetahs dominated the first quarter to lead 10-3 and the opening exchanges of the second half were fiercely contested as the visitors closed to within seven points.

But the forward dominance of the Lions – especially in the scrums – was tiring the Cheetahs and forcing them to try and cut corners, leading to ill-discipline and yellow cards. Plus the visitors’ defence was once again weak at critical moments.

The Lions seized control from the 52nd minute when the selection of Coenie Oosthuizen at tighthead once again failed and the Springbok was yellow-carded for yet another scrummaging offence under pressure from Schalk van der Merwe. The lineout and rolling maul were set by the Lions, and hooker Robbie Coetzee scored the try that stretched the lead to 34-20 with sharpshooter Elton Jantjies’ conversion.

Things rapidly turned sour for the Cheetahs thereafter as eighthman Warren Whiteley, after wing Anthony Volmink had pounced on a spilt ball by Willie Roux, Andries Coetzee, running the length of the field after an intercept, wing Lionel Mapoe, from turnover ball deep in his own half, and replacement prop Corne’ Fourie, with a thrilling run and dummy, all scored tries.

Apart from the excellence of their front row, the Lions loose trio foraged and attacked like a pack of wild curs, while Jantjies, making a rare start, dished up an accomplished performance at flyhalf, not least of all with the boot as he succeeded with nine of his 10 kicks at goal.

Cheetahs wing Cornal Hendricks did have the pace – and the football skills – to score a breakaway try from his own 22, but it’s clear the Central franchise have serious problems.

“We’re our own worst enemies,” captain Adriaan Strauss admitted. “In the first half we created one or two chances, so we weren’t out of the game from the get-go. But our discipline let us down, we gave them easy exits and let them run at us.

“When you have cards, it messes with the roles and responsibilities of guys in the defensive line. There are guys missing so the opposition attack that space, and when you adjust, they attack other spaces.”

The impressive Lions squad obviously now have a price on their heads, with the other franchises sniffing around at Ellis Park.

“Obviously the players are now being hunted and I hope we can hang on to them. But the core of the squad has already been signed up and we hope to build on that. A new year brings new challenges and you can’t rely on what you did the previous year. The hard work starts all over again,” Ackermann said.

But, as this match graphically illustrated, it’s not how you start but how you finish that counts.

The Cheetahs started brightly, with Le Roux setting up the opening try in the 17th minute as he found Raymond Rhule with a long pass, the wing striding past fullback Coetzee and then passing inside for the Springbok fullback to score.

But the Lions struck back with the first of Mapoe’s hat-trick of tries, a lovely break by Jantjies going a long way to setting him up, and the much-improved scrumhalf Ross Cronje then showed nifty footwork to beat a couple of defenders and score the home side’s second try.

The Lions’ penchant for long-range tries was once again on display six minutes before the break as they counter-attacked from their own 22. Practically everyone handled the ball until Mapoe gathered a half-charged grubber from impressive centre Stokkies Hanekom and burst through to score.

Cheetahs mentor Naka Drotske complained of a “19-5 penalty count and four yellow cards” against his team – the actual stats were 12 penalties against 11 and three dismissals – but such spurious outbursts are a clear sign of a coach whose job is in the balance.

Given that the Cheetahs, with several Springboks in their ranks, finished in 14th position, having featured in the playoffs last season, it seems entirely fair that serious questions should be asked about Drotske’s future.

Stokkies Hanekom on the charge

Bulls captain Flip van der Merwe says the 32-21 defeat at the hands of the Lions in their Super Rugby match at Ellis Park on Saturday night epitomised the three-time champions’ season that now looks likely to end without a playoffs place.

“It summed up our season, there were a lot of faults at crucial times. We were definitely in the game, we played some good rugby but the Lions played Bulls rugby against us very well,” Van der Merwe told a press conference after the game.

The Bulls are now down in ninth position on the log with 33 points and, with just two games remaining after the international break, trail the sixth-placed Hurricanes by four points.

But the Chiefs (35pts), Western Force (36pts) and Highlanders (38pts) are also all ahead of the Bulls and have three matches to play, while the Brumbies are fourth with 40 points with two games left.

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke said the team’s lack of accuracy on attack had again cost them dearly, as it has in so many of their away games this season.

“The big story was our finishing, we weren’t clinical. We played some good rugby, stringing phases together, but then penalties in the Lions’ half would break our progress, that’s where the momentum swung their way.

“When things aren’t going your way, you need a big moment to ignite the team and it just wasn’t there. It’s disappointing, we played against ourselves but we still feel there’s a small chance of making the playoffs,” Ludeke said.

The Lions camp, back on home turf after a tough four-week tour on which they were unfortunate to lose all their games, were far more optimistic as the victory showcased the character of the team and the bright future that lies ahead of them now that they have guaranteed Super Rugby.

“The boys are obviously glad to be home and they showed a lot of passion tonight. They were really hungry for the win because we felt we played better than our results overseas,” coach Johan Ackermann said.

“It makes me proud that the team never gives up, they train as if they are a winning team and I can’t fault the effort the last few weeks. It’s nice to get the reward.

Ackermann pointed out that they still needed to be sharper in areas of their game.

“We weren’t accurate in everything tonight, we lost a lot of lineouts, but we’ve learnt how to get out of our half and when to run the ball.

“The scrums were good and it was a big step up for Ruan Dreyer and Charles Marais after the late withdrawal of Julian Redelinghuys.

“The team fixed things well out on the field tonight and they worked hard for each other on defence.”

Lions captain Warren Whiteley was happy his team had shown how much they learnt on tour.

“We’ve shown how much we’ve grown, our brotherhood and our passion. We learnt valuable lessons on tour and we’ve got processes in place to stay calm, just think of the next task and stick to the game plan. I’m really proud of the effort,” Whiteley said.

The Lions’ defence was another standout area on the night, with an 89% tackle success rate compared to the Bulls’ 81%.

“Defence is something that epitomises us as a team, we pride ourselves on it. You can see our character and heart in it, the two try-saving tackles in the corner are one of those small margins that matter so much in Super Rugby,” Whiteley said.

The Lions have climbed off the bottom of the log into 13th place and finish their campaign with home matches against the Melbourne Rebels and Cheetahs.

http://www.supersport.com/rugby/super-rugby/news/140601/Van_der_Merwe_concern_about_season