Ken Borland

Western Province used their chances better and made fewer mistakes than the Blue Bulls as they beat the home side 23-18 in their Currie Cup semi-final at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

The visitors scored the only two tries of the match thanks to the opportunistic nous, quick hands and feet of fullback Cheslin Kolbe, and it was a deserved victory as they dominated territory and their pack had the edge up front.

“We got off the canvas after taking sixty points up here in Johannesburg two weeks ago and having a horror half-hour against the Bulls when we last played them here, but that was an aberration and we deserved to win in the end. It was very frustrating at times because the Bulls defended well, but Cheslin is one of those slightly predatory players and in semi-finals those are the things that turn games,” Western Province coach John Dobson said after his team secured their place in a fourth successive Currie Cup final.

“They used their one opportunity and scored and from then on we were playing catch-up rugby, which causes you to make mistakes,” Blue Bulls coach Nollis Marais said. “But we should never have turned over the ball on attack. We should have played better, we made mistakes in the second half, we lost opportunities and a couple of calls went against us.”

Marais conceded that Western Province’s more experienced pack continued to have the edge over his young forwards.

“If you’re not getting your set-piece ball then you feel under attack and you lose confidence. We made too many mistakes so we weren’t as fluent as we wanted to be, and the Western Province defence got even better at the end,” he said.

Dobson gave credit to former Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu for his side’s stout defensive work.

“In the last 10-15 minutes our defence closed the game, to not concede a try at Loftus Versfeld is a great achievement. Credit to Paul Treu for the work he has done; the defence really showed the character of the team,” Dobson said.

The Blue Bulls played like an old man stumbling around without his glasses in the dark as they succumbed to a 23-18 defeat at the hands of Western Province in their Currie Cup semi-final at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

Western Province scored the only two tries of the game and were much more clinical than a Bulls team that piled error upon error and lacked the usual spark and tempo to their game.

The most inexplicable of these errors were the two times right wing Travis Ismaiel gifted the ball to predatory Western Province fullback Cheslin Kolbe, leading to the two tries which gave the visitors the breathing space they needed after the Bulls dominated possession in the opening stages of the second half.

The Bulls were leading 12-9, flyhalf Tian Schoeman having broken the 9-9 halftime deadlock with his fourth penalty, when loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff, who had a big impact on the game, won a turnover deep inside Western Province territory. The visitors predictably counter-attacked and outside centre Johnny Kotze put the grubber through for Kolbe. Ismaiel was chasing back but, seeing fullback Warrick Gelant coming across, he held back, allowing Kolbe to steal the ball with the sublime hands of a pickpocket and race over for the try.

While that may just have been a misunderstanding, the mistake Ismaiel made in the 71^st minute was unforgivable, as was the fact that the Bulls had just lost an attacking lineout five metres from the Western Province line.

Kolbe kicked ahead and caught the sluggish Ismaiel, who was forced to run into touch. But instead of getting rid of the ball, he allowed Kolbe to grab it and throw a quick lineout to flank Sikhumbuzo Notshe, with replacement flyhalf Kurt Coleman then flinging a pass out wide for substitute scrumhalf Jano Vermaak to finish in lots of space.

Ismaiel’s bloopers may have been the most obvious, but there were plenty of villains on the night for the Bulls. Francois Hougaard was hesitant with his service at scrumhalf and often kicked when he shouldn’t have, as well as kicking three balls directly out that cost the home side valuable territory.

Territory was a problem for the Bulls for almost the whole game and their scrums were also wobbly, giving away penalties, but improved when Werner Kruger came on off the bench.

Western Province dominated possession but also made plenty of mistakes in a nervy semi-final. But their greater experience was perhaps the telling factor as they made the hard work of their pack count enough times to win the game.

Flyhalf Robert du Preez added three penalties and a conversion to the tries and Coleman’s solitary conversion.

Scorers

Blue Bulls – Penalties: Tian Schoeman (6).

Western Province – Tries: Cheslin Kolbe, Jano Vermaak. Conversions: Robert du Preez, Kurt Coleman. Penalties: Du Preez (3).

When the Blue Bulls hammered Western Province 47-29 at Loftus Versfeld nearly two months ago, they used a ball-in-hand approach, clever attacking innovations and pace and intensity, and coach Nollis Marais wants them to use the same strategy in their Currie Cup semi-final in Pretoria on Friday night.

“We wanted to do things differently, we weren’t looking at a semi-final or a final back then, we were just starting a new culture at the Blue Bulls. We’ve worked hard and now the guys must just play. They must believe in themselves and believe in what we do. They’ve all had a season behind them now and we’re good enough to beat any team. Being young is not an escape clause, the guys must just go out and play,” Marais said.

For Western Province coach John Dobson, the way the Bulls used the restart that day has been a major concern.

“We were beaten on the short kick-off down the middle. A couple of times we just weren’t watching and then it’s Game Over. There was just general sloppiness that day. We have to make sure we don’t get caught in the middle and when we receive the restart the clearance has got to be beyond our own 10m line or else the Bulls will just maul you.

“So we’ve had to change our strategy considerably, in terms of how we set up. We weren’t blocking properly, we were leaving Robert du Preez [flyhalf] stranded deep in the pocket. It was a massive issue for us and we had to change the plan,” Dobson said.

Western Province will no doubt want to use their powerful, more experienced pack to grind down the Bulls.

“Last time we played the Bulls [a 29-14 home win at Newlands a month ago] our pack was fairly well on top and if we can do that again then we are going to stop them from playing Bulls rugby, force them into a more open game, and then the mistakes are going to come and we can put pressure on them. Maybe we can force them to run when they don’t have numbers, we see opportunity in that,” Dobson said.

“That was probably our worst game of the season,” Marais said of the Cape Town loss, “because our set-pieces just didn’t work. So it was the first time we were really under pressure, but we still twice lost the ball over the tryline, so we were competitive. We’re better prepared up front than we were then.”

Blue Bulls hooker Bandise Maku knows that how the pack responds to the pressure the powerful Western Province forwards will put them under will go a long way to deciding who wins their Currie Cup semi-final at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.

Western Province will come to Pretoria with a SuperRugby-strength team featuring a powerful front row of Steven Kitshoff, Bongi Mbonambi and Wilco Louw, and two of the best young locks in the country in Ruan Botha and Jean Kleyn, while the combative Nizaam Carr, the intimidating Rynhardt Elstadt and the pacy Sikhumbuzo Notshe form a superbly well-balanced loose trio.

“As a pack, we’ve gone quite well and guys like Pierre Schoeman, Marvin Orie and RG Snyman have come through well. But Western Province have a very good set-piece and are strong on the drive as well, so we’re expecting a big clash up front. Myself, Deon Stegmann, Lappies Labuschagne and Arno Botha have the experience, we need to stay level-headed because there’s always going to be pressure in a semi-final. It’s how you react to it that’s crucial and the set-piece battle is going to be very important, lineouts and defending the drive as well,” Maku told The Citizen on Tuesday.

Western Province, with Kitshoff at the forefront, will no doubt see the Blue Bulls scrum as a potential area of weakness, but Maku said they have improved since being worked over in Cape Town a month ago when the Blue Bulls were beaten 29-14.

“It’s important to get the combinations right up front and we’ve been doing quite well in the scrums lately. It’s still a work in progress, it’s long-term, but we have improved. There’s been a change in personnel and now we want to scrum, plus we have Werner Kruger coming off the bench to add his experience,” Maku said.

The 29-year-old Springbok is one of the most experienced players in the Blue Bulls team with 74 Currie Cup and 53 SuperRugby caps, and he sees taking whatever points are on offer as being the key factor in whether they reach their first final since 2010.

“It’s all about taking your chances. If you have a lineout five metres out, then you have to make it count. You need to take your points so you create scoreboard pressure, so you also have to kick very well, kick when you have to and keep the pressure on them with the boot. We’ll also need to play with more discipline because that will put pressure on them as well,” Maku said.