Ken Borland

The Vodacom Blue Bulls didn’t exactly bash the door down into the Absa Currie Cup semi-finals, but they did saunter through with growing confidence as they beat GWK Griquas 46-12 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.

It was a convincing victory on the scoreboard, the Bulls dotting down six times and they ran away with the game in the second half thanks to the complete dominance of their forwards, especially in the set-pieces. It was an error-strewn performance, however, by the home side against a team lacking depth and depleted by injury and they will clearly have to raise their game several notches to compete with Western Province in their semi-final at Newlands next weekend.

It also won’t take much for Western Province to suss out that the Bulls are vulnerable out wide, with Griquas wing Ederies Arendse scoring two scintillating tries that saw his team trailing by just one point after half-an-hour.

The man of the match, however, was Bulls left wing Bjorn Basson, a supreme taker of chances. He scored a hat-trick of tries to show coach Frans Ludeke that he is back to his best after an injury-disrupted year, proving sharp in all aspects of his game, especially in the air. The experienced Springbok will be an important player in the semi-final.

The Bulls are also fortunate that they can call on Handre Pollard at flyhalf, and they looked a slicker, more threatening team on attack when he came on midway through the second half and immediately had the defence guessing with clever chips over the top and his own powerful runs.

Griquas made a nightmare start as scrumhalf Tian Meyer threw a pass straight to Basson who raced away for a 45m intercept try in the second minute, but they struck back with a wonderful try of their own. They showed how dangerous they can be from turnover ball as Marcel van der Merwe lost possession in contact and Griquas quickly went wide with a slick backline move. Arendse then showed that he can certainly put on the after-burners as he raced away for the try.

The visitors were under severe pressure for much of the first half and they can consider themselves fortunate that they did not get a yellow card.

The Bulls did get a Potgieter penalty, however (10-7) but Basson then showed how effective his prowess can be in the air as he won an up-and-under, the Bulls quickly spread the ball wide and a strong run by fullback Ulrich Beyers drew the infringement.

Arendse struck back with a magnificent try, using a classic in-and-out to beat three defenders from the halfway line, that could well have some SuperRugby franchises on the phone enquiring about his availability.

An alleged tip-tackle by loosehead prop Simon Westraadt eventually brought the first yellow card for Griquas and the Bulls reverted to a typical strength for their second try, flank and captain Deon Stegmann scoring from a rolling maul to give them a 20-12 half-time lead.

The njoyment increased in the second half as Griquas faded and their brave defence began to crack, the dominance of the Bulls forwards and their fierce ball-carrying starting to take its toll.

Stegmann broke free twice in the matter of a couple of minutes to put the Bulls strongly on attack in the fifth minute and when Griquas couldn’t secure their own lineout ball, it led to a five-metre scrum. A terrific shove totally opened up the blindside, replacement scrumhalf Rudy Paige went on a dart and Basson was in acres of space to stroll over for his second try.

Basson completed his hat-trick in the 61^st minute, showing great pace down the left, but it all begins with the forwards and apart from the wonderful front-foot ball the backs were getting, eighthman Jono Ross and replacement hooker Callie Visagie also made valuable contributions in the backline for the wing to score.

The last 10 minutes were dominated by Pollard, showing why he is the answer today at flyhalf for the Springboks.

After replacement hooker Ryno Barnes, playing his 100^th Currie Cup game, was red-carded for swearing at the assistant referee to leave Griquas one short, Pollard stepped inside and powered over for a try in the shadow of the poles.

Six minutes later, on the stroke of full-time, Pollard’s lovely little chip over the top was raced on to by right wing Akona Ndungane, who crossed for the sixth and final try.

Scorers

Blue Bulls – Tries: Bjorn Basson (3), Deon Stegmann, Handre Pollard, Akona Ndungane. Conversions: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (3), Handre Pollard (2). Penalties: Potgieter (2).

Griquas – Tries: Ederies Arendse (2). Conversion: Francois Brummer.

The Vodacom Blue Bulls have won five of their nine Absa Currie Cup matches this season and they know that just one more triumph is all that is required to clinch a place in the semi-finals as they take on the GWK Griquas at Loftus Versfeld tonight.

Griquas, with just one away win to their names this season – a shock 21-18 triumph over the Sharks in Durban at the beginning of September, are not expected to halt the momentum of a two-match winning streak for the Bulls, but home coach Frans Ludeke is taking nothing for granted.

“Griquas, throughout the season, have been very competitive and they had two very good wins against the EP Kings. Especially in that last game, they had a very good second half and used broken-field very well. They have a strong pack and a good rolling maul, and it is going to be a huge battle on the gain-line and in the set-pieces,” Ludeke warned.

Griquas coach Hawies Fourie will be worried that injuries to five frontline players will have robbed his team of their momentum after the win over the Kings, but for Griquas tonight’s game is all about winning and giving themselves a chance of finishing in the top six and therefore avoiding any relegation playoffs.

“Injuries have plagued us this year, it is a problem with which any union struggles, but we’ve gotten the short end of the stick this year. It makes preparations very difficult and it disrupts any momentum we might have had.

“We still want to finish in the top six and we need to put in a winning performance against the Blue Bulls if we want to achieve that. But it is going to be difficult, now even more so in light of the many injuries. Hopefully we can produce some magic come Saturday,” Fourie said in verifying his concerns.

Teams

Blue Bulls – 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.

Griquas –15-Jacquin Jansen, 14-Danie Dames, 13-PJ Vermeulen, 12-Jonathan Francke, 11-Ederies Arendse, 10-Francois Brummer, 9-Tian Meyer, 8-Ruaan Lerm, 7-Jonathan Adendorf, 6-Marnus Schoeman, 5-Jaco Nepgen, 4-Hugo Kloppers, 3-Maks van Dyk, 2-Martin Bezuidenhout, 1-Simon Westraadt. Replacements: 16-Ryno Barnes, 17-Wesley Cloete, 18-RJ Liebenberg, 19-Burger Schoeman, 20-Rudi van Rooyen, 21-Dean Grant, 22-Doppies la Grange.

The sleek new six-team Currie Cup Premier Division has certainly ensured a more competitive format and, heading into this weekend’s final round-robin fixtures, all the teams remain in contention for the semi-finals, while the bottom four can all qualify for the knockout stages or finish last and be forced into a promotion/relegation battle.

Both the Sharks (30pts) and Lions (28pts) can sally forth into the last round of games secure in the knowledge that they have already clinched home semi-finals because the gap between them and the chasing pack is too large to be bridged.

Western Province and Griquas are tied on 20 points, while Free State and the Blue Bulls languish on 18.

Whoever finishes last on the Premier Division log will have to play promotion/relegation against the Watson father-and-son combination of the EP Kings after the ambitious Port Elizabeth team topped the First Division standings with an unbeaten 14-game run.

The Free State Cheetahs, after a poor season in which they have won just three of their nine games thus far, are probably most under pressure as they travel to Newlands to take on a Western Province outfit restored to full strength by their Springboks.

And Western Province will not be lacking any motivation as they are after a semi-final place and will be desperate to avoid the ignominy of a relegation battle, which will happen if they lose on Saturday and the Bulls beat the Lions in Johannesburg and Griquas upset the Sharks.

Lady Luck may have turned her face away from the Lions for much of this year, but the troubled defending champions have once again done extremely well in the Currie Cup and, because they have already sown up a home semi-final, can afford to rest some key players on Saturday, perhaps increasing the hopes of the Bulls.

For the Bulls, the permutations are simple. Win, and a semi-final place is their’s, lose and they will have to stave off relegation. (There is a third, more arcane possibility and that is if the Bulls lose but collect two bonus points then they can still finish fourth or fifth depending on how Griquas and Free State do).

The Bulls, with their strict adherence to game plan, and the Cheetahs, with a laissez-faire willingness to attack from anywhere, are on different ends of the playing spectrum but they have both landed themselves in trouble this season.

The Bulls can at least call upon a host of Springboks – Zane Kirchner, Morne Steyn, Jacques Potgieter, Flip van der Merwe, Juandre Kruger, Francois Hougaard, Bjorn Basson, Chiliboy Ralepelle and Dean Greyling – to try and turn their fortunes around at the death.

Western Province supporters, fed a steady diet of under-performance by a side that has gone trophy-less since 2001, are also putting their hopes in returning Springboks, with coach Allister Coetzee naming Bryan Habana, Jean de Villiers, Juan de Jongh, Duane Vermeulen, Andries Bekker, Eben Etzebeth and Tiaan Liebenberg in the starting line-up.

Coetzee has recently relaxed the defence-minded regimen he instituted with the Stormers, but against a team that likes an expansive game like the Cheetahs do, the argument that Western Province should perhaps play it tight and squeeze the visitors carries some weight.

Sharks coach John Plumtree, still haunted by last season’s events when he chose all his returning Springboks for the Currie Cup final and saw a more cohesive Lions team saunter to a 42-16 triumph, has meanwhile decided to phase his returning internationals back into action this time and only Pat Lambie makes it into the starting XV. Prop Jannie du Plessis, hooker Craig Burden and flank Marcell Coetzee are on the bench.

Tendai Mtawarira, Willem Alberts and Lwazi Mvovo have the weekend off and will add tremendously to the depth in the squad when they return to contention for the semi-finals.

Griquas, meanwhile, have surprised each and everyone with their bold rugby and coach Pote Human has reaped the rewards of consistency in selection. He hasn’t got the depth to play around with like the bigger unions, however, so perhaps he had little other option, but Griquas have certainly impressed after most critics had them down for the relegation battle at the end of the season.

The Sharks have had a torrid time against the Griquas in Kimberley of late, but if the Northern Cape team can beat the log-leaders in Durban, it will be an enormous upset.

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer will no doubt also be an engrossed observer as Lambie starts at flyhalf for the first time since the early stages of SuperRugby.

It all adds up to an intriguing final weekend of action, the margins between failure and success being ridiculously small.

Weekend fixtures

Friday – Sharks v Griquas (Durban, 7.10pm)

Saturday – Western Province v Free State Cheetahs (Cape Town, 5.05pm)

Lions v Blue Bulls (Johannesburg, 7.10pm)

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