Ken Borland

The facts at the end of the day show that the Bulls scored six tries to two and beat Benetton Treviso 46-29 with a bonus point in their United Rugby Championship match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, but they were a sick and sluggish beast in the first half.

Bulls badly off colour in first half

The Bulls did not make a good start to the match as they gave away a soft penalty and then a soft try inside the first dozen minutes to trail 10-0. The impression that this was a sickly Bulls side, their usual confident attitude not being there, as they missed 11 of the 36 tackles they had to make in the first half and were also lethargic at the breakdowns, being turned over five times. That they only trailed 12-16 at halftime was thanks to fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse scoring in the 41^st minute thanks to a lovely long pass out wide by flyhalf Chris Smith.

When the Bulls get gainline dominance they are hard to stop and that’s a fact! Once the Bulls shrugged off their lethargy and started pressurising the gain-line, the Benetton Treviso challenge fell away. Gaining dominance in the collisions had the rub-off effect of sorting out their breakdown problems and the Bulls’ power game also saw them dominate in the scrums, earning penalties for territory, and their maul started to get good traction in the second half as well.

Christmas comes early for Kurt-Lee Arendse

The Bulls also made a sloppy start to the second half, but the advent of the 50^th minute saw fullback Arendse gifted a try as centre Iganacio Brex’s terrible pass went to ground behind his own line and the Bulls’ whippet pounced, racing away from his own 10m line to score.

In the final quarter Arendse then set up the try that sealed the contest with a brilliant counter-attack. Going back into his 22 to field a kick, he beat the first defender and was away; lock Ruan Nortje galloped up in support and he made the final pass to wing Canan Moodie to score.

Mixed afternoon for Chris Smith

Bulls flyhalf Chris Smith struggled with his goalkicking, missing three of his eight shots at goal, including his first two as the home side struggled to get going. But his distribution was fantastic. His change of direction to go blind for flank Cyle Brink to score was a moment of fine vision, helped by hooker Johan Grobbelaar’s burst and Nortje’s deft offload.

Smith and Arendse also combined brilliantly for the crucial score after the halftime hooter.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Cyle Brink, Kurt-Lee Arendse (2), Marcell Coetzee, Canan Moodie, Simphiwe Matanzima. Conversions: Chris Smith (3), Morne Steyn (2). Penalties: Smith (2).

Benneton Treviso – Tries: Tommaso Menoncello (2). Conversions: Rhyno Smith (2). Penalties: Smith (5).

Despite a poor final year in charge of the Springboks, there is little doubt Heyneke Meyer remains a top-class coach and it is a symptom of a sick South African rugby system that the 49-year-old is without a full-time coaching job despite making it clear that he still wants to make a difference to the game in this country.

Meyer was back at Loftus Versfeld a couple of days ago to launch the Beachcomber World Club 10s, a unique tournament for professional teams in a social environment, that will be held in Mauritius next month, but there is no doubt he still harbours a burning desire to be involved in the cauldron of top quality rugby again judging by the passion with which he answered a range of questions on South African rugby.

Although a great admirer of New Zealand rugby and a personal friend of All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, Meyer makes a good point when he says a drive to play like the Kiwis do is a case of chasing the wind for South African rugby.

He reckons it will take us 10 years to catch up to their style of play, by which time their game will have evolved and they will still be 10 years ahead of South Africa. It is perhaps a symptom of our insecurity as a nation that we are always trying to copy other teams – in the early 2000s it was Australian rugby that was the flavour of the month.

Meyer, who has been working with plenty of New Zealanders and Fijians in his part-time role as coach of the Asia Pacific Dragons team, points to a higher innate skills level as one of the main reasons South Africans will find it very difficult to emulate the free-flowing, expansive style of the Kiwis.

“South Africans don’t have the same natural understanding of space that they do, but I truly believe any of our teams can still beat a New Zealand team, especially at home. But if we try and follow them then we’ll never be the best in the world. We have to rediscover what we stand for and play South African rugby – brilliant set-pieces, driving, strong defence. We must do what we’re good at and kick intelligently, not just kick the ball away,” Meyer said.

The national coach from 2012 to 2015 made the point that ex-Springbok coaches are practically driven out of the country and pointed to Eddie Jones travelling from Australia to South Africa and now to England as an example of the value of experience, even if it comes from losing a few games.

“Eddie lost eight games in a row with Australia and was fired, he then helped the Springboks and learnt a lot there. In fact England are now playing like the Boks used to – they have great set-pieces, a great defence and kicking game, they still score tries and they’re on a winning run. It would be 50/50 right now between them and the All Blacks.”

Many observers have pointed to the speed at which New Zealand teams play the game and Meyer said this difference was most marked towards the end of matches, due to the superior fitness of the Kiwis.

“The All Blacks have always been superior in terms of fitness. We have big, strong guys, but it’s harder to get them fit. New Zealand have smaller but more mobile players and they run you ragged in the last 10-15 minutes. Central contracting means Steve Hansen knows the fitness of all his players and whether they need to rest or work harder.

“But you can’t do major fitness work if your players are tired or injured and our guys going overseas makes it very difficult, I’m very concerned about all the guys in Japan because you can’t play for 12 months. Before the last World Cup, I did not see the players for eight months so I asked for fitness reports from the franchises and nobody sent them in.

“So when I got the players I knew we were in trouble and the guys were not fit for the first game against Japan. But the All Blacks get to rest for three months after SuperRugby, so they’re super-fit for the next year, but we’re playing Currie Cup or in Japan. It’s very difficult for the South African coaches,” Meyer said.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20170513/282578787965088

The Reds must be heartily sick of the view from behind the Loftus Versfeld goalposts as they succumbed to another heavy defeat there at the hands of the Vodacom Bulls on Saturday night, conceding six tries in a 43-22 defeat.