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Ken Borland



Sharks & Brumbies dominate home focus 0

Posted on December 04, 2013 by Ken

Whether the good fortunes of the Bulls and Cheetahs overseas will continue will be occupying the minds of their supporters, but the obvious focus of this weekend’s SuperRugby programme, from a South African perspective, will be at King’s Park in Durban, where the Sharks and Brumbies clash.

Play will be a meeting between two of the three remaining unbeaten sides in the competition, and should be a good measure of the Brumbies’ credentials.

The Brumbies’ three wins have been against the Reds, Rebels and Waratahs, but with the strength of the Australian conference the subject of much debate, the men from the Capital Territory have the chance on Saturday (5.05pm) to show that they are at the same level as the other title contenders from New Zealand and South Africa.

Under Jake White, the 2007 World Cup-winning coach, the Brumbies have married the strong driving play and stout defence the Springbok sides under his tenure were famous for to the different lines of running and interplay the teams of Stephen Larkham and George Gregan were renowned for.

The occupants of the top spot on the combined log do have a member of that championship side of the early 2000s in their starting line-up in the form of George Smith, one of the all-time great loose forwards and someone whose ball-stealing abilities have left many Springboks with mental scars.

The effects of travel and the fact that Kings Park has never been a happy ground for the Brumbies – winning just one of seven matches there – are obvious factors counting against the Australians.

The most obvious problem facing the Sharks is their lack of tries at the moment – and the return of Charl McLeod at scrumhalf suggests adding some spark and better cohesion between forwards and backs (something the Natalians are famous for) is at the forefront of coach John Plumtree’s mind.

The strong kicking game of the Brumbies can be seen as the reason for Odwa Ndungane being preferred to Lwazi Mvovo on the wing, while the rich reserves of loose forward strength the Sharks have is reflected by the lack of worry when Jean Deysel joins Willem Alberts on the injured list: Keegan Daniel, the key link man in much of the attacking brilliance the Natalians have shown in recent years, merely returns and takes over the captaincy as well.

The Sharks are winning ugly at the moment, which has worked for the Stormers over the last two years, so the manner of their victory won’t really matter on Saturday, although they will need to have the firepower to match a team that has scored 10 tries this season already, the third most in the competition.

For the aficionados of forward play, there is a mouthwatering clash to enjoy in the scrums, and not just because Siliva Siliva is the Brumbies’ reserve prop; Springboks Beast Mtawarira and Jannie du Plessis will lock horns with Wallabies Ben Alexander and Stephen Moore.

The Cheetahs were a team that showed a new willingness to win ugly last weekend when they pulled off a famous victory over the Highlanders in Invercargill, and hopefully they have carried that spirit across the Tasman with them to Sydney, where they take on the Waratahs on Friday at 10.40am.

The Waratahs are in some disarray with some of the horrors of last season carried over into the current campaign with the New South Welshmen losing two of their first three matches, including a 35-6 thumping at the hands of the Brumbies last weekend.

Coach Michael Cheika has responded by introducing six new faces into the side for this weekend, but veterans such as Benn Robinson, Dave Dennis, Berrick Barnes, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Lachie Turner are still part of the furniture.

Cheetahs scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius was superb last weekend against the Highlanders and is returning to where he played his rugby last year. But his stay with the Waratahs was an unhappy one, and he will have much to prove against opponents who will also be looking to make a statement.

The game awareness of the Cheetahs was outstanding last weekend and, if they can produce their wonderful attacking instincts at the right time in the right place, they could show that their 23-3 victory in Sydney, which was their first ever outside South Africa, was no fluke.

The Bulls, the other unbeaten team in the competition, are in Christchurch to take on the Crusaders and will not have bought the nonsense that the seven-time champions are a spent force.

While the Crusaders have lost their opening two games, they will be buoyed and motivated by returning to the AMI Stadium for the first time in 209 days due to the earthquakes in Christchurch and they still have plenty of quality in their ranks.

Their backline, marshalled by Dan Carter, boasts Israel Dagg, Robbie Fruean, Ryan Crotty and Andy Ellis, while an all-international front row of Owen Franks, Corey Flynn and Wyatt Crockett has fellow All Blacks behind them in Sam and George Whitelock, Matt Todd and Kieran Read.

The Bulls will need to be clinical from the start and keep the pressure on the Crusaders while their confidence is still low and the crowd has not yet got firmly behind them.

The smart money though is on the Crusaders rebounding, clicking into gear and getting their 2013 campaign up and running, so the Bulls will have to be at their best to win back-to-back matches in New Zealand for the first time. And unfortunately, the Bulls do seem to have a bit of an issue with the second game on tour…

The Southern Kings have shown impressive competitiveness and steel in their debut season thus far, but the first real test of their defences comes on Friday night in Port Elizabeth (7.10pm) when they take on New Zealand opposition for the first time, in the form of the defending champions Chiefs.

There can’t be a sterner defensive test at the moment than coming up against the Chiefs – they even managed to score four tries against the Stormers at Newlands last weekend, even though they couldn’t quite win the game.

Kings coach Matt Sexton will need to conceive of better ways of starving the opposition of ball otherwise it will be difficult to see quite how the Eastern Cape men can win this one.

Better skills in hanging on to their own ball would be a start, but this could be where it all starts to go wrong for the Kings, who depart on tour next week.

But this has been a season of surprises so far and this Kings team certainly has heart, so there is hope yet for the rookies.

Teams

Cheetahs: Hennie Daniller, Willie le Roux, Johann Sadie, Robert Ebersohn, Raymond Rhule, Johan Goosen, Sarel Pretorius, Philip van der Walt, Lappies Labuschagne, Frans Viljoen, Francois Uys, Lood de Jager, Lourens Adriaanse, Adriaan Strauss, Trevor Nyakane. Replacements – Ryno Barnes, Coenie Oosthuizen, Ligtoring Landman, Heinrich Brüssow, Piet van Zyl, Riaan Smit, Ryno Benjamin.

Southern Kings: SP Marais, Sergeal Petersen, Ronnie Cooke, Andries Strauss, Marcello Sampson, Demetri Catrakillis, Shaun Venter; Jacques Engelbrecht, Wimpie van der Walt, Cornell du Preez, Steven Sykes, Darron Nell, Kevin Buys, Bandise Maku, Schalk Ferreira. Replacements – Edgar Marutlulle, Jaco Engels, David Bulbring, Daniel Adongo, Nicolas Vergallo, George Whitehead, Hadleigh Parkes.

Bulls: Zane Kirchner, Akona Ndungane, JJ Engelbrecht, Wynand Olivier, Jürgen Visser, Morné Steyn, Jano Vermaak, Pierre Spies, Arno Botha, Deon Stegmann, Juandré Kruger, Flip van der Merwe, Frik Kirsten, Willie Wepener, Morné Mellett. Replacements – Chiliboy Ralepelle, Werner Kruger, Grant Hattingh, Jacques Potgieter, Francois Hougaard, Louis Fouché, Jan Serfontein.

Sharks: Louis Ludik, Odwa Ndungane, Paul Jordaan, Frans Steyn, JP Pietersen, Pat Lambie, Charl McLeod, Ryan Kankowski, Keegan Daniel, Marcell Coetzee, Franco van der Merwe, Anton Bresler, Jannie du Plessis, Craig Burden, Tendai Mtawarira. Replacements – Kyle Cooper, Wiehahn Herbst, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jacques Botes, Cobus Reinach, Meyer Bosman, Lwazi Mvovo.

Other fixtures: Highlanders v Hurricanes (Dunedin); Reds v Force (Brisbane).

Byes: Stormers, Blues, Rebels.

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-03-15-superrugby-preview-what-sharks-pip/#.Up8Rr9IW29A

Sharks win, but was it intense or boring? 0

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Ken

 

So was the Sharks/Stormers match an intense, gripping local derby between two powerful sides or an error-strewn bore-fest that should alarm all those concerned with the health of South African rugby?

You will find supporters for either option, and an array of shades in between, with the 12-6 victory to the Sharks proving highly entertaining for those purists who have an appreciation for Test rugby.

You probably won’t find a more brutal, physical game of rugby in this year’s competition, with the Stormers’ defence at its famous best and the Sharks not giving an inch either.

But while both defences were rock-solid and the two packs thundered into each other from close range, the two coaches, John Plumtree and Allister Coetzee, may want to consider whether they ever tried to move their points of attack away from the edges of the ruck.

Sure, the ball may have been slippery due to the humidity and the high stakes may have forced them both to play the percentages, but the overall impression was that the skills of the players (and we know they have them) were being stifled.

Never mind kicking for position, the boot was also over-used in attacking situations and, with the two sides’ similar game plans cancelling each other out, all innovation and finer skill was choked out of the contest.

The Sharks’ triumph was built on the supremacy of their scrum. Stormers fans will perhaps complain that referee Jonathan Kaplan was hard on them with a string of penalties for hinging (shoulders below the hips), but Tendai Mtawarira and Jannie du Plessis, on the auspicious occasion of his 100th SuperRugby game, were clearly on top of their younger opponents in the Stormers’ front row.

With the result of the match hinging on just two penalties, those scrum infringements were crucial, allowing the Sharks to kick the Stormers back into their own territory.

“The Stormers hit you so hard that you can go away from your plan and then you end up on the back foot. So we just had to be patient, everything was about pressure out there and it came down to who could cope with it,” Plumtree said after the game.

If you like your rugby simple and bloody then the Loftus Versfeld clash between the Bulls and the Western Force also had much to offer.

The Bulls are famous for not playing with any airs or graces and the Force, written off by most after their stunning upset at the hands of the Southern Kings, took the hosts on at their own game and were actually better at it for long periods.

In the rarefied atmosphere of Loftus Versfeld, visitors need a kicker who can match the Bulls’ aerial bombardment and the Force had the big boot of Sias Ebersohn, a refugee from the Cheetahs.

The Force led 26-19 after the hour mark but sadly could not even hold on to gain a losing bonus point as the Bulls scored twice in the last 10 minutes.

The Bulls are a schizophrenic side at times, showing some superb attacking skills in setting up tries for Morné Steyn, in the second minute, and the impressive debutant wing, Sampie Mastriet, as well as a disallowed try by Bjorn Basson. But then for long periods they would revert back to 10-man rugby, with the boot dominating.

But in the 52nd minute, the Bulls were sorry they didn’t take a kick at goal from a penalty right in front, opting to set up the lineout instead. But the Force defended superbly, stopping the rolling maul and then getting off their line quickly to force a turnover.

Moments later, lock Toby Lynn was burrowing over the tryline and leaving the Loftus crowd sadly contemplating defeat, conned into believing the Force were also-rans, despite the fact that they had won three of their six previous encounters with the Bulls.

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke confided to the media afterwards that he felt the first-half display had been their worst performance in five years, but he would also have been thrilled by the way his team pulled themselves together in the last 15 minutes and returned to their strengths.

Their tightly-knit rolling maul earned another impressive debutant, replacement flank Jean Cook, a try, and prop Werner Kruger then scored in the shadow of the poles in the final movement of the game.

“The way we came back in the second half, the way players adjusted on the field, that was a special effort from the team,” Ludeke said.

“Last year against the Blues we were in exactly the same situation, we couldn’t get out of that grip and tonight we got back. All credit to the captain [Pierre Spies] for the way he got us back to things that are working for us, the maul started working, we managed the high ball, we forced some turnovers and we converted pressure into points,” he added.

Converting pressure into points is exactly what the Cheetahs failed to do in the first half of their match against the Chiefs in Hamilton as flyhalf Johan Goosen continued to struggle.

He missed three penalties in the first half as the Cheetahs dominated territory and possession, and then had a clearance kick charged down early in the second half as the Chiefs extended their 10-3 half-time lead to 17-3.

All Blacks flyhalf-in-waiting Aaron Cruden then took over as he set up brilliant tries by Asaeli Tikoirotuma and Gareth Anscombe to ensure the defending champions notched a convincing bonus-point victory.

A lot has been said about how the Cheetahs are such a wonderful attacking side, but merely throwing the ball from side to side does not constitute great running rugby. Just throwing the ball wide is as one-dimensional as the worst fare dished up by the Stormers, Sharks and Bulls over the weekend and it was comfortably handled by the Chiefs.

The home side used their forwards on attack to suck in the defence, before going wide and the Cheetahs have to learn to earn the right to throw the ball around.

It’s all very well just hurling the ball out wide, but defences are cracked by the sort of skills Cruden and Anscombe showed in that superb try: changes of direction, great hands, scissors-movements and different running lines.

There was no sign of that sort of skill from the South African teams in action this weekend, which meant the wins of the Sharks and Bulls were greeted with no great fanfare.

Nobody is writing them – or even the Stormers – off at this early stage, but there is no doubt there is plenty of work to do for Messrs Plumtree, Ludeke and Coetzee.

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-03-04-superrugby-wrap-unattractive-victories-by-sharks-and-bulls-win-few-fans/#.UeRI79I3A6w

Van Zyl one of the favourites for Tshwane Open 0

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Ken

 

A shaky back nine in the wind cost Jaco van Zyl victory in the Africa Open two weeks ago, but the in-form South African will be one of the favourites at the European Tour co-sanctioned Tshwane Open which starts at Copperleaf Golf Estate on Thursday.

Van Zyl is chasing his first European Tour victory, which is a long-awaited event seeing as though he has had five top-three finishes in the last three years, as well as seven other top-10s and 11 Sunshine Tour victories.

The 34-year-old will need to improve his form off the tee, however, with Copperleaf being a lengthy 7,123m monster, but he does have the confidence of coming off a win in last weekend’s Sunshine Tour event, the Dimension Data Pro-Am in George.

“The course is really long but the greens are receptive, so I’m sure the scoring will be low,” Van Zyl said of the Copperleaf course formerly known as Gardener Ross.

“My short game is still sharp and my ball-striking was really good last week, I hit the ball nicely and it’s a bit better every week. You have to know what to hit off the tee here and what sort of lie you want to hit your second from,” Van Zyl, who is 82nd in driving distance on the European Tour this year and 37th in accuracy, said.

There is no doubt Van Zyl is a major threat in the final co-sanctioned event of the 2012/13 summer, sitting in first place in the Investec Cup standings, third on the Sunshine Tour order of merit, 33rd on the Race to Dubai and up to 104th on the world rankings after starting the year in 146th. His last three finishes have been tied 11th, tied second and last week’s victory in George.

But the field is a useful one and there are many dangers lurking, much like the numerous large bunkers that are a feature of the Ernie Els-designed course at Copperleaf.

Steve Webster of England is perhaps the most consistent performer on the European Tour thus far this season with four top-10 finishes in six starts, while South Africans Garth Mulroy and Thomas Aiken are also in fine form.

Africa Open winner Darren Fichardt is in the field and there is no lack of experienced worldwide winners either, with Michael Campbell, Jeev Milkha Singh, Jose-Maria Olazabal, Simon Dyson and Darren Clarke all teeing it up on Thursday.

Other participants who have shown top-class form lately include James Kingston, Adilson da Silva, Trevor Fisher Jnr and Danie van Tonder.

Olazabal is a golfing legend, a 31-time winner worldwide, including two Masters crowns, and a triumphant Ryder Cup as captain last year.

But the Spaniard admitted that he is going through a tough time with the driver, which is a major drawback on this particular course.

“Last weekend when I left home we had snow, so I didn’t have much practice over the last week because of the weather. But my last tournament was good [tied 17th at the Dubai Desert Classic four weeks ago], although I’m having a tough time with my driver. It’s still my Achilles heel and with the course as long as it is, you need to hit it solid off the tee,” Olazabal said.

Campbell, a New Zealander, is also a major champion having won the 2005 US Open as a qualifier. He suffered a missed cut in his last tournament – the Dubai Desert Classic – but was in good form in the Middle East before that with top-20 finishes in both Abu Dhabi and Qatar.

A Maori, Campbell seems to have a healthy outlook on a game that catapulted him to stardom in 2005 before sending him back into anonymity.

“It’s only a game. My results reflect that I’ve turned around again, but I’ve always been up and down like a yo-yo, some very big highs and very big lows. I accept that and I’ve always had them. That’s golf,” Campbell said.

Dyson is a regular visitor to South Africa, having played in 13 co-sanctioned events and finished in the top-20 four times.

And he is a wary admirer of the talent in this country.

“Without a doubt I’ll be watching a few South Africans. They seem to come off the conveyor belt every year and you’ve got some really, really good talent. They all hit it a mile, which sickens me. Every single one of them seems to bomb it, even Sterne who must be 5-foot-one and Schwartzel who could hide behind the pin! It’s just ridiculous, it must be something in the water… or the biltong!” the Englishman joked.

Though the fairways are generally wide, there is a host of bunkers, and golfers who are not accurate run the risk of becoming mired in these sandy expanses.

“It’s brutally long in places, but some of the short holes are typical Ernie – lots of run-offs. A good short game is going to come to the fore if you do miss the short holes. It’s going to be a tough test, because every par-five feels like 650 yards, so it’s not the usual where everyone is going to be hammering it in two. The course is good and it’s in great condition,” the veteran Clarke said.

Milkha Singh is another who has been coming to South Africa for a long time, since 1998, and he is looking forward to a bit of wind blowing around the Highveld grassland course outside Centurion, the Indian having won the Scottish Open last year at the blustery links of Castle Stuart.

“It’s long but bearable. But I hope the wind picks up, that would make it interesting and I’m really happy in the wind,” he said.

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-02-28-tshwane-open-preview-youth-and-power-vs-age-and-finesse/#.Ud1LBtI3A6w

SuperRugby will be a baptism of fire for Southern Kings 0

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Ken

The SuperRugby season kicks off on Friday with Australian teams getting the competition started. The five South African franchises join the fray next weekend with several burning questions still to be answered. Foremost of these is whether the Southern Kings have procured enough firepower to avoid totally embarrassing themselves and the South African Rugby Union administrators who promoted them with scant regard for on-field performance.

The Southern Kings have brought a dozen new players to Port Elizabeth, but they can best be described as SuperRugby journeymen. Even though hooker Bandise Maku and centres Waylon Murray and Andries Strauss are all Springboks, they are not what one would term star players capable of dominating at SuperRugby level. The Kings have also signed two seasoned Argentinean internationals in scrumhalf Nicolas Vergallo and flank Tomas Leonardi, as well as former Toulouse hooker Virgile Lacombe.

The role of captain Luke Watson, of whom opinions vary from sulky trouble-causer to inspiring team-man and leader, is going to be very important in melding such a disparate group of players into a team. Massive expenditure is no guarantee of success in a sport that depends so greatly on team cohesion and attitude.

The Kings have also incurred the wrath of many South African fans who believe their inclusion in the competition is purely on political grounds and the pressure will be on them from the outset.

All eyes will be on their opening game when they host the Western Force, who are also trying to find their feet in SuperRugby. Then, before heading off on their overseas tour, the Kings face daunting meetings with the Sharks and defending champions the Chiefs.

The other game the Kings could possibly target in search of that morale-boosting first victory will be against the Rebels in Melbourne on 13 April, but that will be the last game of their overseas tour and whether they will still be on two feet remains to be seen.

On the positive side, this year provides an ideal opportunity for talented players such as flank Daniel Adongo, flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis, centre Ronnie Cooke and lock Steven Sykes to make their mark on this semi-international stage.

The Bulls will be looking to build on their achievement in making last year’s playoffs as they showed there is still life in the union after so many of yesterday’s heroes moved on.

Pierre Spies’s team will include two new faces in utility back Lionel Mapoe and talented young lock Paul Willemse, but the Pretoria faithful will be relying on remaining stalwarts such as Morne Steyn, Spies, Flip van der Merwe, Francois Hougaard, Werner Kruger, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Dewald Potgieter, Deon Stegmann, Wynand Olivier, Akona Ndungane and Zane Kirchner for bigger and better things in 2013.

None more so than Steyn whose eye will still be on the Springbok number 10 jersey. He can count on Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer still valuing his experience and goal-kicking ability, but he needs to play more like the dashing flyhalf of 2008/9 than a gout-ridden has-been turning out for the Blikkiesdorp over-35s.

Loose forward CJ Stander has moved on to new pastures, which counts as a big loss for the Bulls, but the likes of lock Juandre Kruger and backs JJ Engelbrecht, Francois Venter and Bjorn Basson are ready to take the next step and dominate at SuperRugby level.

The Cheetahs will be well aware that their neighbours in Gauteng are smarting over their exclusion from SuperRugby and the way their former allies in Bloemfontein helped betray them. So they will be nervous going into the SuperRugby season, desperate to avoid finishing last in the South African conference and having to face the Lions in a promotion/relegation series.

Their build-up to the campaign has not been good, with the final bell having rung on Juan Smith’s superb career and another favourite, prop Coenie Oosthuizen, still taking the first steps on his way back to recovery. The front row has been one of the Cheetahs’ premier areas of strength in recent years, but with WP Nel and Marcel van der Merwe both having left, coach Naka Drotske is a worried man, with his job under some pressure as well.

Twenty-year-old Johan Goosen is a potential match-winner for the Cheetahs and a popular choice for the Springbok number 10 jersey – he will be a key man for Drotske.

Captain Adriaan Strauss is a respected leader and brilliant hooker, but the state of the rest of the tight five will be the key factor in determining whether Goosen and other exciting backs like Sarel Pretorius, Robert Ebersohn, Johann Sadie, Raymond Rhule and Willie le Roux are able to play with the flair they are famous for.

The Cheetahs also have a bad draw: they have just a solitary home game against the Sharks before they head off overseas, their opening tour matches being against the defending champions, the Chiefs, and then the Highlanders at the House of Pain in Dunedin.

The Stormers topped the log in 2012 and are the Currie Cup champions, and there is plenty of optimism in Cape Town that they are heading into another golden age of Western Province rugby to rival that of the late 1990s/early 2000s. The SuperRugby title is the one they really want and they certainly have the players to become the second South African franchise to claim the trophy. Though their defence was famously committed and superbly organised last year, they will need to sharpen up on their attacking skills.

Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana and Schalk Burger are household names, but they have also added some potential superstars in fullback Jaco Taute and flyhalf Elton Jantjies.

Their pack also boasts Springboks in Eben Etzebeth, Duane Vermeulen, Andries Bekker and new signing Pat Cilliers, while much is expected of loose forwards Siya Kolisi and Rynhardt Elstadt.

But items up for debate are whether they have enough depth in the tight five should injuries strike, whether scrumhalves Dewaldt Duvenhage, Nic Groom and Louis Schreuder have the star quality to get the best out of a phenomenal backline also featuring Juan de Jongh, Gio Aplon and Joe Pietersen, and when Burger will actually return to action after a succession of leg injuries.

It will be necessary for the Stormers to hit the competition running as their first three games are key away trips to conference contenders the Bulls and Sharks, followed by a meeting with the Chiefs at Newlands.

 

The Sharks have such a wealth of talent at their disposal across almost all positions that it is becoming inexplicable that they still haven’t managed to win a SuperRugby crown.

The only items causing some concern down Durban way will be the second row, where Franco van der Merwe is the experienced import among the greenhorns, who is going to start at hooker while Bismarck du Plessis continues his rehab from knee ligament surgery, and will Frans Steyn continue to captain while Keegan Daniel recovers from a knee injury?

A dreadfully slow start to the 2012 campaign was to blame for the Sharks only finishing sixth on the log and scraping into the playoffs. Travelling to Australia, Cape Town and then to New Zealand was a bridge too far for them and they will be mindful of the need to earn home playoffs this time round.

Although the Currie Cup ultimately ended in a shock defeat to Western Province in the final, the potential was plain to see in the likes of lock Anton Bresler, scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, centres Paul Jordaan and Tim Whitehead, wing Sibusiso Sithole and fullback Louis Ludik.

The Sharks loose trio was arguably the best in the competition last year and Ryan Kankowski is back from Japan to join Marcell Coetzee, Daniel, Willem Alberts, Jean Deysel and Jacques Botes.

In Butch James, the Sharks have experienced cover for Pat Lambie in the flyhalf position, while Steyn provides muscle in midfield and JP Pietersen and Lwazi Mvovo were inspirational on the wing last year.

The Sharks will also be spending the first eight weeks of the competition in South Africa, playing teams like the Stormers, Brumbies and Crusaders in Durban, so they should be in good spirits by the time they head overseas in the last week of April.

The Sharks will surely be in contention and, provided they don’t get in their own way, 2013 could be the year they finally get their hands on the SuperRugby trophy.

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-02-15-superrugby-preview-brief-lull-before-the-storm-for-sa-franchises/#.UbXJOec3A6w

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