Ken Borland

Last weekend’s South African Conference SuperRugby matches just showed that the old adage of your tight five forwards winning you games remains as true as ever. For all the work we want them to do around the field these days, the set-pieces remain what teams build on.

It seems a player in the tight five’s mindset just goes if they are going backwards and are under pressure in the set-pieces and the difference between the Stormers and the Bulls in Cape Town was basically the scrums, and it was that same scrum that won Western Province the Currie Cup final last year.

Wilco Louw played his rugby as a junior at the Bulls – how and why did they let him go?! – and he is a monster who just does not get shifted at tighthead. He is certainly number one in that position in South Africa at the moment.

To have 30 000 people in at Newlands for the derby was a real positive and the Stormers were supercharged. You could just see the emotion of Robbie Fleck in the coaches’ box, he obviously knew the importance of the game, and the way a team plays is a reflection of their coaching and the Stormers were protecting a very proud recent record against the Bulls at Newlands, having won every game between them there for the last seven years.

The pressure won’t go away for the Stormers with that impressive win, but they have given themselves a chance of qualifying for the playoffs. It will now be about replicating that performance for the rest of the competition.

You have to give credit to the Stormers for the way they played, but they need a performance like that every week now. They will be a bit disappointed not to get the bonus point, they needed that because there’s not much difference between the teams on the log. Bonus points will more than likely settle matters, they are always so vital in the middle of the table, they make all the difference.

The Bulls did really well to stick in the contest, but the game hinged when the Stormers got the kickoff back straight after the Bulls went ahead 17-12 early in the second half, and scored a try to go back into the lead.

The Bulls will take away from the game that they managed to get back into contention having really been through the mincer in the first 15 minutes.

We also need to celebrate the Sharks doing so well against the New Zealand teams and they have scored an amazing number of tries against them – six against the Blues, four versus the Hurricanes and now five against the Highlanders – so they are clearly playing really good rugby. Maybe they have discovered the secret of how to play against the Kiwis, and they are certainly outscoring them, so credit to the Sharks.

Their approach has brought them reward and now they just need to look for consistency.

Some of the Sharks tries have been absolutely superb in terms of passing and clever box-kicks and to see a lock in Ruan Botha claiming the ball as the first chaser, leading to their first try against the Highlanders in the opening minute was amazing. They also scored a great try with the bridge pass over the top and another through a sublime grubber from Robert du Preez, which are all the ways to expose the wing.

The three Du Preez brothers certainly make a massive difference to the Sharks team, with the two loose forwards monstering the gain-line and Robert really controlling the game at flyhalf. It’s great to see in terms of the Springboks with Handre Pollard also playing well too, both Handre and Robert are big flyhalves who really defend their channels.

The Lions are almost indestructible on the Highveld and in South Africa in general, they’re bulletproof playing in South Africa having not lost to another local franchise in three years, but they really need to get something out of their game against the Highlanders in Dunedin this weekend. If they do then maybe they can still get a home semi-final because the Australian teams are so far behind. The Lions will be confident they can beat anyone on the Highveld and nobody will want to travel to altitude to play them, then a final away from home can always be 50/50.

The Jaguares have really improved and are in quarterfinal contention, they have a lot of home games coming up after their amazing run of winning four games on the bounce away from home. They seem to have returned to the traditional Argentinian values of a good scrum and maul.

For the Lions, Ruan Combrinck did not have the greatest game in defence, he went way too high twice and was too easily brushed off, which really cost them, and the Lions’ defence was too narrow and the Hurricanes were able to score a try by going around them inside the 22. They need better spacing there.

The Lions have kept themselves in the race to win the Conference though and they could well be in Johannesburg for the playoffs. If they are to be at home in the knockout rounds then they have to ensure that they are more accurate in the set-pieces; they lost a lineout which led directly to the Hurricanes getting seven points.

For the Wellingtonians, Ben Lam is certainly on fire … and New Zealand have just uncovered another top-class winger!

The Springbok pack is showing great potential too.

If Steven Kitshoff, Beast Mtawarira, Wilco Louw and Trevor Nyakane can replicate their performances in SuperRugby, along with the hookers we have in Adriaan Strauss, who had a huge weight on his shoulders in 2016 and is now playing with freedom, Malcolm Marx and Bismarck du Plessis, then South Africa will have a heck of a front row.

When you add in locks Lood de Jager, RG Snyman, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Franco Mostert, and Eben Etzebeth when he is fit, then we have the makings of a really good Springbok tight five. They tick all the set-piece boxes and that is still the basis of all rugby, never mind Test rugby, for all the skills people are dazzled by.

Plus I’m sure Rassie Erasmus will want to get Vincent Koch in the mix, but will he play in June at the end of a long season in England? Maybe it would be better to give him some time off before the Rugby Championship. Heyneke Meyer had a theory that it was better to play the SuperRugby guys in June and the overseas players at the end of the year, because playing all-year-round rugby is very tough.

In terms of the back row, a combination of Duane Vermeulen, Francois Louw and Jean-Luc du Preez looks really good, and then you put Siya Kolisi in the mix as well. He was superb last June – forcing turnovers, being busy around the field, chasing down kicks and making strong carries.Congratulations to him on captaining the Stormers so well in his 100th game at his beloved Newlands.

John McFarland is the assistant coach of the Kubota Spears in Japan and was the Springbok defence coach from 2012 through to the 2015 World Cup, where they conceded the least line-breaks in the tournament and an average of just one try per game. Before that, McFarland won three SuperRugby titles (2007, 09, 10) with the Bulls and five Currie Cup crowns with the Blue Bulls. In all, he won 28 trophies during his 12 years at Loftus Versfeld.

The Vodacom Bulls went top of the South African SuperRugby conference as they pipped the Emirates Lions 35-33 in a wild, thrilling evening at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

After the scintillating match between the Hurricanes and the Crusaders earlier in the day, the Bulls and Lions showed that here in Africa there is also skill and running rugby.

It was the Bulls who stampeded out of the blocks first, racing to an 18-7 lead and they were comfortably ahead 25-13 at the break. Both sides played with pace and intensity and were not afraid to spread the ball wide, but there was also plenty of uncompromising forward play, defence and fiercely-contested rucks.

Bulls scrumhalf Piet van Zyl scored the first two tries in a dazzling three minutes and it was a pity he had to leave the field injured in the 36^th minute because it robbed the Bulls attack of some fluency and also penetration out wide because Francois Hougaard had to move in and play halfback.

Van Zyl’s first try came after a superb counter-attack by the Bulls, who ran from deep and used long passes as flank Arno Botha was eventually stopped in the left corner, the scrumhalf then dummying at the ruck and diving over to dot down.

Three minutes later the Bulls again went wide and it didn’t matter that it was the big men there – locks Victor Matfield and Flip van der Merwe both handled with aplomb to send Botha charging down the left again, before he passed inside to centre Jan Serfontein, who then found Van Zyl, who battled through two tackles to score.

Van Zyl’s opposite number, Faf de Klerk, then lit up Loftus as he provided a brilliant finish to a break by right wing Ruan Combrinck and the conversion by flyhalf Elton Jantjies cut the Bulls’ lead to 12-7.

Pollard kicked two penalties to stretch the gap to 18-7, before Jantjies kicked his second penalty.

But the Bulls ensured they maintained a healthy cushion when JJ Engelbrecht teared off through the middle of the field after Serfontein had popped the ball up in the tackle, the outside centre racing clear and then sprinting around the cover defence for an extraordinary try, converted by Pollard.

Jantjies is staking a strong claim for a World Cup place behind Pollard and Pat Lambie, and he maintained his good goalkicking form with his second penalty of the first half.

This Lions team is a never-say-die outfit and the Bulls’ weakness is the scrum, which they managed to largely avoid in the first half. But with the second half starting with several scrums, the Lions were able to squeeze penalties out of the Bulls, denying them possession for long periods and dominating territory as well.

Referee Marius van der Westhuizen is clearly no scrum expert, but there was no denying the clear change in momentum as Jantjies kicked two penalties to close the gap to 19-25 and then the Lions took the lead for the first time in the 54^th minute.

Replacement Courtnall Skosan provided an injection of pace down the left and with impressive flank Jaco Kriel making an incisive run, the Lions swept into the Bulls’ 22, from where their forwards began driving and loosehead prop Jacques van Rooyen was able to go over for an easy try, converted by Jantjies.

Bulls captain Victor Matfield was getting increasingly frustrated with the referee, the Bulls being denied a crucial advantage at one stage, but it was regular captain, Pierre Spies, coming off the bench, who took control of affairs.

The eighthman leapt high to control a chip-kick and then sparked a counter-attack with Hougaard that ended with a ruck penalty inside the Lions’ 22. Spies immediately tapped the ball and powered his way through several tackles, scoring the crucial try that regained the lead for the Bulls with 12 minutes remaining. The Springbok has certainly been playing with tremendous authority in recent weeks.

The momentum also shifted in the scrums, with a massive shove earning the Bulls a penalty in the 76^th minute, Pollard slotting a 50m effort to stretch the lead to 35-26.

The smart money would then have been on the Bulls, but the Lions have a well-earned reputation for earning their pay over the full 80 minutes and the home side still have fresh scars from their last-minute loss a month ago at Ellis Park.

And sure enough, the Lions ensured a grandstand finish as they scored a 78^th-minute try to narrow the Bulls’ lead to 35-33. Coach Johan Ackermann had called on the services of Ross Cronje off the bench at scrumhalf and he sparked a counter that saw wave-after-wave of Lions attacks. Eventually the Bulls simply ran out of defenders and Kriel, one of the Lions’ consistent stars, had an easy run-in for the try.

But the Bulls were particularly effective in the rucks on Saturday night and they were able to claim a turnover from the kickoff and ended the match with a scrum five metres from the opposition tryline.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Piet van Zyl (2), JJ Engelbrecht, Pierre Spies. Conversions: Handre Pollard (3). Penalties: Pollard (3).

Lions – Tries: Faf de Klerk, Jacques van Rooyen, Jaco Kriel. Conversions: Elton Jantjies (3). Penalties: Jantjies (4).

http://citizen.co.za/374533/bonus-point-35-33-win-for-bulls-in-loftus-thriller/

The Bulls and the Stormers are the two leading sides in the South African SuperRugby Conference and are age-old rivals, so it will be a titanic clash when they meet at Newlands on Saturday, with the Bulls expecting a ferocious contest up front as they go in search of revenge for the 29-17 hammering they suffered at the hands of the Capetonians at Loftus Versfeld on the opening weekend of the season.

“It’s going to be another tough South African derby and it’s nice that it’s such an important game. They came here and won and hopefully we can do the same down there. It’s important that we play for the full 80 minutes, we have to be consistent and use our opportunities well,” Bulls captain Pierre Spies said in Pretoria this week.

“The Stormers are very direct, they work hard on the gain-line and the game is going to be decided up front, whoever can get a solid base up there will be on the front foot. The gain-line is going to be crucial because that’s where the penalties and the line-breaks happen. And the team that keeps their discipline best normally comes out on top,” coach Frans Ludeke added.

Apart from the SA Conference lead being up for grabs, what makes the match so mouthwatering are the head-to-head clashes in this World Cup year – Marcel van der Merwe v Steven Kitshoff, Flip van der Merwe v Eben Etzebeth, Spies v Duane Vermeulen, Jan Serfontein v Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel v Cheslin Kolbe.

“Those will definitely spice up the game, even though we’re not thinking about the World Cup now. It’s always there though in the background and this might be the last time we play each other before then. We don’t try to get involved in personal battles, but the media sets the table for us, it’s always there,” Spies said.

The Bulls and the Stormers are also like peas in a pod in the way they have evolved since that opening encounter on Valentine’s Day.

As Stormers’ coach Allister Coetzee pointed out this week, Jesse Kriel has started in place of Jurgen Visser at fullback since then and has changed the shape of the Bulls’ attack.

The Bulls’ scrum is also likely to be a harder nut to crack than it was that day at Loftus Versfeld, with the two Van der Merwe’s back and Trevor Nyakane full of confidence and ready to come off the bench and make an impact.

“We lost Werner Kruger in the first three minutes of that game and Trevor was thrown into the deep end at tighthead. But I felt we finished the scrums well, we battled through. But that game is in the past, we’ve improved a lot and we are definitely a different side compared to then. A lot of players have come back from injury and we definitely have a more all-round game,” Ludeke said.

The Stormers have switched to a more pragmatic approach after three successive losses to New Zealand teams, being more patient in terms and when and where to attack and it has borne fruit with victories over the Waratahs and the Force on tour.

But for all the backline brilliance both teams will bring to Newlands, the real battle will be underground in the trenches up front.

Scrumhalf Rudy Paige has probably been the unsung hero of the Bulls’ climb to the top of the South African SuperRugby Conference, but now they are going to have to do without the man who has become their attacking heartbeat for the crunch encounter with the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday.

Paige suffered a grade 1 medial ligament tear of his knee in the impressive win over the Sharks and will be out of action for at least two weeks, coach Frans Ludeke admitting that it is a major blow to his team.

“Rudy’s a very busy player and he gets a lot going for us, especially in terms of go-forward on attack. He brings a lot to our game,” Ludeke said.

The 25-year-old has not only provided a crisp, clean service from the base, but has also impressed with excellent decision-making in terms of who to pass to and when to probe gaps on his own.

Ludeke has two options when it comes to replacing Paige.

Francois Hougaard has played more rugby for the Springboks at scrumhalf than at wing, but the mercurial Paul Roos Gymnasium product has become an integral part of a Bulls back three that has produced some exceptional rugby and Ludeke could well decide not to potentially create two problems by moving him to halfback.

Piet van Zyl’s rugby has gone backwards since he moved to Pretoria, but he is likely to get a chance to shine now, at least for a couple of weeks, in the number nine jersey.

Stormers coach Allister Coetzee is keeping his cards very close to his chest this week, but he will be well aware of some Bulls’ weaknesses this season.

The Bulls are not a side that deals in offloads so the Stormers defence don’t need to worry about that, while, despite upstaging the Sharks last weekend at the breakdown, their record in the rucks has been far inferior to that of the Stormers’ this year.

You know what you’re going to get with the Bulls – the blunt instrument of forwards monotonously carrying the ball up – but it works for them and they have actually scored two more tries than the Stormers thus far in the campaign, even though the Capetonians boast the attacking abilities of Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe, Juan de Jongh and Dillyn Leyds.