Ken Borland

Jake White described his team’s 29-19 victory over the Cardiff Blues in their United Rugby Championship match at the Arms Park on Saturday night as being a huge result for not just the Bulls but for the whole of South African rugby as well as for the credibility of the new competition.

The Bulls result, achieved via a superb second-half comeback that saw them overturn a 3-16 deficit, completed a highly encouraging weekend for the previously beleaguered South African franchises.

It was the Sharks who set the ball rolling with a brilliant second-half comeback of their own against the Ospreys on Friday night, winning 27-13 after they were level 6-6 at the break. And then earlier on Saturday the Lions went down 13-9 to the Glasgow Warriors, who were awarded a try that never should have stood, while the Stormers fought back from 14-0 down after just six minutes to draw 20-20 with Edinburgh.

“It’s massive for us, for South African rugby, for everyone, it brings credibility to the competition,” White said. “We read in the media that viewership is through the roof and we certainly don’t want to lose and lose.

“It was a fantastic game for us, a great comeback after being 13-0 down and losing Johan Goosen to a knee injury. We were so resilient and I’m sure the URC are incredibly happy too because it shows there is healthy competition.

“We’re going to get massive confidence from this result and also from the way we played. I was really happy with the way we changed our attack, using forwards and backs, and we played with a lot of width at times too,” White said.

The Bulls were poor in the first half, unable to keep the ball for more than a couple of phases at a time, and this was largely due to another inept showing at the breakdowns by them.

But this all changed in the second half as they came out with some much-needed fire in the belly, started dominating the gain-line, hanging on to the ball for longer and this led to the pressure – and the wrath of the referee – shifting on to Cardiff at the breakdowns.

Veteran hooker Bismarck du Plessis was prominent in a tough first half for the Bulls, and he set the ball rolling early in the second half with a big carry, winning a penalty for the Bulls. Eighthman Elrigh Louw just tapped and went and was straight over for the try with no problem.

This certainly lifted the Bulls and a fantastic break by replacement flank Arno Botha followed, Marcell Coetzee, who really came to the fore in the second half, then carrying strongly to earn a penalty. This was slotted by Chris Smith, who replaced Goosen at flyhalf with enormous aplomb.

Suddenly the Bulls were just three points behind and then wing Madosh Tambwe scored a tremendous try on the hour mark. Good defensive pressure by centre Harold Vorster led to a poor pass by Cardiff, Tambwe was quickly up to kick the ball through and then showed searing pace to get there first, and then great control to gather the bouncing ball and score.

This gave the Bulls the lead for the first time and the excellent boot of Smith, who succeeded with all seven of his kicks at goal, ensured this advantage was never surrendered.

Scorers

Cardiff Blues: Try – Matthew Screech. Conversion – Rhys Priestland. Penalties – Priestland (4).

Bulls: Tries – Elrigh Louw, Madosh Tambwe. Conversions – Chris Smith (2). Penalties – Smith (5).

The Sharks showed great patience and discipline as they kept banging on the Ospreys doors until they opened in the second half and the Currie Cup runners-up ran out impressive 27-13 winners in their United Rugby Championship match in Swansea on Friday night.

The Sharks were not particularly impressive early on and they went 6-0 down to two Gareth Anscombe penalties, but they clawed their way back to 6-6 by halftime.

There were two promising portents in their comeback: The first was that their set-pieces were making headway, despite the presence of two British and Irish Lions locks in the Ospreys pack in Adam Beard and the legendary Alun-Wyn Jones; the second were the two delightful drop goals kicked by Boeta Chamberlain. The first came after scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar took a quick-tap from a penalty and then passed back to the flyhalf, the second took advantage of the new trial law that forces a team that dots the ball down in their own in-goal area from an opposition kick to then drop-out from under their poles. The Ospreys kicked deep, but straight to Chamberlain, and he would bite them again in the second half.

The Sharks played excellent pressure rugby in the second half, which they were able to do firstly because of a watertight defence whch forced Ospreys into numerous handling errors when on attack. Secondly, they stayed in the kicking battle and eventually prevailed.

Coach Sean Everitt pinpointed the defence as a key reason for the morale-boosting win.

“The guys enjoy defending and it was a terrific defensive effort, with the forwards laying the platform. Getting turnovers gives this team energy and they did that through their aggressive defence.

“We’re very happy with the performance and obviously the result. I was especially happy with the way we adjusted to the tempo and our game-management, our kicking game worked superbly.

“Boeta Chamberlain did a sterling job, I was delighted he got man of the match, and I was very pleased that the team stuck with the plan tonight,” Everitt said.

The Sharks struck the first blow in the second half, just two minutes in when Chamberlain’s deft grubber behind the defensive line was brilliantly gathered by lock Hyron Andrews, who was not only first to the ball but also produced a wonderful offload off the floor to centre Jeremy Ward, who dashed over for the opening try.

The win started to come into view on the hour when a good carry by eighthman Henco Venter was followed by Pienaar cannily making a half-break to keep the defence interested before passing out to centre Marius Louw, whose quick hands opened up space for Marnus Potgieter out wide. The wing had won all his many aerial battles and now he was rewarded with a try.

Another long-range drop goal by Chamberlain after Ospreys were forced to drop out followed three minutes later and Pienaar knocked over a couple of penalties to seal the win, despite Ospreys eventually crossing for a try in the 74^th minute.

The beaming face of coach Everitt after the game said just how important this win over the previously unbeaten Ospreys was for the Sharks, and indeed for all the South African teams in the URC.

“It helps a lot when you are a long way and a long time from home like we are,” Everitt said.

It’s been awhile since Cornal Hendricks played in midfield for the Bulls but the Springbok will be back there on Saturday night when the Currie Cup champions take on the Cardiff Blues in their United Rugby Championship match at the Arms Park.

The 33-year-old Hendricks was a revelation when coach Jake White moved him from the wing to centre last year upon his arrival at Loftus Versfeld, but he has not played in midfield since the final round-robin game of the Currie Cup, against the Free State Cheetahs on August 28.

And, in a new-look backline that White announced on Friday, Hendricks will be playing outside centre and not in the No.12 jersey where he has previously starred for the Bulls. It’s all to do with the fact that the Bulls are playing for the first time on a 4G pitch, which is a mixture of grass and synthetic turf, and pace will be of the essence.

“The most important thing is how we adapt to the different challenge of the pitch, the pace of the game is going to be very quick, it will challenge both our defence and attack,” White said on Friday.

“I really wanted to play Stedman Gans at 13 with Cornal at 12, but Stedman has a tight hamstring and we couldn’t risk it. That didn’t work out, but fortunately Kurt-Lee Arendse is ready to come back on the wing.

“If Stedman had been fit we could have had almost a Sevens backline with their wonderful feet and stepping. Cornal actually trained a lot at inside centre this week, but Harold Vorster is obviously very accomplished there.

“It’s going to be exciting to see how this backline goes on a nice, hard surface. The surface is so even that you can go flat out and push the tempo big time. Teams can use the pace to outwork teams instead of going through them,” White said.

The veteran coach is delighted to be back at the Cardiff Arms Park and has relished showing his players, some of them on their first British tour, the aluminium plaques, statues and other rugby memorabilia around the Welsh capital. White is expecting a passionate home crowd to make their life even more difficult on Friday night.

“They have smaller crowds over here, but they make the noise of a massive crowd. Plus they have been kept out of watching rugby, so it is still relatively new for them to come and watch games again.

“So there’s going to be a helluva atmosphere, they love rugby in Wales, this is real rugby country. We see the plaques and pictures of rugby legends in the shops, and it’s a wonderful experience for the juniors to be here. And it’s nice for me to show them all the rugby history,” White said.

Bulls team:David Kriel, Madosh Tambwe, Cornal Hendricks, Harold Vorster, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Johan Goosen, Embrose Papier; Elrigh Louw, Jacques du Plessis, Marcell Coetzee (CAPT), Ruan Nortje, Janko Swanepoel, Jacques van Rooyen, Bismarck du Plessis, Simphiwe Matanzima. Bench – Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Lizo Gqoboka, Robert Hunt, Walt Steenkamp, Arno Botha, Keagan Johannes, Chris Smith, Lionel Mapoe.

The Sharks expect the Ospreys to bring a strong kicking game and squeeze them up front, and that means turnover ball and territory is going to be crucial for the visitors in their United Rugby Championship match in Swansea on Friday night.

The Ospreys have started their URC campaign with wins over the Cardiff Blues and the Dragons, but coach Toby Booth is looking for more improvement from his side. He has already promised his team will be committed to a high-energy display and bringing set-piece dominance again; and the huge presence of British and Irish Lions captain Alun-Wyn Jones will be involved, either starting or off the bench.

“Ospreys are super-conservative, they give away very few penalties and give you nothing,” Sharks coach Sean Everitt said. “Compared to Glasgow Warriors, who are similar to what we are used to from a Super Rugby side, Ospreys have more of a kicking game and they rely on penalties from the set-piece.

“In their first game, they kicked for more than a thousand metres, so they rely on your mistakes to capitalise on.

“We always look to counter-attack, but you have to get the decision-making right. We enjoy having ball-in-hand and we are very good at it, but unfortunately these teams over here don’t give you turnover ball, they are really disciplined and look after the ball well.

“So we have got to make use of our opportunities and not take for granted that we will get more opportunities. At the same time, you have to be playing in the right part of the field so you don’t put yourself under pressure,” Everitt said.

The Sharks, like all our other South African teams, are at the other end of the log to the fourth-placed Ospreys after losing their opening two matches, but Everitt believes they are heading in the right direction.

“I think our performance has improved immensely over the last two weeks and it’s only a loss if you don’t learn. We have 12 senior players out so we are playing mostly youngsters, but it’s a massive opportunity for them to learn.

“South Africans have to be realistic, our franchises have not had international competition for close on 20 months and it’s very tough over here, they play a different brand of rugby,” Everitt said.