Super Rugby Round 4 gave us some insights as to what the pecking order might be for the South African teams, with some enhancing their chances and others losing ground.
Blues 10 Emirates Lions 13
In a game between two of the basement dwellers at this early stage of the competition the game was bound to be be a desperate arm wrestle. To be fair the Blues were much better than the Lions at most aspects of the game aside from defense, in which the Lions were phenomenal in snuffing out the Blues’ best attempts. The Blues managed to get over the line four times without actually grounding the ball. Despite being on the back foot for the majority of the game and having to defend for all that they were worth, the Lions kept themselves in the game and eventually burgled it after Elton Jantjies drew the defense and threw a fantastic long skip pass to put Ruan Combrink over in the corner. The big question is… will John Kirwan retain his position?
Special mention must be made of a true servant of the game – Keven Mealamu. This game was his 163rd Super Rugby game – the most by any player in the tournament’s history.
Toyota Cheetahs 20 Vodacom Bulls 39
The Bulls continued the resurrection of their Super Rugby season with a convincing victory against the Cheetahs. Handre Pollard underlined his class in this game and delivered 29 of the Bulls’ 39 points with a try, 3 conversions, 5 penalties and a drop goal. His willingness to carry the ball up to the Cheetahs’ defense as well as strong passing game gave the Bulls a distinct advantage and as a youngster this bodes well for both the Bulls and the Springboks and Heyneke Meyer must surely have smiled in private at Pollard’s performance. Rudy Paige at scrumhalf has also added a lot more security at the base of the scrum and now appears to have displaced Pet van Zyl. This win would also have taken a lot of pressure off Heyneke Meyer.
The Cheetahs were rocked before the game when regular scrumhalf, Sarel Pretorius was ruled out after an injury during the captain’s practice. The Bulls’ new resolve was illustrated by jack in the box left wing cum scrumhalf, Francois Hougaard. Despite breaking his nose during practice and sporting two perfectly symmetrical shiners, he took his place on the wing.
DHL Stormers 29 Cell C Sharks 13
The Stormers underlined their Super Rugby credentials by easily beating the Sharks in Cape Town. There was an extra bit of emotion to this game as the Stormers wore red arm bands to show their support for fire fighters who had been battling the devastating fires fires surrounding Cape Town.
After the Sharks demolition of the Lions scrum last week, it came as a bit of a surprise how easily the Stormers did the same to the Sharks this time around, pushing them off the ball three times in the first half. After a fairly up tempo start for both teams, the Stormers settled into a a very assured, if sometimes limited game plan. Springboks Damian de Allende and Juan de Jongh could do with a lot more front foot possession. Two pointers that come out of this game relate to the Sharks 10/12 axis and the Stormers flyhalf position.
For the Sharks, flyhalf Pat Lambie and Frans Steyn drew attention for their petulant responses to referee Jaco Peyper’s decisions, traits which would are not expected of professional athletes, especially if they have Rugby World Cup aspirations – Steyn’s current non-availability noted.
For the Stormers Demetri Catrakilis is an adequate flyhalf, but does adequate win you trophies? His place kicking accuracy cannot be faulted, but his lack of any sort of threat on attack makes it easier for defending teams and his weak tackling makes him a target for big runners. It the Stormers aim to be a serious contender for trophies, they need look no further than their play maker to improve their chances.
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