Super Rugby Round 4 once again provided fans with plenty to talk about around the water cooler.
Vodacom Bulls 16 Cell C Sharks 16
Vodacom Bulls – Try: Warwick Gelant Conversions: Francois Brummer Penalties: Francois Brummer, Tian Schoeman Drop Goal: Brummer
Cell C Sharks – Try: Willie le Roux Conversion: Joe Pietersen Penalties: Pietersen (3)
The Sharks were tipped by many to beat a young and relatively inexperienced Bulls team at Loftus in Pretoria, but had to settle for sharing the honours. The highlight of the game was the shootout between the two fullbacks, with both Willie le Roux and Warwick Gallant producing some razzle dazzle to entertain the crowd.
The teams were well matched up, with most statistics bearing evidence of a very tight game. The Bulls did enjoy two thirds territorial advantage as they forced the Sharks to play in their own half. The Bulls scrum gave good account of themselves and had the Sharks under a lot of pressure, which was interesting to note given the Sharks strong performance against the Stormers last week. For their part, the Sharks defence against the Bulls rolling maul was exceptional, negating one of the Bulls favoured attacking weapons and we see the influnce of respected defence coach, Omar Mouneimne, as highlighted in our pre-season look at the South African Franchises’ coaching teams.
The defining moment of the game came in the 80th minute, with the game locked up at 16 all, when the Bulls were penalized for holding on in front of their own poles. Joe Pietersen, who has a career kick success rate of 74%, lined up the penalty kick from bang in front and Sharks supporters were preparing to celebrate a noteworthy away win at fortress Loftus. Incredibly, he pushed the kick wide. Although there are many disappointed Sharks fans this week and just as many relieved Bulls fans, the fact that the Bulls missed three penalty kicks of their own should put Pietersen’s miss in context.
Crusaders 57 Southern Kings 24
Crusaders – Tries: Nemani Nadolo 2, Johnny McNicholl, Ben Funnell, Richie Mo’unga, Mitchell Drummond, Jone Macalai-Tori and Peter Samu Conversions: Richie Mo’unga 4 and Ben Volavola 3
Southern Kings – Tries: Luzuko Vulindlu, Edgar Marutlulle and Chris Cloete Conversions: Louis Fouche 3 Penalty: Louis Fouche
The Crusaders were coming off a bye and elected to hand most of their bench starts for their encounter against the touring Kings. The Kings actually enjoyed the lions share of both possession (59%) as well as territory (61%), but were made to pay a heavy price for the many mistakes they made, as well as not being able to prevent the Crusaders from offloading in the tackle. The Crusaders produced 19 offloads to the Kings 2, which is a telling statistic. The Crusaders also beat 22 defenders as opposed to the 6 of the Kings.
So what does this tell us? For one, the Kings defence still needs significant work and they will need to become a lot more aggressive in their tackles. With their surfeit of possession, the Kings attacking game also needs to be a lot more incisive. Having pointed out all of the negatives, we do think it is important to highlight the fact that this Kings team was thrown together very late in the piece under trying circumstances. They have proven that they can win enough possession to be in the game, but it is what they do with that possession that also needs an overhaul. The maturity of their attacking prowess, along with a more secure defensive system will improve with time.
Emirates Lions 39 Toyota Cheetahs 22
Emirates Lions – Tries: Elton Jantjies, Faf de Klerk, Howard Mnisi, Ruan Ackermann, Corne Fourie Conversions: Ruan Combrinck, Elton Jantjies (3) Penalties: Jantjies (2)
Toyota Cheetahs – Tries: Sergeal Petersen, Tian Meyer, Jacques du Toit Conversions: Neil Marais (2) Penalties: Marais
The Lions racked up a significant lead of 31 to 3 and it took a late surge by the Cheetahs in the last quarter to add some respectability to the scoreline. The Lions did seem to tire in the last twenty, probably the result of their long trip out to Japan and New Zealand before returning to take the Cheetahs on.
There are two important points to be take from this game, both being positives for the Lions. Their outside backs are becoming a potent attacking force and the likes of Howard Mnisi, Lionel Mapoe and Ruan Combrink would not be out of place at a higher level. The way the Lions backs are running inside and outside lines off the ball carrier is starting to unlock defences and will continue to to so as long as the Lions loose trio keeps up their current superb work in keeping their opponents busy at ruck time and not allowing them the option of loitering in the backline as defenders. The second point is that the Lions appear to have a raft of young, up and coming players who are ready to fill in at short notice. The likes of Ruan Ackerman and Cyle Brink are two excellent examples of this.
DHL Stormers 31 Brumbies 11
DHL Stormers – Tries: Siya Kolisi, Dillyn Leyds and Vincent Koch Conversions: Kurt Coleman and Jean-Luc du Plessis Penalties: Kurt Coleman 4
Brumbies – Try: Henry Speight Penalties: Christian Lealiifano 2
The game started with the sublime and ended with the ridiculous. The sublime included the first three minutes, with both teams attacking and counter attacking to produce an exhilirating opening stanza. The Stormers deployed an excellent kicking game, both in terms of the kick chase and using kicks to turn the Brumbies rush defense around. We are not sure if Schalk Burger’s audacious kick pass that ended up with Vincent Koch scoring should be classified as sublime or ridiculous, but the entertainment value was spectacular.
Speaking of the ridiculous….
The officiating was once again pathetic. Dillyn Leyd’s try was highly controversial. He butchered a certain try by going for the camera shot with a dramatic high dive to score instead of the low dive to ensure the score. He was hit hard in the tackle and the view from behind does seem to indicate that his hand lost contact with the ball. Leyds himself told referee Jaco Peyper not to bother with the TMO. Nevertheless, TMO Marius Jonker adjudicated in favour of Leyds and social media exploded in protest against the decision.
The soap opera that Peyper made of the incident involving Brumbies replacement hooker Josh Mann-Rea is worthy of some sort of television production award , possibly as soap opera of the year. Mann-Rea reacted badly to Oli Kebbles swinging arm and responded with two punches to Kebble’s face. Television Match Official Marius Jonker had to stage manage Peyper to arrive at the correct decision. Peyper was dithering over the fact that he could not determine if Mann-Rea’s elbow had made contact with Kebble’s face. Contact to the face was irrelevant in this case a he punched Kebble in the face. Twice. The sanction for a landed punch is a red card, so a decision that should have taken barely a minute to be made became an unnecessarily drawn out affair to the irritation of fans in the stadium and those watching the broadcast worldwide.
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