The quality of rugby the South African Conference franchises delivered in Super Rugby Round 2 would probably not leave any of their supporters happy other than claiming bragging rights, with the only exception being the Sharks.
Vodacom Bulls 13 Hurricanes 17
The Bulls continued their dismal start to the 2015 season with a second successive loss at home. Due credit to the Hurricanes, they did exactly what was required to win and it was Julian Savea’s moment of brilliance that lead to his try, which proved to to be the difference between the two sides. Referee Andew Lees did have an influence on the game, allowing the Hurricanes far too much latitude with their hands in the ruck. However, this game was all about the Bulls weaknesses being horribly exposed. They have a number of players who are currently simply passengers and are adding little value. Some of these players have a prized Green and Gold jersey in their closet. For a franchise with such a proud tradition of powerful forwards, their scrums have become a serious problem and they are regularly being battered at scrum time. They have been sterile on attack and defense, with their loose trio being ineffective in both defending and attacking ruck ball. I personally do not believe that calling for a coach’s head is the answer as the players need to take accountability for their performance, but after continued poor performances by a team at the same facets of play over consecutive seasons, it is up to the coach to address it. Frans Ludeke’s tenure as the Bulls coach is surely coming under threat.
DHL Stormers 27 Blues 16
The Stormers will happily claim the victory, but if they are honest with themselves they did not play smartly against a team reduced to 14 men as early as the 25th minute after Hayden Triggs was sent off for landing two punches to Duane Vermeulen’s face. Despite the protests from Triggs, the directive from Word Rugby is to stick to the letter of the law and any punch landing to the head of a player is to be penalized with a red card and referee Craig Joubert did not have any scope for interpretation. The Blues certainly upped their game after losing a man and manned up on defense and showed attacking intent when they won quality ball. The Stormers did not exploit their numerical advantage effectively and stuck to a game plan which rarely extended past channel one. Being up a man and with the luxury of pacey outside backs it would have been more effective to play wider in order to stretch the defense and to create the mismatches.
Cell C Sharks 29 Emirates Lions 12
The start of this game was reminiscent of the the 1995 Rugby World Cup semi-final between South Africa and France at the same venue – Kings Park in Durban.The Shark Tank was underwater before the start of play, but with some extremely hard work from the ground staff and aided by an effective drainage system, the game got underway on time. This despite the officials being uncertain of the game even being played until 20 minutes before the start. The Sharks adapted better to the conditions and used the high ball effectively, while the Lions held the ball in hand too long and made too many errors. The Sharks also attacked the Lions strength, the scrum and were successful in preventing the Lions from building any momentum from their favoured phase of play. Despite the atrocious conditions, the Sharks should be lauded for keeping focused and winning with a four try bonus point. At this early stage, the Sharks look to be the most competitive South African side in the competition, despite their shock loss to the Cheetahs in Round 1. Their coaching setup has been unsettled after the departure of Jake White, but new Head Coach Gary Gold and his consultant Brendan Venter should take control very quickly to give the Sharks a lot more stability.
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