Super Rugby Round 6 proved to be a rather odd weekend for the South African Franchises, with refereeing, discipline and an unexpected win being the points of discussion.
Melbourne Rebels 16 Emirates Lions 20
Melbourne Rebels – Tries: Mitch Inman, Jonah Placid Penalties: Mike Harris (2)
Emirates Lions – Tries: Marnitz Boshoff, Lionel Mapoe Conversions: Elton Jantjies (2) Penalties: Jantjies (2)
This was another tough arm-wrestle between two sides who were desperate for wins, with the Lions making it two wins from three on their trip to Australasia. Franco Mostert put his team under immense pressure early by deliberately knocking the ball on from an offside position to earn himself a yellow card. They looked well out of the game at 13 to nil down after 15 minutes, but continued to scrap away and defend their line manfully. Sampie Mastriet showed how effective he can be by bursting through the Rebels defense with pace, to pass inside to Martnitz Boshoff, who stepped off his right foot to beat the cover defense and score under the poles. Mike Harris added the Rebels only points late in the second half for their only points of the half to take the score to 16 against 13 and were looking to grind out the win. This looked to be a successful ploy until the 78th minute when Lionel Mapoe burst through another hole in the Rebels defense to burgle a win for the second weekend in a row. Fair play to the men from Johannesburg though. They put the points on the board they needed to and continue to soldier on.
Crusaders 57 Toyota Cheetahs 14
Crusaders – Tries: Jordan Taufua (2), Israel Dagg, Daniel Carter (2), Nadolo Nasiganiyavi, Havili, penalty try Conversions: Carter 7. Penalties: Carter
Cheetahs – Tries: Francois Venter, Johann Sadie. Conversions: Joe Pietersen.
It was always unlikely that the Cheetahs were going to win this game as they were outgunned in most positions but did manage two spectacular tries of their own. Johan Sadie identified that two tight forwards were guarding a large open space and ran at them before passing to Raymond Rhule who drew the last defender before passing back to Sadie for the score. Francois Venter latched onto a loose pass from the Crusaders to outstrip the defense on the outside to score from 75m out.
For their part, the Crusaders used their huge wing Nandolo to attack the much smaller back line of the Cheeatahs, who were taking too long to commit themselves to tackling him, allowing the Crusaders to build momentum off his bulldozing runs.
The two yellow cards the Cheetahs conceded proved to be pivotal not in terms of the result, but rather in terms of the overall score. Willie le Roux was yellow carded for a high tackle on a rampaging Nandolo 10m from the line. A try was not certain as another Cheetah player had also tackled him low and a try was not certain, so the yellow card was an exceptionally marginal call.
The scrums had also been a problem throughout the match. Despite continued protestations that Crusaders prop Joe Moody was scrumming inwards, referee Andrew Lees opted to penalize Coenie Ooosthuizen and send him to the sin bin. What followed was even more of a mystery. Hooker Torsten van Jaarsveld conceded a free kick for engaging too early in the scrum. The Crusaders opted for another scrum and after the scrum dropped one more time he opted for the penalty try, which again was a harsh call and did not allow for the fact that a new player had just joined the fray in the front row.
Vodacom Bulls 25 Western Force 24
Vodacom Bulls – try: Marcel van der Merwe. Conversion: Handre Pollard Penalties: Pollard (6)
Western Force – tries: Adam Coleman, Sam Wykes, Kyle Godwin. Conversions: Luke Burton (2), Sias Ebersohn Penalty: Ebersohn
The Bulls entered this match off a bye and looked to be very lethargic and disjointed, aside from young Handre Pollard who produced another assured performance and was ultimately the Bulls saviour, with a long range penalty kick to win the game in the last minute. There are very few highlights one can pick out from this game as play was that poor from both teams. The Bulls missed a number of tackles on the night and were strangely sterile on attack for a team that is trying to build a running brand of rugby.
Lock Jacques du Plessis was stripped of the ball by the Force’s Same Wykes on his own goal line to concede a very soft try and questions would need to be asked of his concentration levels. The Force seemed intent on spoiling all night and their penalty count of 22 against the ten of the Bulls highlights this and contributed to a rather painful game to watch.
Cell C Sharks Chiefs
Cell C Sharks 12 – Penalties: Patrick Lambie 4
Chiefs 11 – Try: Sam Kane; Penalties: Aaron Cruden 2
The hot and humid weather conditions appeared to go to the heads of some senior players, with some very disappointing examples of foul play on display. The madness started in the 15th minute when Chiefs hooker Hika Elliot dropped his shoulder into the unprotected face of Sharks prop Beast Mtawarira. Not content, he dropped in for a second helping of the same. The only option was a red card for Elliot. He has since been handed a one match ban, which is probably a little light.
Not to be outdone by his opposite number, Sharks hooker and Captain, Bismark du Plessis, lashed out with a boot to the face of Chiefs number 8 Michael Leitch. Again, referee Angus Gardner had no option other to pull out the red card. Du Plessis has since been handed a four week ban and this is definitely generous and no one could have complained if the ban had been double that.
The madness did not end there, with Sharks center Frans Steyn spear tackling Chiefs flyhalf Aaron Cruden, earning another red card. As early as the 27th minute, the playing resources had been reduced to 14 for the Chiefs and 13 for the Sharks. Even after the dishing out of red cards, there were still a number of unsavoury incidents which the citing commissioner could delve further into.
The game never really settled down after that, with both teams making unforced errors. The arrival of a thunderstorm to throw cold water on this fiery game did nothing to help handling conditions either. Ultimately, it was Pat Lambie’s superior place kicking that kept the Sharks ahead of the Chiefs.
We can only hope that next weekend’s fixtures presents us with more palatable fare.
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