Daily Archives: 6 March 2015

WhistleSANZAR has announced the Match Official appointments for Round 4 of the 2015 Super Rugby season.

This weekend there are only 6 games (and not the usual 7), with 2 games on Friday 6 March and 4 games on Saturday 7 March 2015.

The Round starts with the Chiefs against the Highlanders in Hamilton, followed by the Brumbies against the Western Force in Canberra.

On Saturday the Blues host the touring Emiratas Lions before the Reds tackle the Waratahs in Brisbane and then later in the day there are the 2 exciting South African derbies, that between the Toyota Cheetahs against the Vodacom Bulls, followed by the game between the DHL Stormers and Cell C Sharks at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town.

The Crusaders, Hurricanes and Melbourne Rebels have BYE weekends this week.

From a competition point of view, there are only 4 teams still undefeated in 2015, namely the Chiefs, Hurricanes (on a BYE this weekend), the Toyota Cheetahs and the DHL Stormers. The question now is whether the 3 teams out of these 4 winning sides, who play this weekend, can keep the momentum up this Round in Hamilton, Bloemfontein and Cape Town – all home games for them?

The second question is whether the Match Officials will be better than in the opening 3 Rounds, or whether we will once again see some disputable decisions which have a material influence on the outcome of the games? Match Officiating has been particularly tardy, inconsistent and infuriating at the start of Super Rugby this year.

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Cell C SharksThe Cell C Sharks can count on 3 Springboks who return to the side to take on the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday evening in what is shaping up to be a massive South African Conference derby.

JP Pietersen and Frans Steyn have returned from Japan and no time has been wasted introducing them to the starting line-up, while Willem Alberts has been given the all-clear to play after spending time rehabbing an injury.

JP Pietersen and Frans Steyn have also proven themselves at training and they form a new centre partnership.

Ryan Kankowski will join the elite group of Vodacom Super Rugby centurions when he plays in his 100th game for the Cell C Sharks, in a loose-forward bolstered by the return of Albert, especially in light of the kind of talent that lurks at the back of the Stormers scrum in the shape of SA Rugby Player of the Year in 2014, Duane Vermeulen.

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BullsVodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke named the same run-on team from last weekend to face the Toyota Cheetahs on Saturday in Bloemfontein in their first away trip in the 2015 Vodacom Super Rugby competition.

The same 15 that ran out in the win over the Cell C Sharks will front up in the Free State Stadium as the Vodacom Bulls looks to build the momentum gathered from the win against the coastal side.

Ludeke only made 1 change to the bench, where Piet van Zyl returns to Bloemfontein to face his former Super Rugby team.

“We finally found the momentum we were looking for in the opening rounds of the competition against the Sharks and managed 4 tries,” Ludeke said in Pretoria on Thursday.

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Jesse Kriel

Jesse Kriel

Bulls fullback Jesse Kriel says he’ll be making the most of his opportunities given to him this season.

Kriel, just 21, is quickly becoming a crowd favourite in Pretoria as he continues his rugby rise through the Bulls ranks.

While the team experienced a disappointing start to the Super Ruby campaign, suffering back-to-back defeats against the Stormers and Hurricanes at Loftus Versfeld, they managed a 43 / 35 win over the Sharks in front of their home crowd last weekend.

Kriel has been one of the Bulls’ consistent performers during the Super Rugby campaign, and was delighted his team-mates could pull off a good victory against last year’s South African conference winners.

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Vodacom CupThe Vodacom Cup, the breeding ground for future South African rugby stars, kicks off this weekend with four matches in the North Section scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

The first match will take place on the East Rand, when the Hino Valke host the Vodacom Blue Bulls at the Barnard Stadium in Kempton Park.

Only teams from the North Section are in action this weekend as well as in round two, with the South Section due to get underway in two weeks’ time.

Over the years, the Vodacom Cup has established itself as the competition where Springboks are made. Of the 14 players featured by SARU last year, nine players have since featured at Junior Springbok, Vodacom Super Rugby or Springbok level.

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