Daily Archives: 12 April 2015
The Vodacom Bulls held onto their leadership of a ferociously contested South African Conference on a weekend of success at the expense of Australian teams.
The Vodacom Bulls maintained their 2-point advantage over the DHL Stormers on the Log – as both recorded bonus point victories over the Reds (43 / 22) and Waratahs (32 / 18) respectively – while the Toyota Cheetahs showed enormous character to finish their tour on a high in Perth, with a win over the Western Force (24 / 15).
In the South African derby at Emirates Airlines Park, the Emirates Lions underlined the seriousness of their challenge for the Conference title with 2-point victory (23 / 21) over a significantly improved Cell C Sharks, who missed a long-range last-kick penalty, which could have snatched the victory.
The upshot of the weekend was that the Top 4 SA teams are separated by just 4 Log Points – in contrast to their fellow conferences where the Hurricanes top the standings as New Zealand’s Top 4 are spread by 11 points, while an even more clear-cut Australian race sees the Brumbies head a Log in which 17 points cover the Top 4 Australian contenders.
3 Of SA’s winners had to overcome halftime deficits to record victories, with the most notable being those of the DHL Stormers and Toyota Cheetahs who achieved it on Australian soil.
However, the margins were small – both trailed by 2 points – while the Emirates Lions turned round 3 points adrift of the Cell C Sharks, as all 3 teams showed fitness and character to ‘win’ the 2nd half.
In the other match, the Vodacom Bulls’ recent home success over the Reds continued, as they stomped to a 6-try victory, with Francois Hougaard scoring 2 tries from the wing to take his tally to 4 for the season and therefore joining Marcell Coetzee as the leading South African try scorers.
Both the FNB UFS-Shimlas and FNB-NWU-Pukke will be gunning for their 1st title when they meet in the FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International final in Bloemfontein on Monday.
For hosts UFS-Shimlas it will be their 1st-ever final, while NWU-Pukke will be looking for redemption after having the title snatched from them by FNB UCT in dramatic circumstances at home last year.
The 2 teams have taken contrasting routes to the final, with the unbeaten UFS-Shimlas seeing off the defending champion Ikeys in their home semifinal and NWU-Pukke sneaking into the play-offs before knocking out the table-topping FNB UP-Tuks in their Pretoria semifinal.
There was not much to choose between the sides when they met in the Final Round of action before the play-offs, with UFS-Shimlas dominating the 1st half and NWU-Pukke fighting back to clinch the 2 bonus points which secured them 4th spot on the standings.
On top of all that there is the old rivalry between the teams which is well understood by both coaches who experienced the intensity of the Shimlas-Pukke Intervarsity in their playing days.
Franco Smith and Robert du Preez both played for the Springboks, but before that they did duty for the universities they currently coach and are expecting another huge battle on Monday.
Smith has turned the UFS-Shimlas’ fortunes around dramatically in his 1st season in charge, and he is expecting an electric atmosphere at Shimla Park with far more than just bragging rights at stake.
“The excitement around it has been enormous, a lot of old Shimlas have got involved again so there is a lot of hype in Bloemfontein around the home final.
“I have been involved previously in my career in a lot of these intervarsities and there is a big sense of that in Bloemfontein, it has definitely added a bit of spice to what is already a big game,” he said.
Du Preez is expecting a strong contingent of NWU-Pukke supporters to make the trip down to Bloemfontein with his side and create an occasion to rival anything from the past.
“I believe there are a lot of supporters going down which is always nice. Even from my days when I played the Pukke-Shimlas intervarsities were great affairs, and this one won’t be any different,” he said.
It was business as usual at the top of the North and South Section logs with 4 of the top 5 in the divisions recording victories, to remain on course for home play-off’s.
The ‘best’ result of the day was secured by North Section leaders, the Xerox Golden Lions, who recorded a hard-fought 24 / 16 victory over the Steval Pumas, the only team among the top 5 not to win, having started Round 5 in 2nd place.
The Lions’ 5th successive win allowed the Vodacom Blue Bulls to leapfrog the Steval Pumas into 2nd position on the North Section Log, courtesy of a 44 / 0 victory in Windhoek.
In the South, DHL Western Province and GWK Griquas both maintained their 100% records with their 3rd successive victories, the former edging the EP Kings by 6 points in Port Elizabeth while GWK Griquas had an easier time of it, beating the Border Bulldogs by 12 in Hartswater.
The Toyota Free State Cheetahs XV stayed in contention in the South Section with a 35 / 18 win over the Cell C Sharks XV in Kokstad, while in the North the Hino Valke recorded their 1st victory at the 4th attempt, with a 38 / 17 victory over the Down Touch Griffons.
Michael Cheika – Wallabies coach
Waratahs and Wallabies coach Michael Cheika says that it is obvious he is not liked or respected in New Zealand, as the saga of his halftime chat with referee Jaco Peyper rumbles on.
Cheika was given a warning by SANZAR earlier in the week for entering the referee’s room at halftime during his team’s match against the Blues 2 weeks ago.
The Waratahs coach was already on a warning after he verbally abused a camera man last year and many have said that SANZAR should have come down on him harder.
In particular Chiefs coach Dave Rennie said that he was dismayed at the leniency SANZAR showed when they decided that Cheika had broken a law of the game – but not breached the code of conduct.
Had SANZAR ruled that Cheika had broken a code of conduct he could have been suspended from rugby and been unable to coach the Wallabies at the Rugby World Cup.
James Horwill
Reds coach Richard Graham has made a dramatic about turn in his stance on suspended Wallaby lock James Horwill.
Horwill was initially excluded from the Reds’ 27-man squad for their 2-week tour to South Africa, after copping a 1-game ban for striking an opponent in the 15 / 23 loss to the Melbourne Rebels.
Graham explained the decision to leave to the veteran lock at home by saying that he needed a full quota of players to prepare with.
However, subsequent to their 22 / 43 loss to the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria at the weekend, the Reds coach sent an S.O.S. to Horwill – who will join the team in the build-up to their encounter with the Toyota Cheetahs in Bloemfontein this coming Saturday.
Allister Coetzee
An elated DHL Stormers coach Allister Coetzee heaped the praise on his coaching team and all the players in the aftermath of their excellent 32 / 18 Vodacom Super Rugby win over the defending champion Waratahs earlier today.
The DHL Stormers overturned a 13 / 15 half-time deficit to record their 1st tour win of 2015 against the reigning champs – also scoring 4 tries in the process in Sydney.
Glasgow Warriors have won the Ladies Cup for the 2nd year in a row after battling back from behind against fellow guest side, Germany in the final to lift the coveted trophy.
After beating Dundee, Gala and Jed Forest en route to the final, the side coached by Kenny Murray were behind 21 / 12 against the Germans but showed grit and determination to run out 36 / 21 winners!
The Warriors kick-started their Melrose 7’s defence with a 2nd round tie against Dundee who beat Stirling County earlier in the day.