Do you realize what this means for Bulls rugby? This was another step up. And be afraid we will go even higher.
To our Sanzar friends in New Zealand and Australia who lost total intrest in this title challenge i have words that cant be spoken here. Shame on you. Now after this final it is OK to concentrate on the test and 3N series but dammit you fought for this very same title the Bulls won for a 3rd time , for weeks, why so quick to make it worthless? Shame on you, and i hope the Springboks teach you some manners in the upcoming Tests.
The Game.
First five Morne Steyn has kicked 20 points to help the Bulls clinch their third Super 14 title in four years as they beat South African rivals the Stormers 25-17 in the final at the Orlando Stadium.
Steyn kicked six penalties and converted Francois Hougaard’s brilliant individual try to make sure the holders were always clear of a Stormers team that fought back bravely in the second half from a 16-3 deficit at the break.
The Bulls enjoyed a telling advantage at scrum time, with three of Steyn’s penalties coming after the retreating Stormers had infringed in that set-piece.
Hougaard’s try came in the 25th minute as he sped through a gap in the Stormers’ defensive line between locks Andries Bekker and Adriaan Fondse, running from the 10 metre line before sidestepping fullback Joe Pietersen in the last line of defence.
The try capped a thoroughly dominant first half for the Bulls, who looked well in control as Steyn added three penalties to the try, so it came as a surprise when the home side made a scrappy start to the second half and allowed the visitors from Cape Town back into the game.
Wing Bryan Habana scored an opportunist intercept try in the 54th minute when Steyn passed straight to his former team mate after the Bulls won messy ball from a ruck on their own 10m line. Habana scored under the poles to give first five Peter Grant an easy conversion, putting the Stormers back into contention at 16-10 down.
But with a capacity crowd of 36,000 providing a sea of light blue support, with the noisy accompaniment of plastic horns known locally as “vuvuzelas”, the Bulls remained composed and shut out the Stormers by playing in their territory and earning penalties.
The Stormers, in their first Super 14 final, did claim a second try with just two minutes remaining when sniping halfback Enrico Januarie was stopped just short of the line, but flanker Francois Louw picked up the ball and scored.
Does this version sound right?
Anyway the Bulls had the guts and determination to pull this one through. And we earend the right to brag as the 2nd best ever S14 team. Yes from now on the Bulls will step on the accelerator and the rest will play catch – up.
@ rugbybal:
blah blah blah….get a life, and a sense of humour.
@ rugbybal:
I ignored that comment at first, for me it is okay to be second after the Crusaders on 3 wins against the 7 titles they have. We got our things going the right way and in the process we had to get past the GREAT Crusader team in all our semi final, never a easy way in. It was so lekker to beat the Great great Champions every time in a semi.Our road to the finals was always past them in a semi.
I keep my respect for them. They are still the most successful team overall.
@ superBul:
I agree re the Saders. 7 Titles are awesome in Super rugby. The trend seem to be that the Stormers and Bulls’ curve are going up and the Saders’ going down.
Pam Anderson wrote:
You belong on Voldy
Two off our Best Springboks showed their class again passing the challengers fair and square. Morne left Grant in his shade and Victor showed Andries that there is still more class in that old body.
Victor must get a monument at Loftus, 😆 he did great things for us.
Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke who has now achieved two consecutive Vodacom Super 14 titles praised his team’s character and hailed his seniors players such as captain Victor Matfield and scrumhalf Fourie du Preez in particular, for their strong influence on the outcome of the game.
“The building of our success started a long time, before I arrived at the Vodacom Bulls,” said Ludeke.
“There’s such a great family culture in the side. Victor and Fourie are really special guys. The way they lead from the front were great. It’s really important to have them continue playing, not only for us but for South African rugby as well.
“The young guys look’s up to them (Matfield and Du Preez). They listen to what Victor says behind the poles whenever our side is under pressure. For Victor and Fourie to have such a presence in our side, is great.”
@ superBul:
The following courtesy of Pieter Jordaan. I think he sums it up well.
Die Bulls se drie Super14-titels word net deur die magtige Crusaders se sewe titels oortref. Maar vir nou is niemand magtiger as die Blou Masjien nie en Matfield dink nog nie die einde is in sig nie
SuperBul
Despite a monster week at work & being exhausted, last night I (a Kiwi) stayed up until 2am to watch two RSA teams play the final live & that is not enough “support” ? Well, you know what ? That is all you get ! Really disappointed – Perhaps a few Bulls could try being gracious winners ? 😡
Wat kan ek seg?
Dis LEKKER om ‘n BUL te wees!
@ Rugby_Princess:
Sorry, but after the badgering we received by everyone, it is VERY hard to be humble!
Fourie du Preez was by far the player of the match. He ‘made’ Hougaard’s try, and how many times did he win us how many meters with clever foot in touch moves?
LEGEND!
Big Vic not far behind, although I now understand what the big Bekker hype is about. Monster player, could become even better than Matfield soon!
what a great day for bulls rugby…….. go bulle go
En die manne is van die seuns geskei bulle bo
@ Hokaai:
& so no effort at all is made ? Try this for size : When the ABs played Portugal in 2007 RWC (you won – congrats), after trouncing them at Rugby members of the AB squad who had not played took the field & gave the Portugal rested players a game of soccer – and lost soundly. After the game Graham Henry said to Portugal’s coach “oohh dear, those were our best Soccer players” to which Portugal’s coach replied “Really ? Those were our worst !” The NZ team then brought beers to Portugal’s locker room to congratulate them on being good enough to compete at a RWC & remind them they were in the top 20 in the world. Do I like to win ? Abso-f*cking-lutely, but it is moments like this that make me proud to be a Kiwi.
“The measure of a civilization is how it treats its weakest members.”
@ Rugby_Princess:
i dont know why i dont understand you. Really 2 times now you were sort of unhappy what i said, am i right?
make it more clear before i react, because i dont dislike Kiwis or Aussies. But what did i do wrong?
I am of the opinion that the writing was on the wall when the Sharks beat the Stormers. With our monster forwards but limited backline we completely neutralised the Stormers light 5 and there backline looked impotent. So when the Stormers came up against up an even stronger Bulls Pack and a magician at 9 and a maestro at 10 it was game over. I was particularly impressed with Wynands tackling on Fourie,I knew he was solid on defence but he was awesome yesterday..
Lets hope we hammer the All Blacks in the Tri Nations this year and really get into their heads before the World Cup next year.
46
there was just too many experience in the Bulls team. Even Jaco Pretoruis and VD Westhuizen was great with their tackles. This unit is really strong.
I also enjoyed Dewalt Potgieters way he watched Schalkie. No backing off.
47
We closed that big gap between us and the All Blacks a little bit last year, we need another clean sweep to get nearer to par with them. But this year 2 games will be over there , much more difficult job.
This stat needs a lot more repair work, we once had more wins than the AB,s
Played 78
Lost 42
Won 33
Drawn 3
AB,s win lose difference came down from 12 to 9 so another 3 subtracted will give us hope to one day pass them again.
Yeah,what amazes me the most is there composure under pressure. The Stormers cracked under pressure while the Bulls kept it calm. I still think the Bulls could have won by more but they did what they had to to get the job done 🙂
@ superBul:
Hey, morning superBul, I was just wondering how your head was this morning!!
Great result though….. 🙂
BB
my head was fine , no headaches, i even watched the replay of the game early on. Not too much drinking by me, i must have the right people with me. Like Pietman or we will see how Blouste is next week when we meet.
I was with a Stormers friend yesterday so i had to keep my celebration civilized, be a good host. But when we get together i will let my hair hang lose.
Sharky that party at you restaurant must be organised. That will be great.
Rugby_Princess wrote:
So let met this straight: NZ does this once for a newcomer rugby team in a nothing match… now you expect Bulls to do this EACH time they win a cup, and that against our ancient enemy?
Pray tell, how many times have the Crusaders done this when they have won a cup?
Please try to reasonable.
PS. The same stories are told when the Sprugboks visited Uruguay in the 50’s.
@ superBul:
Super you said :
“To our Sanzar friends in New Zealand and Australia who lost total intrest in this title challenge i have words that cant be spoken here. Shame on you. Now after this final it is OK to concentrate on the test and 3N series but dammit you fought for this very same title the Bulls won for a 3rd time , for weeks, why so quick to make it worthless? Shame on you, and i hope the Springboks teach you some manners in the upcoming Tests.”
I was not impressed.
@ Hokaai:
😆 So the springboks did it in the 1950’s is your counter ? Puh-lease ! I am not saying Bulls or Springboks never do anything emotionally or spiritually worthwhile – just pointing out that this is grossly diminished by humiliating the team you have recently vanquished.
@ Rugby_Princess:
OK that was harsh , but the lack of decent coverage by the press irked me to say that. This is the flagship tournament for the Sanzar nations. One would have thought that by participating 14 weeks into it they would at least join in one more week to cover the biggest spectacle more thoroughly.
This was aimed at the lack of press coverage.
@ Rugby_Princess:
That was exactly my point. 2007…1950…2010… all of us occasionally do something exceptionally ‘nice’. Does not mean we have to do it all the time. When last did the AB’s done this against Aus or RSA or England?
Also the ‘humiliation’ you speak of is nothing more than the Stormers would have us had they won, or the behaviour of your fellow Crusader supporters had they won.
All in all I think in general, the Bulls supporters were a lot more ‘reserved’ than expected!
Hello (this is a little hello by the way)…
Only managed to read on here now after last night…
But I’m OK… I survived…
Still waiting for E-Mails though from a Photographer, Masi, and a Media24 Journo, Ockert de Villiers, to mail me some great photo’s of the trip into Soweto, before the game, after the game….
Imagine this…. a very traditional Black South African Mini-bus Taxi…. sporting Bulls horns on the front, imagine everybody on the Streeets in Soweto shouting Ayoba and Up the Bulls to us, imagine the atmosphere at the Stadium…. and farking just imagine our party afterwards.
I took some photo’s…. they will also be up later…
Oh, and by the way, Soweto residents are almost without fail Bulls supporters, very little love lost on the Stormers….
@ superBul:
SuperB
Well, if your comments are more general than specific don’t be surprised when they upset more people in general than you specifically meant to have a go at – capiche ?
For the record this article appeared on “All Blacks.com” website :
Bulls and South Africa hail historic day
James Mortimer – (31/05/2010)
Victorious Bulls captain and Springbok lock Victor Matfield has saluted his team and a massive day for South Africa, as the Bulls claimed their third Rebel Sport Super 14 title in four seasons.
The Bulls, now established as Super Rugby’s new dynasty, were brilliant in a 25-17 victory over the competition’s second best team in the Stormers.
But the occasion was far beyond the rugby, with the game moved to Orlando Stadium in Soweto due to the fact that Loftus Versfeld is being prepared for the FIFA World Cup, beginning on June 11th.
Soweto, South Africa’s biggest black township, was in a festive mood as two teams from the Republic fought it out in the final, in a sport regarded by some as a white dominated code.
This however counted for little, as the famous vuvuzelas thundered around the ground, a traditional trumpet normally used by football supporters. Black Sowetans mingled with white rugby supporters, in an occasion very reminisce of some other famous South African rugby sporting victories.
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