The DHL Stormers were the only Vodacom Super Rugby team to win away from home this weekend as the Vodacom Bulls and Toyota Cheetahs opened up a slight gap at the top of the South African Conference.
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The Capetonians kicked off their Australasian tour on the best way possible when they beat the Hurricanes by 18-16 in Palmerston North on Friday morning, with the highlight coming just before halftime when Bryan Habana charged down an attempted conversion by the ‘Canes.
Those two points saved by Habana proved crucial in the end as the DHL Stormers won their third successive match over the Hurricanes.
The Sharks showed a lot of character to fight back from 24-0 down after only 16 minutes against the Chiefs, but in the end the gap was simply too big as the team from Waikato won the replay of the 2012 final by 37-29 in Hamilton on Saturday morning.
On Saturday afternoon at Loftus Versfeld, the Vodacom Bulls beat the Waratahs for the eighth consecutive time (30-19), but it wasn’t a performance that will be remembered for long by fans of the Pretorians.
The Toyota Cheetahs had a good opportunity to go top of the South African Conference, but could manage only three tries in their 26-12 win over the Southern Kings in Bloemfontein.
Down Under, the Reds (12-11 over the Blues), Brumbies (41-7 over the Force) and the Crusaders (30-26 over the Rebels) all won at home.
Hurricanes (11) 16 / 18 (7) DHL Stormers:
The DHL Stormers’ Australasian tour started with a solid 18-16 victory over the Hurricanes in a very windy Palmerston North on Friday morning (SA time).
A lot of factors contributed to the DHL Stormers’ victory – like their great defence and good tactical play – but the two point difference could also be attributed to an unlikely piece of individual brilliance by Bryan Habana, when he charged down an attempted conversion by Beauden Barrett on the stroke of half-time.
Habana’s special effort is something not seen all that much in the professional game these days and will probably be talked about for some time to come.
The charge-down wasn’t the only reason why the DHL Stormers won, though. The Hurricanes played a tactical game early on, which the visitors from South Africa absorbed and when they got within striking distance, the Capetonians made it count.
First Michael Rhodes drove over from a great lineout maul, after 32 minutes, which took the DHL Stormers into a 7-6 lead.
The Hurricanes scored their first try a couple of minutes later and Habana handled the conversion, which saw the sides go into the change rooms with the home team leading by 11-7.
Two Joe Pietersen penalty goals early in the second half made it 13-11 to the DHL Stormers, but a try by Andre Taylor took the home team back into the lead.
Gio Aplon had the final say with his try from a scrum following a strong run by Duane Vermeulen, which saw the DHL Stormers take the lead by 18-16 in the 63rd minute, and that was how it stayed until the end.
Scorers:
Hurricanes – Tries: Matt Proctor, Andre Taylor. Penalty goals: Beauden Barrett (2).
DHL Stormers – Tries: Gio Aplon, Michael Rhodes. Conversion: Joe Pietersen. Penalty goals: Pietersen (2).
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLNqxf-7MQI[/youtube]
Chiefs (24) 37 / 29 (19) The Sharks:
The Sharks showed some good old fighting spirit, but in the end it wasn’t enough as the Chiefs repeated their win in the 2012 final when they trumped the KwaZulu-Natalians by 37-29 on Saturday morning (SA time).
The Chiefs won the match in the first 16 minutes, when they scored three converted tries and a penalty goal to take a 24-0 lead. At that stage, it looked like a massacre was on the cards for The Sharks, but they weren’t interested in getting trounced.
Refusing to give up, The Sharks scored three first-half tries of their own – two by Derick Minnie and one by Lubabalo Mtembu – as they clawed their way back to a half-time deficit of only 24-19. Their set piece was working very well and they kept the errors to a minimum in this time.
The Sharks played with more freedom and looked like they enjoyed the match – something that had been absent in their last few matches. Unfortunately, it also never looked like Chiefs would lose it.
Both teams added one more try in the second half – Keegan Daniel adding his name to the “loose forward try scorers list” for The Sharks – but the home team denied the Durbanites a second bonus point at the death when Aaron Cruden landed a penalty goal after Daniel was pinged for an infringement on the ground.
It was the Chiefs’ fifth consecutive victory over The Sharks, but John Plumtree’s team would’ve taken a lot of heart from this performance after they refused to go down despite probably their worst start to any match this season.
Even though the result was not the right one for Sharks fans, at least they could smile about the four tries, especially after their team could not score a single try in their last three matches before going to Hamilton.
Scorers:
Chiefs – Tries: Asaeli Tikoirotuma, Bundee Aki, Tim Nanai-Williams (2). Conversions: Gareth Anscombe (4). Penalty goals: Anscombe (2), Aaron Cruden.
The Sharks – Tries: Derick Minnie (2), Lubabalo Mtembu, Keegan Daniel. Conversions: Pat Lambie (3). Penalty goal: Lambie.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuUnaJM21ig[/youtube]
Vodacom Bulls (12) 30 / 19 (5) Waratahs:
A classic it wasn’t, but a win is a win for the Vodacom Bulls, who scored 15 points in the last 13 minutes as they beat the Waratahs by 30-19 at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon.
Springbok flyhalf Morné Steyn contributed 25 points for the Vodacom Bulls, who were outscored by three tries to two.
And before the experienced pivot and Francois Hougaard, back from injury, dotted down late in the game, the visitors had scored all the tries in the match.
The Vodacom Bulls’ supremacy was laid in the lineouts, where they poached eight of the Waratahs’ throws. Unfortunately the same could not be said for their scrum, where the home team struggled yet again. They also missed too many crucial tackles, but forced a lot of kickable penalties, which Steyn duly converted into points.
All in all it wasn’t a great performance by the Vodacom Bulls, but they won, ensuring their impressive eight match winning streak over the Waratahs will be extended by at least another year.
Scorers:
Vodacom Bulls – Tries: Francois Hougaard, Morné Steyn. Conversion: Steyn. Penalty goals: Steyn (6).
Waratahs – Tries: Bernard Foley, Israel Folau, Paddy Ryan. Conversions: Brendan McKibbin (2).
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skXTDJRTwTY[/youtube]
Toyota Cheetahs (15) 26 / 12 (9) Southern Kings:
The Toyota Cheetahs missed a great opportunity to go top of the South African Conference when they could only score three tries in their 26-12 win over the Southern Kings at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday evening.
Despite creating a number of scoring opportunities, a combination of good defence by the Kings and over-eagerness by the Toyota Cheetahs cost the home team a valuable bonus point.
In fact, the Toyota Cheetahs had 35 minutes to get that fourth try after Willie le Roux scored their third shortly after the break. In the first half, Raymond Rhule and Lappies Labuschagne both rounded off long-range movements as it looked like the team from Central South Africa might run riot.
But the Kings’ defence has been solid all season and they kept the Toyota Cheetahs out. Unfortunately the visitors were also not able to score, thanks to very good defence by the home team. They created one or two chances, but simply could not get through.
Demetri Catrakilis’ boot kept the visitors in the game for the first 40 minutes though, but in the second half they simply had too much defending to do to really threaten.
Scorers:
Toyota Cheetahs – Tries: Raymond Rhule, Lappies Labuschagne, Willie le Roux. Conversion: Burton Francis. Penalty goals: Francis (3).
Southern Kings – Penalty goals: Demetri Catrakilis (4).
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fUHPQNgXGw[/youtube]
Other results – Round 11:
Reds 12 / 11 Blues (Brisbane)
Brumbies 41 / 7 Force (Canberra)
Crusaders 30 / 26 Rebels (Christchurch)
So, after week 1 of super rugby, the nz press believed that nz rugby are so far ahead of the rest of the world that is looks like they are from a different planet. Well after week 10 I wonder if they are still that arrogant. I can’t believe that there are still SA supporters that want us to play like them.
Also, the refs hasn’t been up to standard. When are the going to start applying the rules the same. Yes, I want robots. Everybody must be the same. The player must know exactly how the rules will be applied.
Leon, in some cases I wish that we would attack like them.
SA Rugby Mag says
“Sharks of 2013 are no better than the outfit of 2012 in that they still lack the consistency in attitude and intelligence to be realistic title contenders”
3 @ superBul:
Die Sharks het voor die naweek se wedstryd met 16 Sleutelspelerbeserings gesit… en nou na die naweek met Cobus Reinach s’n (wie teruggestuur is SA toe)… so hulle hardloop op fumes daar op Toer…
Hierdie week sal JP Pietersen en Lwazi Mvovo dalk al terug wees in die tuig maar sodra hulle terug is in SA kry hulle ook vir Willem Alberts, Bismarck du Plessis en Beast Mtawarira terug, so hulle kan dalk ‘n sterk comeback maak in die laaste klomp weke… en die Bulls moet hulle nog 2 keer speel!
So ek is maar versigtig vir die Sharks jong, hulle is nognie gedaan nie, moenie hulle afskryf nie.
Buitendien, enigiets wat daai jong simpel joernaliste van SA Rugby Mag kwytraak, neem ek maar met ‘n knippie sout… hulle is sensasiejagters, wat my aanbetref.
Wat my wel toenemend van die Sharks bekommer is hoe swak hulle verdedig op die Nr 10, 12 en 13 kanale…. die Chiefs het die naweek wat verby is wonderlik daardeur gewals, sonder veel moeite.
Accoring to Toetie Coetzee, Eben Etzebeth and Elton Jantjies will be on the bench for the Stormers game against the Blues just outside Auckland this Friday.
He says that it’s better to integrate players returning from injury from the bench and that he’s now got 26 fit players on tour.
So, on Friday morning we should see the attacking style of the Blues in action against the defensive action of the Blues… I think I might just pick the Stormers on Bru for this game.
Howzit all. Struggling with internet access at the moment but congratulations to the Cheetahs and Bulls. Hard luck for the Sharks, they should have won that one to be fair.
All still to play for and a bunch of derbies to come, SA teams will take points off each other.
It may be tough for more than one SA team to qualify for the playoffs.
6 @ Stormersboy:
Hello Stormersboy, yes its going to get interesting with those derbies you are talking about. It was also interesting for me to hear a Scottish colleague of mine say last night that the Bulls seemed to be struggling in the Super 15 (he watched the game against Waratahs but not to and past the point where we pulled away from them) but then at same time he said the Cheetahs are doing well… but we discussed that the Bulls are a little ahead of the Cheetahs at the moment on the log, so it just shows the expectations that are different following the Bulls success in recent time it seems to him we are not doing too well whereas to him the Cheetahs are doing quite well when compared to previous years. Yes I know the ‘bye points’ complicate things and the Cheetahs still have their first one to be added but then the Bulls also have played a game less according to the log.
@ Bullscot:
Yes the Bulls look very solid, not just in terms of log position but in terms of how they are playing the game. They are looking good contenders this year.
All still to play for!
🙂
I think the Bulls are heading for the title winner in the SA conference
Cheetahs looking good (for now) but up to the Sharks (highly unlikely) and the Stormers (gaining momentum) to take this no 2 spot
9 @ Gena_ZA:
Phweeeew… far too early to speculate about a SA Conference winner, things can go pear in 2 quick weeks….
In Aussie it’s a simple 2-horse race, with the Bromponies the favourites…
Sharks are done for this season, 17 or 18 players out is a bridge to far, what people forget is these injuries give other players a chance to prove their worth, BUT it is new combinations each week!
Also the Sharks are without something like 15 players that would normally be in the match day 22
As much as we want to try being positive? one has to be realistic and this is why I get so annoyed with some fellow Sharks supporters now again wanting the coach fired blah blah farking blah.
Players were just as much to blame for the Sharks failures and a coach can only do so much.
So for me unless there is a miracle?? Sharks will not make the play off’s
Sharks will come right, but many players still to return.
12 @ Sharks_forever:
Hello Tjarkie_Fornever,
The return of some players returns from injuries are imminent… hang in there friend!
11 @ Sharks_forever:
Some supporters are fair weather supporters… pay them no mind, like every person has an asshole, every team has some of them too
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