The Lions celebrated their return to Vodacom Super Rugby with a good win over the Toyota Cheetahs in Bloemfontein before the Cell C Sharks showed they mean business in 2014 with a bonus-point victory over the Vodacom Bulls in Durban.
For the Cell C Sharks, under a new coach in former Springbok mentor Jake White, it was a perfect start to the season. They got their 4th try at the death of their 31 / 16 win after scoring 3 five-pointers in the first 40 minutes.
Interestingly enough, it was the first time ever that the Cell C Sharks managed to score a bonus-point victory at home in February, when Durban’s notorious high heat and humidity play havoc with handling.
In fact, it was only the 2nd time since the inception of Vodacom Super Rugby that a side managed 4 February tries at Kings Park – the Toyota Cheetahs did just that when they beat the Sharks by 27 / 26 in 2006.
Yesterday however the Cell C Sharks were firmly in control, but the Toyota Cheetahs’ performance was unlike that day when they won in Durban in 2006 – they came unstuck against a spirited Lions side that shocked a lot of people with a 21 / 20 victory in Bloemfontein.
Lions flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff contributed all of his team’s points with a near flawless kicking display – he slotted all 6 his attempts at penalty goals and got 1 from 2 drop-goals. His opposite numbers though struggled with the boot and between Johan Goosen and Elgar Watts, they squandered 9 points with missed kicks at goal.
Boshoff’s exploits were similar to those of Elton Jantjies in 2012, when the currently injured Lions flyhalf kicked all of his team’s points as they beat the Toyota Cheetahs by 27 / 25 in the opening round.
The DHL Stormers had a bye this weekend but will be in action next week when the teams from Down Under also get in on the action.
Toyota Cheetahs (10) 20 / 21 (9) Lions:
Marnitz Boshoff, making his Vodacom Super Rugby debut, broke the Toyota Cheetahs’ hearts with a 78th minute drop-goal to help the Lions to a good 21 / 20 victory in the opening match of the season at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein.
Even though they were outscored by 2 tries to 0, the Lions – back in Vodacom Super Rugby after missing out last season – never gave up. The home side simply gave away too many kickable penalties and Boshoff duly made the scoreboard tick over when he got an opportunity.
And when the Lions played themselves into a promising attacking position late in the match, fans of the Toyota Cheetahs must’ve been on the edge of their seats. Boshoff’s antics were enough for the visitors as he pushed his personal tally to 21 points thanks to six penalty goals and a drop goal.
Both sides showed some early-season rustiness and they were very keen on throwing the ball around, which resulted in way too many unforced errors.
The Toyota Cheetahs though, did get the first 2 tries of the season after some enterprising play – first by Raymond Rhule and in the 2nd half Cornal Hendricks, who was this week named the SA Sevens Player of 2013, capped his Vodacom Super Rugby debut with a good try.
For the Lions, this was just the way to re-enter Vodacom Super Rugby, while last season’s surprise package, the Toyota Cheetahs, will be left wondering where things went awry for them.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84FxGreFTeM[/youtube]
Scorers:
Toyota Cheetahs:
- Tries: Raymond Rhule (1), Cornal Hendricks (1)
- Conversions: Johan Goosen (2)
- Penalty goals: Johan Goosen (1), Elgar Watts (1)
Lions:
- Penalty goals: Marnitz Boshoff (6)
- Drop goal: Boshoff (1)
Cell C Sharks (23) 31 / 16 (9) Vodacom Bulls:
The Cell C Sharks, thanks mainly to a superb 1st half effort, got their season off to a great start when they beat the Vodacom Bulls by 31 / 16 at Growthpoint Kings Park in Durban on Saturday evening.
The home side scored 3 crucial tries in the first 40 minutes of a match that was played at a great pace by 2 teams having a full go.
The Cell C Sharks though were more composed, took their chances and bagged the points. On the other hand, the Vodacom Bulls were not patient enough on the attack and didn’t convert their opportunities into points.
Their maul was very good, but the team from Pretoria got very little reward when they came within striking distance. Their only try, by Jono Ross late in the 2nd half, came from a rolling maul.
The home team though looked sharp on the attack and scored 3 tries in the first half, followed by a crucial 4th one, by Patrick Lambie, in injury time.
The first 2 tries came from Paul Jordaan (after a sniping run by Lwazi Mvovo) and Cobus Reinach. However, Odwa Ndungane’s superb effort in the right-hand corner, coming from a pin-point cross-kick by Frans Steyn after the buzzer in the 1st half, was probably the pick of the tries this weekend.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sFMF09fgi8[/youtube]
Scorers:
Cell C Sharks:
- Tries: Paul Jordaan (1), Cobus Reinach (1), Odwa Ndungane (1), Patrick Lambie (1)
- Conversion: Patrick Lambie (1)
- Penalty goals: Patrick Lambie (3)
Vodacom Bulls:
- Try: Jono Ross (1)
- Conversion: Handré Pollard (1)
- Penalty goals: Louis Fouché (2)
- Drop-goal: Louis Fouché (1)
Combined Log
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | BPts | Pts |
| 1 | Cell C Sharks | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 16 | 15 | 0 | 5 |
| 2 | Waratahs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Crusaders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Lions (Q) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | Toyota Cheetahs (Q) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 21 | -1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Vodacom Bulls (Q) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 31 | -15 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Brumbies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Western Force | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Melbourne Rebels | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Chiefs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Blues | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Hurricanes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Highlanders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | DHL Stormers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Reds | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Australian Conference
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | BPts | Pts |
| 1 | Waratahs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Reds | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Western Force | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Melbourne Rebels | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Brumbies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
New Zealand Conference
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | BPts | Pts |
| 1 | Blues | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Highlanders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Hurricanes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Chiefs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Crusaders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
South African Conference
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | BPts | Pts |
| 1 | Cell C Sharks | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 16 | 15 | 0 | 5 |
| 2 | Lions | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | Toyota Cheetahs | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 21 | -1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | DHL Stormers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Vodacom Bulls | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 31 | -15 | 0 | 0 |
I am surprised by both results!
I expected the Sharks to win, but the score flatters them.
The Bulls had territorial advantage almost the whole first half and parity in the second half just could not finish off their chances whilst the Sharks were on the receiving end of some fortunate refereeing decisions and used every chance they had.
I did not see the Lions win coming, not by a mile. Johan Goosen looks like he will be out again with a longer term injury sooner rather than later.
The Bulls tackling against the Sharks were superb up front in the forwards and a guy like Willem Alberts was kept totally quiet, also some dodgy stealing by Marcell Coetzee that the Sharks got away with. The Sharks backline was simply better and more innovative than the Bulls backline and that was where they won it.
Sharks as a whole were super.
Bulls forwards, except for the hooker and Brittany, were super. Bulls backline is shit
Lions were ok, Cheetahs were shit.
Bulls gifted the Sharks 2 tries, the 1st was Hougaard’s brain fart, but one could go back and concede that the Bull’s player was played in the air in the line out and the clip on the elbow knocked the ball out, and the second try just before half time was stupid by the Bulls, Spies had the Baal after the Bulls won it back and instead of clearing it, the lost possession resulted in the try, similar to the way the Boks gifted the AB’s a try at Ellis Park after the half time hooter sounded.
I didn’t expect much from the Cheetahs this year, they won’t catch teams napping like last year, but I didn’t expect them to lose at home against the Lions. Goosen and Arno Botha, as much as what people want to believe they will be superstars, maybe just don’t have the capacity for top flight rugby and all the rigors that go with it. Burton Francis sunk them with that hashed kick from straight in front, but they should never have been in that position, Goosen was just as poor as 1st choice kicker earlier.
Congrats to Shark and Lions.
The Lions surprised me. Well done to them. They proved me wrong.
The Bulls was rusty. Maybe a extra warmup game would have helped. Especially the players returning from injury struggled. I’m not to unhappy about the performance. Just one of those days everything goes against you.
4 @ leon:
Interesting point you touch on, with the Bulls having only played 1 Warm-up game!!
@ grootblousmile:
Ja, it looks like it was a mistake only playing 1game. I think the Bulls will be much better on Friday. We will see that backline coming alive. Hougaard will be back.
Alles wat mal is? Are you and Ben related? Must be with the stupid comments. It is always the ref and the other team cheated? Take a leaf out of GBS’s book and learn about losing gracefully.
Rudi nice article and fair comments.
Sharks found a way to penetrate or go around bodies to score or gain ground. Bulls bought their game plan to play direct which sharks obliged by putting bodies in the way. The bulls forward effort was impressive. I just felt the bulls were trying to take their man on a bit too much. Once you have created your gap don’t go looking for a collision.
3 @ nortierd:
Surely you mean Goosen and Elgar Watts?
The Lions were competetive, but in all honesty were lucky that the Chhetahs were utterly poor on the day.
The Lions defence, in trying for the “defensive line speed” that the likes of Mallet and Mitchell like to spout about so often, were often guilty of having individuals rushing up and breaking the defensive line. A team not as rusty as the Cheetahs obviously were would have punished the Lions severely.
Also, the Lions decision making with ball in hand, sometimes turnover ball, was at times confusing to say the least.
Still, a win (albeit an unexpected one) is always welcome. Next week the Lions have another excellent chance of catching the Stormers half baked as well after their “bye” in the first round. (What a croc of shyte – SANZAR need to re-look at this anomally IMO)
Bulls also seemed to be their own worst enemies in the Deben humidity, but the Sharks were very workmanlike in getting the bonus point win.
One aspect that really stood out for me was that the Sharks all appeared to have lost a fair amount of bulk. Even Bismark seemed to be leaner, and Lambie considerably so.
Could it be that Jake has seen something in Aus that SA coaches has missed? The Sharks really looked to me to be physically built like the Aus players tend to be. Just my own opinion. Any thoughts.
More almal. Ek reageer graag op al die Sharks ondersteuners wat nou skielik ‘n groot probleem het dat ek die refs se blatante foute uitgewys het. Ek reageer veral op die volgende ouens
#7 Sharks forever
#323 Grumpy
#332 Puma
#344 Snoek
Die laaste drie opmerkings kom van die wedstryd draad van Saterdag.
Ek onthou nog goed hoe die Sharks groot kermgatte was toe die Bulle die Super 14 gewen het in 2007 op die einste Kingspark. Julle het vir weke lank gekerm oor die ref, nou is julle skielik objektief en nie ‘biased’ nie, nou skielik volgens julle het die refs niks verkeerd gedoen nie ?
In 2011 toe die Bokke verloor het teen die Aussies in die WB, het Puma vir weke hier kom huil oor die ref se blatante foute, toe is hy nie uitgekruit as ‘biased’ en ‘n slegte verloorder nie.
So wanneer die Bokke benadeel word is dit die ref se skuld, maar as jou franchise span wen is die refs altyd reg ?
Deur die jare van superrugby het die Sharks ondersteuners, nie almal nie, maar baie van hulle nog altyd gekla oor swak ref besluite wat hul uit die semi’s of finale gehou het.
Kyk bietjie weer na die feite van Saterdag, waarop nie een van julle geantwoord het nie:
1. die tweede drie van die Sharks was nie ‘n drie nie, dit was ‘n blatante fout, eers deur Peyper, toe die TMO.
Vir ‘n eerste wedstryd, vir ‘n jongspan wat goed in die game was, was daardie drie ‘n rugbreker wat eintlik die game geswaai het, teen die algemene verloop van die spel wat nog gelyk was op daardie stadium.
2. Daarna het die Bulle terugkom, pragtig gedryf, oppad om te druk, net vir die ref om verkeerdelik te beweer die Bulle het kamstig lyne verander. Nog 7 punte weggeneem van die Bulle.
Wat hierdie twee punte betref, het ek verwys na die BBC se kommentators wat dit uitgewys het as groot foute wat die Bulle gekos het. Niemand het daarop geantwoord nie.
3. Toe Matfield opkom, later in die game, speel hy een van die Sharks se slotte in die lug, dadelik strafskop, daarna begin die oploop tot die Sharks se laaste drie. Hoe kon Peyper daardie oortreding, wat wel ‘n duidelike oortreding was, raaksien, maar die baie duideliker oortreding van Bresler het hy en die TMO kamstig gemis met die 2de drie van die Sharks ?
4. Met die laaste drie van die Sharks, het die Bulle wettiglik ‘n paar keer die balle by die Sharks spelers probeer afvat terwyl hul vashou, maar die ref hou hul aan straf, die bonuspunt drie van die Sharks moes net kom, want die hele media hype is nou agter White’s men ?
5. Ek het in my opmerkings by die wedstryd draad baie duidelik gestel ek glo die Sharks sou gewen het, was in geheel beter as die Bulle en het minder foute gemaak,die telling moes egter 19-16 vir Sharks gewees het. En as die Sharks soos gewoonlik op die media bandwagon en al die loflaaitjies in die media gaan spring dat hul kamstig die Bulle heeltemal oordonder het, dan wag, soos die ingelsmanne sê, ‘n ‘rude awakening’ op hulle.
So Snoek, moenie my kom vertel ek maak my naam gat terwyl jy en jou Sharks mannne en jou span hulle naam deur baie jare al gat gemaak het deur die refs te blameer nie. Miskien het ek wel te veel op die ref gekonsentreer, maar jammer, as hy sulke blatante foute maak, gaan ek nie stilbly nie. GBS kan maar besluit of hy my daaroor wil ban of nie. Julle klomp wat nou skielik voorgee dat jul nooit die refs aanvat nie en nooit daaroor kla nie, is lagwekkend. Behalwe die uitspeelrondtes en finaal is die eerste wedstryd van die seisoen die belangrikste, en daarom het daardie paar blatante foute deur die refs die Bulle erg gekos.
Kom ons sien nou die res van die seisoen of julle kamstig objektief en ‘unbaised’ is, veral as jou span verloor. Ek glo wel refs moet aangespreek word vir hul belaglike foute en glo nie hulle is ‘untouchables’ nie, of mag ons nie op hierdie blog daaroor praat nie, gaan ons soos keo hier raak wat alles polities korrek moet wees ten gunste van my span …… natuurlik as my span gewen het ?
Weereens, geluk aan die Sharks met hul oorwinning, veral Marcel en Jordaan was baie goed, vir die Bulle het hul voorspelers, behalwe Spies en Visagie, baie goed gedoen op die dag.
Morning all. Good game by the Sharks. Starting off with a bonus point spells trouble for the other teams. The rest better pull finger of it will be a 1 horse race.
Still as some are saying the Bulls are a bit cold still, it’s a fine line between playing a lot of warm ups and risking injuries and not playing enough.last year the Stormers played less warm ups and came in undercooked and never really recovered. I hope for our sake we get the balance right this year.
still, the Bulls know how to win this comp. And you can bet they will be back!
10 @ Ben:
There were some very strange calls in the earlier game as well.
I really struggle to see how a ref can in one moment penalise a player for holding on, and the next moment penalise the same team for the “tackle assit” not releasing the tackled player, yet when one looks at the recording later, the incidences seemed to my (rather blatant and untrained?) to be identical.
On what does a referee base his decision, and at what nano-second in time does he decide?
The world of the top class referee is indeed a dark and confusing place to rival the likes of Hogwarts to a mere mortal such as I.
Last year we played less games and still lost Eben. This year the Bulls played less and lost Arno so it doesn’t seem to be a good strategy anyhow. Still it is a home game for the Sharks which you must win. The Bulls will be harder at Loftus.
More almal. Eerste keer wat ek blog, het al baie gelees.
Ben, ek stem saam met jou oor baie van die punte genoem. Saterdag was ‘n moet wen vir die Sharks gewees in alle opsigte. wat sou Jake gemaak het met die eier op sy gesig as die Bulls gewen of selfs gelyk op gespeel het.
Die Bulls soek dringend ‘n agterlyn afrigter. FL is ‘n besonderse voorspeler afrigter maar het nie genoeg kennis van agterlyn spel nie. Ek glo “Slap Tjips” se sell-by date het nou gekom
Welkom Rower.
I never thought I would say this but the bulls are missing Wynand Olivier at 12. Big time.
Welcome Rower! I’m sure you will enjoy it here.
I know there is a lot of disappointment after the first round of matches, but also one team with oodles of confidence going forward. The Sharks are the team with everyone’s number as they have a very well balanced side and are going to go far this year. They could even go all the way. With that the Bulls forwards were really good on Saturday, apart from Spies is was missing in action. The backline on the other hand was not up to scratch. I think the Bulls will need to play PvZ at 9 and Pollard at 10. Hougaard was terrible, slow and looked out of his depth at 9. I would move him to wing as he is a very dangerous player. The talent is at 12 and 13 though… Fullback was way out of his depth… Still early so need for panic…
Bulls have 2 areas of major concern and no idea how to fix it
9-10 combination
Wrong loose forward makeup:
Ross is no 6
Your 7 flank should be your 4 lock
Spies as absent as ever
Playing only 1 decent warm-up game also counted against them.
Lions played well and should take every positive out of this game, brilliant come-back to the S15. Cheetahs should take every bit of criticism and work out why they lost against themselves
14 @ Rower:
Welkom hier op die Vriendelike Rugby Webwerf, Rower!
Hoop jy geniet dit saam met ons hier.
Ludeke saying the Bulls beat them selves????? Hahahahahaha quite pathetic really, Sharks beat the Bulls fair and square, were the Bulls poor? not at all, yes balls slipped out of hands etc but for both teams, Bulls forwards played very well but their backline was so so, So so because the Sharks put huge pressure on them, you can only play as you are allowed to play by your opposition, I think this bulls team will have a lot to say in this years Super15.
Ludeke should really stop whining and look to improve on his coaching and lack of skills training and well as vision in learning to adapt to new styles of play.
@ Stormersboy:
Rubbish man, the Sharks had bad calls against them too and missed not only more try scoring chances that the Bulls but also quite a few points at goal, these things happen.
Why not move on and look at the positives like GBS does?
Also so because Puma whinged it’s ok for you to whine?? ” ja swear a can of the best I say”
@ Stormersboy:
Hi Sb, sorry my post 21 was meant Ben, a click fault lol.
And hope you are well? as well as the missus and kids?
We can all save many weeks of heartache if they just hand Jake and his team the Conference Cup and their SR runners up medals now.
Sharks_forever wrote:
Difficult to see through the ” red mist ”
I said well before the season started, that the Bulls have a problem at Hooker, Flyhalf and Fullback… and it was clear that it was the case on Saturday.
Bulls cannot afford a hooker who throws overthrows in the lineout and we saw 3 from Callie Visagie on Saturday. The answer… I don’t know… all 3 hookers are limited.
Maybe the Bulls should use Jacques-Louis Potgieter as flyhalf, at least he’s been there and done that in Super Rugby… or Pollard should be given an extended run and we shall see if he develops enough. Louis Fouché can drop and mostly kick well to posts and to touch but he’s got no impetus on attack or in distributing the ball. He is limited and that’s why he was ALWAYS in the shadows of Morné Steyn.
At fullback Jurgen Visser is NOT the answer… never has been. One of 3 things could be done here:
– Firstly move Akona Ndungane out to fullback as the aging winger is solid under high balls and on defence but maybe does not have the speed to burn on the wing anymore.
– Or Secondly move Bjorn Basson from left wing to fullback, also good under the high ball.
– Use Ulrich Beyers at fullback and see if he is better than poor Vissie.
My choice would be to move Akona to fullback, but then there would be a void at right wing, where I would employ JJ Engelbrecht. At outside centre, it is time for William Small-Smith to grow into that role… forget Waylon Murray!
It now appears that the Bulls have 3 additional problems that I did not contemplate before the season started.
– Jono Ross is not an opensider and Deon Stegmann better get up to speed in double time, alternatively use Wiaan Liebenberg as openside flank. Ross is a Number 8 and a limited one at that.
– Pierre Spies has now reached the date where I think even the most ardent Bulls supporter is fed up with him merging into the camoed background in tight games… it’s simply not good enough Pierre! This situation would make one wish Pierre picks up another injury, terrible thought I know, but he can’t continue like he’s been doing… and I would rather have a less flashy but hard-grafting No 8 there, like Vleis Engelbrecht.
– Francois Hougaard needs to be replaced at No 9 by Piet van Zyl, simple as that… Hougie was terrible and Piet van Zyl made an immediate impact.
Not worried about the Bulls props anymore, the Locks are fine…. forwards defence was brutal and organised.
Backline is a worry… the whole bang shoot of them…
@ Sharks_forever:
hahaha jeeeez boet, as I was reading your post I was wondering if you started drinking early lol.
All’s good mate! YOu?
@ Stormersboy:
All good mate lol
@ nortierd:
Kak man lol,
It’s okay Sharks_forever kak him out
He is away on business and should be watching the game with me coming Saturday… 😉
21/22: hehe, jy kan nie eers die onderskeid sien tussen myself en Stormersboy nie, netsoos jy Saterdag nie die verskil tussen die Sharksspelers en Jaco Peyper kon sien nie, julle het met 16 gespeel teen die Bulle. 😉
Jy noem dat daar ‘n klomp calls was van Peyper teen die Sharks. Noem hulle en hoeveel punte dit die Sharks gekos het ? Ek sal graag daarna wil kyk.
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