WP (25) 31 / 23 (10) Blue Bulls (Final Score)
DHL Western Province and the Vodacom Blue Bulls did battle in the ABSA Currie Cup Premier Division Semi-Final at
Newlands, Cape Town at 17:00 SA Time (15:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & M-Net on TV in SA.
*******************
Scorers:
WP:
- Penalties – Demetri Catrakilis (3)
- Drop Goals – Demetri Catrakilis (1)
- Tries – Cheslin Kolbe (2), Nic Groom (1)
- Conversions – Demetri Catrakilis (2)
Blue Bulls:
- Penalties – Jacques-Louis Potgieter (3)
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – Dean Greyling (1), Callie Visagie (1)
- Conversions – Jacques-Louis Potgieter (1), Handré Pollard (1)
Teams:
DHL Western Province |
Vodacom Blue Bulls |
| 18 October at 17:00 | |
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Expected weather: Sunny and clear. High of 25, low of 15. Wind 20 km/h
Referee: Lesego Legoete
Assistant Referees: Marius Jonker, Linston Manuels
TMO: Deon van Blommestein
Dit wil se, as ons vir ‘n volle 80 minute kan speel om punte op die telbord te sit instede daarvan om 30-40 minute positief te speel en ‘n voorsprong op te bou en dan vir die res van die wedstryd te probeer om daardie voorsprong te verdedig.
Nama wrote:
Daai is die worry…..
Goooo Golden Lions!!
You lot big mouth WP supporters will be farkin unplayable here on the blog if you win the watered down Currie Cup… after a Super Kak Super Rugby innings by your Stormers in 2014!
@ nortie:
by employing match officials to do it for them? come now nortie…
Feet… ground… ground… feet… remember that WP mannetjies!
@ grootblousmile:
A “watered down Currie Cup”, you say.
Why do you guys then want to get rid of Ludeke because he could not make the final of this “watered down Currie Cup?” Is it because you still attach some/much value to your team being called “Currie Cup Champions?”
@ Nama:
get rid of fludeke. he is the only coach who can manage to water down a water downed team 😆
MacroBlouBul wrote:
What are you talking about?
Who said anything about match officials?
Read the article
@ MacroBlouBul:
Hahaha… he took you to the semi finals at least. Last year you did not even reach that stage.
@ grootblousmile:
All I’ve seen was WP supporters compliment the Lions on their win, and in particular, the way they played.
It doesn’t mean we must just roll over and die for them, but the general consensus us is that the Lions will be favorites, even away from home.
Some Province fans will still be positive that we can stop them though, we have done it once before this year….nothing windgat in supporting and believing in your team.
If the Bulls won yesterday, I would also have been supporting the Lions next week, so it’s understandable that all the other sides who aren’t in the final will be against WP
@ Nama:
AC took you guys to the final the last few years, does not stop the Stormer okes from complaining 😛
548 @ nortie:
Well my initial reply was to hondo for what he was implying. It is clear that Ewans time was just up.
@ MacroBlouBul:
That part has nothing to do with me, I was saying that if Growden (who seems to have a lot of inside info in the ARU) was to be believed, Ewen was on his way out in any case, he just sped up the process by going on his own terms.
@ grootblousmile: nee jong GB. That’s a pretty lousy response to the scenario that’s developed. We’re in the final because we deserve to be in the final and we’re pretty grounded about that. The Bulls, for example, are not in the final because they’re playing lousy rugby and don’t remotely deserve to be in the final. That is pretty clear to all rugby enthusiasts, great and less great. Most of us Mountaingoats wont be gloating. The Lions have played the best and most entertaining rugby of the season. I think that’s pretty much universally conceded. Don’t give us a label we neither earned nor deserve. We’d like to win. But win ordentlik, playing good rugby, like we can.
This would be the 1st time since 1986 that WP and the Lions will meet in a final of the CC. I remember it like yesterday.
Was still doing unskilled work and had to work on that Saturday. Those days, CC games started at 15H30 and by 15H00 I got edgy as the boss man hadn’t say anything about when we were going to tjaila. At about 15H25 he came to tell us to pack up. When he took us home I asked him to drop me off near the bar and I went in there to watch the game. It was a tight one with Jannie Breedt leading his men with aplomb. That was until the last 10 minutes or so. Goggie van Heerden made a break between the two centres on the left hand side of the field and ran straight, threw a dummy to confuse the wing and kept on running. A desperate Liam Kirkham came over from the right hand side to try and make a cover tackle but was shrugged off before Goggie dived over for a great individual try. After the kick off, WP got the ball and scored another try…again by Goggie. Newlands erupted with people running onto the field despite the fact that there were still about 5 minutes left in the game.
That was the last of the five consecutive CCs during the golden five years as CC champs from 1982-’86.
What is going to happen 28 years later? It will all be revealed on Saturday.
@ MacroBlouBul:
We were complaining about the brand of rugby that got us there…and rightly so. The criticism of AC has lessened since we changed our approach.
Only thing I would still like to see, is him relinquishing his role as CC coach so that Dobson can take over. AC to concentrate on SR alone.
546 @ Nama:
Ludeke is unable to get the best out of the Players at the Blue Bulls Union… both in Super Rugby AND Currie Cup.
During Super Rugby he flabbergasted us with continued selection of Jono Ross (and nogal at farking openside flank too) and Callie Visagie… and that has not changed in the Currie Cup…. but he has gone even further and even dumber in the Currie Cup… by selecting the incumbant Springbok flyhalf…. not as flyhalf in the Semi-Final.
His Game Plan cost the Blue Bulls on Saturday… Big time!
His Game Plan (there is only one and there is no adaptability) is now so out of date, it is’nt even funny. WE all see the stupidity in NOT playing possession and ball-in-hand rugby… but he does’nt.
Ludeke is fine if he is guided by other better tactitians… like Heyneke Meyer was as Director of Rugby at the Blue Bulls before his appointment to coach the Springboks and as amplified by Ian Schwartz who was in charge of contracting at the time and who is also now at the Bokke.
With Frans alone at the helm there is NO innovation, NO renewal… NO improvisation… NO fresh ideas. It has simply gone stale, is predictable and is not working anymore, full stop!
With the player base, both forwards and backs, that the Blue Bulls Company have at their disposal, they should be performing way better….. way farking way better!
As a Blue Bulls and Bulls supporter, it hurts to see the stoid, unimaginative stagnation… it hurts to see us lose plenty of stalwarts for lack of proper contracting nous.
Look, Frans Ludeke is a nice chap and a genleman of note… a very likable person, but I seriously doubt his intelligence by now!
If you make a specific mistake once, it is perfectly excusable… it happens to all of us! If however you continue to make the SAME mistakes over and over again, ad nauseam, then your intelligence has to be questioned and that’s where we find ourselves with likable Fransie!
The STATUS of the Currie Cup as a watered down competition is not in question… we know it is, you know it is… it in fact is definately so! No hiding from it!
The fact that we Blue Bulls supporters want to see wins, even in a watered down competition, is immaterial, that’s what supporting a side is about.
BUT… and that’s where you appear to hide from the truth… the Stormers had a kak, shyte, abysmal Super Rugby season in 2014… there is no escape from that!
Suddenly winning the watered down Currie Cup, will not take away that situation… all it does is give you hope for next year… every year!
So… reality check for YOU boetman… wake up and smell the roses, and see the truth for what it is! Windgat will take you nowhere!
Take UFO & CharlesM’s example… they look at things with eyes wide open… and honest. For UFO & CharlesM’s sake I can live with a WP Currie Cup win next week…
Who is playing the best BRAND of rugby in the Currie Cup of 2014?
For that you only have to look one place (and I don’t even remotely support them)…. and that is Johan Ackermann’s Xerox Golden Lions!
For the passion his team has shown, for the values and type of play his front rowers, loosies and backline has played… I commend him!!
Oh, by the way… Bulls for life is my strife and my pleasure!
Goooooooooo Bulle!
@ Nama:
yep CC a better way to bring in new coaching staff. Bulls have gone backwards by reappointing Ludeke…
All in all im not to worried about ludekes “gameplan” its just the players he selects in key positions usually wouldnt be able to implement any gameplan.
@ grootblousmile:
I’m not disputing the fact that Stormers had a bad SR season. That’s a fact. But it is also in the past.
However, we are in the final of the CC because we have done away with the game plan that we employed during the SR. The fact that MY support for MY team is seen as “windgat” is a bit confusing. Nowhere did I say anything denigrating about the Lions…nowhere did I say that we WILL win the CC. All I did was to point out that the Lions lost their three AWAY games against three of the big guns in SA rugby namely the Sharks, Bulls and the Stormers. Furthermore I pointed out that we have players with experience of playing in finals and that we are going to play at our home ground. With that FACTS in mind, I concluded that we have a very good chance of winning on Saturday. Now please tell me, what is “windgat” about that? No boetman, my eyes are wide open.
On UFO and CharlesM. I cannot decide for other people how they should act in certain circumstances.
558 @ MacroBlouBul:
If one analizes the Bulls and Blue Bulls game plan and methods… not much has to change.
The little which needs to change is bloody important though!
The approach or fundamental starting philosophy needs to be tweaked, ever so slightly!
The Bulls and Blue Bulls generally look good with ball in hand and when playing possession rugby… that is WHEN they choose to play that way.
In my mind THAT is exactly where the little differences should come in.. they should play that way more and move the hell away from kicking the leather off the ball with their incessant uppies!
The selection policy / preferences needs a tweak too… get rid of baggage like Jono Ross, Callie Visagie, JJ Engelbrecht, Pierre Spies and Jurgen Visser… and you’ll see a change you won’t believe!
If you kick, the intent (and result) must be that the ball must bounce before being collected by an opposition player and that player must be going backwards to retrieve it… not easily caught from the air, going forward on the counter!
If you kick to the corners to play the territorial game, you must create the opportunities to get the ball back in the set piece that follows… the lineout, otherwise you are just giving possession away to a team who will play ball-in-hand and possession rugby against you, from that set piece or ball gather. So, you either kick it behind them and not out, forcing them to turn around and hastily kick out under pressure from your chasers… or you kick it out and compete the heck out of them at their lineout, which is then under great pressure.
The up-and-under kick as a weapon has been overdone… it has now been worked out, mastered by the opposition and is not effective as a general strategy anymore… yet the Bulls and Blue Bulls keep doing it, again and again!
The CC Final will be won & lost in the forwards’ battle – ask yourselves which team is superior in the front row, in the second row & in the back row … & eureka!
Winning the “watered down Currie Cup” in 2013 was the momentum that the Sharks needed in 2014 to win the SA Conference in SR.
Maybe there is a little more in winning the CC than meets the eye.
@ Angostura:
“The CC Final will be won & lost in the forwards’ battle…”
That is usually the case with all finals. Let’s make the Lions the favourites then since their forwards will most probably have the upperhand.
Should we, as WP supporters, now throw in the towel and agree with you guys that we will lose on Saturday? What kind of supporter will I be if I do that?
Jeez man, some Bulls supporters truly believed that they were going to win yesterday. Not to mention the Shark supporters who truly believed that they were in with a shout against the Lions. Now we are “windgat” for believing that we have a chance in the final?
Bollocks!
If for a year or 3 or 4 years you as coach keep lamenting the fact that your team do not EXECUTE well enough, THAT which you have instructed them to do, then you have 2 choices:
1. You acquire the personnel who are able to EXECUTE the specific play and game plan.
or
2. You change tack and look at alternative Game approaches… and impliment them, post haste.
The latter is the logical and intelligent way of looking at things, because you can have those changes applied within weeks…
Frans Ludeke has lamented NOT EXECUTING what they have set out to achieve for years now, almost game after game!
@ grootblousmile:
but its not the gameplan all the time… the bulls kicked many a ball this season where about 5% of those kicks were effective… because of poor kicking… its poor execution mostly brought upon us by poor team selections. The up and under has not been worked out, guys like aaron smith and israel dag still do it fairly well…
but when beyers kicks an up and under 20 m infield… your not going to tell me THATS the gameplan im sorry
when pollard came to flyhalf there was no significant change in the gameplan. it is change of personnel. same with the boks in Morne and lambie/pollie.
@ Nama:
maybe pw has the better pack 😛
@ MacroBlouBul:
Not likely.
We didn’t have the better pack yesterday but we came through.
How did the Bulls beat the Lions at Loftus? Did they (Bulls) have a better pack?
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=834165446627489&set=a.279231002120939.71026.100001021247285&type=1
Nama wrote:
With some serious help from a incompetent
…
Barnes spoke out twice against the referee’s failure to act against the Blue Bulls who had just won a line-out on his throw. He claimed that the Blue Bulls had had too many players in the line-out, which was certainly not the case. He was twice rude to the referee, using the f-word and the p-word which in English is a c-word.
This Ref deserved some off Barnes.
But i rest my Bulls case we did not deserve to be there, would have been much better for the Pumas to be there.
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