Victor Matfield
The Vodacom Bulls, fresh off a narrow loss to the DHL Stormers this past weekend, next face the ever-improving Emirates Lions, at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday in the last Super Rugby match of the weekend.
It appears as though regular captain Pierre Spies is under the weather and will therefor sit out of the clash, with Victor Matfield back from Springbok rest and injury recovery set to take over the captaince helm for the vital match.
Meanwhile head coach Frans Ludeke is still moaning and groaning about the difficult laws and interpreations of those laws by the Super Rugby Referees.
Matfield set to captain:
Springbok veteran Victor Matfield won’t only be back to help the Vodacom Bulls try and save their season this weekend, he’s likely to lead them into battle as well.
Matfield will return from a knee injury that kept him out of action for a month at a crucial stage of the season, and will need to apply both his leadership and experience immediately to a side that has been rocked by the narrow loss to the DHL Stormers last weekend.
So close are things in the South African conference at the moment that the Bulls need to beat the Emirates Lions this weekend if they are to have a hope of making the Vodacom Super Rugby playoffs.
If they don’t they may find themselves 3rd in the conference and struggling to make the Top 6 after what could be considered a fairly decent season thus far.
The margins of error seem to be getting smaller between the teams and the Bulls have an uphill struggle as they still need to tour overseas while the other sides have completed their away fixtures for the season.
But as the Bulls always say, they can only take it “week-for-week” and that means winning the contest that they have to face at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
And since Matfield and fellow Springbok Jan Serfontein last played for the side, they have lost tight contests against the Emirates Lions and DHL Stormers, both away from home while grabbing a win in Durban and at home against the Reds.
Every point the Bulls can pick up now will be crucial, hence the decision to rush the Springbok lock back into action.
“He’s a crucial part of our game and our decision-making and leadership, and what he brings to the game as well, so it’s good to have him back,” coach Frans Ludeke said on Matfield’s return.
Matfield will also lead the side as Pierre Spies is under the weather and is set to be rested this week. Deon Stegmann will also be on the sidelines this weekend, meaning a new loose trio will be chosen.
Ludeke is likely to keep Jacques du Plessis at No 7, with the hard-working duo of Arno Botha and Lappies Labuschagne being inserted at No 8 and No 6 respectively.
Trevor Nyakane will likely be at loosehead prop, with Dean Greyling paying for his indiscretions at the scrum this past weekend, while Serfontein will hopefully be back at inside centre.
The Springbok midfielder has been included in the team in the last 2 weeks, only to withdraw on both occasions, 1st with a hip flexor and then in Cape Town with a hamstring strain, but the Bulls are hopeful this week he will be fine.
“I’m confident he will make it this week. He has had a great 2 weeks, only to pull up on the final day and credit to him as well that he sacrificed the opportunity to play. He’s not a selfish player, he wants the best for the team and hopefully this weekend he will be fine,” Ludeke explained.
The Bulls coach says while Burger Odendaal has done a fine job standing in for Serfontein, the Springbok has always been 1st in the pecking order and it was an easy decision to choose him.
“I must say it’s an easy decision. We need all of them, it’s about good communication and backing Jan also – he has done a good job for us. And then it is about playing for the team – horses for courses – and who we are going to need going forward. This weekend it is vital for Jan to come in and do what he does. He has a huge workrate and is solid on defence, those are the things that we need him to do.”
The Bulls will announce their team on Thursday.
Scrums a grey area – Ludeke:
Scrums are increasingly becoming a grey area that must be sorted out, according to Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke.
Ludeke reacted after being asked about his side’s scrum issues, which again proved costly this past weekend in their Vodacom Super Rugby match against the DHL Stormers in Cape Town.
The Bulls lost a close game but gave away at least 9 points in the scrums, and even though they had rectified their issues by the 2nd half, they never received the reward from referee Jaco Peyper.
Ludeke was frustrated at this, but took responsibility for their failings in the 1st half, where prop Dean Greyling was repeatedly penalized for not keeping his bind.
Greyling is likely to pay the price this week and be dropped for the game against the Emirates Lions – a match the Bulls must win if they are to have any say in the playoffs of this year’s competition.
Ludeke said after watching the tape again, he could not fault Peyper’s decisions in the 1st half, but that the Bulls didn’t get the reward in the 2nd half for their scrum when the replacements were on.
Unfortunately it seemed that Peyper had already made up his mind in the 2nd half about who was infringing and allowed the Stormers to set incorrectly and scrum in, especially when Ollie Kebble came on.
Ludeke said the problem was that every scrum is a potential penalty, and players often don’t know which way a referee is going to rule when a scrum goes down.
“Obviously there are things that we need to take responsibility for, and we will definitely. Binding issues, keeping straight, keeping your weight up, those are issues we can sort out,” Ludeke said.
“It’s a battle, and that means it is a battle for referees as well. It is a little bit of a grey area to be honest, every scrum can go anywhere. It mustn’t be like that and it is a pity that the game is going in that direction.
“It is an area that we need to look at. We don’t want to lose a game because of a scrum, especially not a final or a semifinal, or a vital game like we had on the weekend. But first of all we need to sort out stuff out, and we need to be more accurate.”
There has been a lot of introspection from the Bulls since Saturday, and an acceptance that they were wrong in a large part of the contests. That they need to take responsibility for and realise that the problems they had weren’t ones that haven’t happened before.
Greyling has been pinned for not keeping his bind over the years and is a serial offender, and in terms of their selection for the game, the Bulls got it wrong.
It also means they need to keep a more consistent approach to Trevor Nyakane and keeping him on one side of the scrum, not moving him around between loosehead and tighthead week for week.
Nyakane is likely to start this weekend, and will be watched, especially as the Lions have a strong scrum and will be targeting the Bulls up front. But the Springbok has been more than impressive this year and is currently one of the standout players for the Bulls, so he should be able to hold his own.
Ludeke said he had respect for the refs, and wasn’t blaming Peyper, but called for more clarity about decisions.
“If you look at the game I thought it was a tough contest from both sides. We had 10 resets and he didn’t want to guess. That is fair enough. It’s definitely an area we want to sort out. We need to see what we can do to help them.”
The Bulls need to beat the Lions on Saturday, not only to give themselves a shot at the playoffs, but to keep in touch with the Stormers at the Top of the South African conference.
@ Nama:
Ex konstabel 😆
Still won’t make a difference
@ Stormersboy:
Who played at loosehead last year when Rooikop was not available?
Nama wrote:
Brok and Allister
@ Stormersboy:
Brok the rock.
Did Allister play SR? Can only remember him playing in the CC.
60 @ Nama:
Thats fair…
but then no one should be offered a contract? 3 months maximum in case they lose form?
@ MacroBull:
Don’t give a contract to a 16 year old laaitie, where he earns more than his father, because you believe that he is going to be a “great”. Give him a “junior contract” until he proves that he is the the player that can step up from junior rugby to senior rugby. There is a moerse difference.
How many of the Junior Boks that was named today will at the end of the day play senior/Bok rugby?
Did we not learn from Fransie/Janneman/Spies? Good schoolboy/junior rugby player. Crappy senior rugby player. Don’t believe what the press and their supporters say about them.
Ek noem dit nou maar hier, want ek kan nog nie slaap omdat my jongste dogter vanaand geopereer moes word om te kyk of daar moontlik enige probleme met haar vrouedele kan wees. Ek weet dat Nortie se dogter omtrent dieselfde ouderdom as myne moet wees omdat hulle altwee jaar voorlaas matriek gemaak het.
Dis ‘n moerse skok as jy moet hoor dat jou jong kind inwendig ondersoek moet word om te kyk of daar moontlike probleme kan wees. Wat doen jy as die dokter se daar is ‘n kwaadardige gewas en jy moet die nuus aan jou kind oordra? Sy sal nooit kinders kan kry nie, wat beteken jy sal nooit die voorreg het om met haar kinders (jou kleinders) kan speel nie.
Gelukkig lyk dit op die stadium of alles mooi uitgewerk het. Maar, ek sit nog steeds 1 000km van haar af en ek sou graag NOU daar wou wees. But such is life.
Thanks for “listening”/reading.
@ Nama:
Nie nice om dit te lees nie Nama….ek hoop regtig alles loop goed af vir haar.
Ongeag die finale uitslag, darem weet sy dat haar pa daar is vir haar.
Alle sterkte vir haar en vir julle
Nama
Our daughters soar in the jet streams of our hearts.
I trust that she’ll be OK & that the post operative findings will be benign.
Best wishes for you, your daughter & the rest of your family.
Nama wrote:
Sorry to hear that Nama, our thoughts and prayers will be with you and your family. Trusting that it will all be ok.
@ Nama:
Huh? Feansie has a worls cup medal spies has two superrugby medals… But you claim they are duds?
67 @ Nama:
Sterkte Nama
@ MacroBull:
Hoe werk die SR groepe?
Gee die Franchises n lys name aan SANZAR voor die afskop van die toernooi van hulle spelers?
Mag hulle dan ekstra spelers van buite af inbring as daar beserings of skorsings is, of kan hulle enige tyd spelers byvoeg en uithaal?
@ nortie:
Nee ek weet nie, SANZAR verander gereeld die regulasies, veral toe AC vir Schalk Britz ingebring het daai een jaar het hulle behoorlik in hul broeke geskak.
Toe se hulle dat spelers in die oorpsronklike groep moet wees (ek dink Jean deVilliers is in die Stommers groep) OF hulle moes in die eerste helfte van die jaar gespeel het… maar in 2013 wou almal he Ludeke moet Pollard kies toe Morne Steyn beseer was, maar hy was nie in die oorspronklike groep nie, hy het ook nie n game gespeel nie, maar almal was onder die indruk dat hy kiesbaar was vir die uitspeel wedstryde selfs al die kenners (warmee ek persoonlik nie saamgestem het nie), bloot omdat hy klaar by die Bulls unie was.
@ nortie:
In a quick web search unions are supposed to register 35 players before 1 April … regulations back in 2012
I mean you could register 35 players at the start of the season / or before 1 April
It is seemingly an impossibility finding Sanzar rules online:
Notwithstanding, relying on the Sharks’ experience on re-signing Frans Steyn more than halfway through the 2012 Super Rugby competition, I think Super Rugby squads can be augmented by new players up to a specific cut off date, which I seem to recall being either 1 June or 1 July. I also seem to recall that these players who were not included in the initial SR player lists, but were only added later on before the final cut off date, are precluded from playing in only the KNOCK OUT STAGES of the competition.
That is my recollection of the F Steyn situation in 2012 – the rules may, or may not, have changed.
Good luck in finding the rules – top secret, I think 🙂
@ Nama:
Its hard, but I am glad for you that it looks like everything is working out.
What a cracking race
@ MacroBull:
@ Angostura:
Thanks.
So basically the coach must hinge his bets pre season and hope the players he nominated perform.
Again, I sort of feel sorry for Gold in a way, he wasn’t even at his franchise when the names were put forward, but then again, it is also down to poor planning from all involved in the Shark’s set up
@ nortie:
Are you refering the the club flyhalf they signed now? will only be for the Currie Cup… then again the Sharks STILL have Tim Swiel on their books.
81…. Vodacom Cup*
The Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd on Thursday confirmed that three players, Dean Greyling, Basil Short and Hencus van Wyk, were withdrawn from this weekend’s matches for the Vodacom Bulls and Vodacom Blue Bulls after suffering minor injuries in a car crash on Wednesday.
I wonder if it wasn’t a disgruntled Bulls fan who tried to ram Dean off the road.
We must ask Horatio Cane to check GBS’s BMW for paint transfers
@ MacroBull:
No, SR players…..well, Gold pretty much inherited all the current players on their books.
Those mercenaries know no depths when plundering….to even go and poach a WP club player 😆
Hulle het net mooi fokkol spelers van hulle eie in daai provinsie
Cheers vir eers….check out time, last job, then airport back to civilization.
I’m just happy I made it past Growth Point Kings Park in one piece, no kicks to the head etc. locked the car doors and just kept on driving, avoided eye contact and managed to get away unscathed. 😉
@ nortie:
No one knows what the Status quo is at the Sharks, Gold may have had input before joining the Sharks completely.
The school system in Natal is the problem, the only chance you have of making the Craven Week is by going to ridiculously expensive schools.
Maybe they wouldnt have to poach a PW club player if PW didnt poach some of their flyhalves in the last year
86 @ MacroBull:
Du Preez wanted to come to Cape Town…..better hairdressers down there
Lots of moaning about “Scrumming in” by the Stormers loosehead props, but Tank Lanning, writing in his Sport24 column this week, believes both Steven Kitshoff and Ollie Kebble to have got it spot on in mangling the Bulls scrum.
Tank Lanning
Lots of moaning about “Scrumming in” given the Stormers’ man handling of the Bulls scrum at Newlands on Saturday, mostly by scribes and fans based up North it seems.
I disagree, believing both Stormers loosehead props Steven Kitshoff and Ollie Kebble to have had magnificent games, with their destruction of Bulls tighthead Marcel van der Merwe going a long way to securing the game for the home side. Sadly by means of one of the scourges of the modern game – the scrum penalty, often based on one poor chunky fellow having a bad day at the office. Penalising a prop for standing up in a scrum is a bit like penalising a flyhalf for missing a tackle.
That said, most tries these days come from another scourge of the game – the legalised obstruction that is the driving maul (now seemingly made even more in defendable given that refs are allowing players to join them ahead of the last players feet – go watch the David Pocock hat trick of tries if you are unsure of what I am talking about) so it makes sense for teams to make the most of the situation. Hence the Stormers aiming to milk the scrum penalty rather than use it to set a stable base from which the backs could work.
I digress, though. Back to Saturday and this “Scrumming in”. A loosehead’s job is in fact to scrum in on the tighthead’s ribs, or better get under him and work on his sternum, thus hoping to unsettle him and move him backwards. A tighthead’s job is to keep that loosehead’s head out thus hoping to create a gap between said loosehead and his hooker, with a view to scrumming forward through that gap.
Choose not to scrum in, and a loosehead is then opting out of the contest, sliding down the side of the tighthead, giving him an easy ride. That is truly dreadful technique. Something Dean Greyling is sometimes prone to doing.
So this penalising of scrumming in is in fact penalising a player for doing his job. If a tighthead is not strong (or good) enough to keep the loosehead out, then he should pay the price.
Let’s also remember that getting your angle right as a prop requires skill. Get it wrong and the power from behind tends to push your arse out. And while many analysts will then point to the “Dreadful” scrumming in, as a prop all you have done is create a weak link in the chain so instead of that power being channelled through your straight back, it is being used to force your arse out.
Is scrumming in such a sin? Have we not over complicated the scrum ridiculously?
Refs are guessing. Scrums are being reset endlessly. And game influencing penalties are being awarded to avoid these resets. I would simplify them by making the following changes to scrum laws:
Allow props to bind anywhere
Allow props to put knees and hands on the ground to stabilise the scrum
Allow scrumming in (but penalise popping)
Allow props under pressure to stand up (aiming to avoiding collapses)
Allow non-violent wheeling through 45 degrees (it’s a skill)
Apart from the Stormers management and players, no one likes to see a game won on scrum penalties. Scrum dominance getting you a right shoulder or pushover try, yes, but not penalties based on guesswork or a player having a bad scrum.
And while it might be good enough to top the SA conference, living off scrum penalties is not going to win you the tournament.
“Lots of moaning about “Scrumming in” given the Stormers’ man handling of the Bulls scrum at Newlands on Saturday, mostly by scribes and fans based up North it seems.”
Glass houses
Geez Tank is trying really hard to justify Ollie and Ginger Punch scrumming in.
Seems like Tank wants to watch 80 minutes of scrumming rather than rugby like the rest of us.
If I was a Stommer supporter I suppose I would also prefer watching 80 minutes of scrumming rather the see the rest of the gameplan.
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