‘Saders plotted Bulls’ downfall
7 May 2006
The Crusaders did their homework before bashing the Bulls at Loftus, according to Dan Carter.
The flyhalf produced one of his best performances of the season on Saturday to all but end the Bulls’ Vodacom semi-final hopes. The Crusaders simply outsmarted the Pretoria franchise, a fact confirmed by Carter.
“We put a lot of homework into this game and I think it paid off,” he said. “We’d come off a couple of average performances and the boys really had to step up against a very physical Bulls side.
“In the past the Bulls forward pack have really dominated us and got over the gain line. Our forwards really stepped up and chopped them down behind the gain line. It makes a huge difference.”
Stand-in captain Reuben Thorne said his side had stepped up another gear after drawing with the Force and losing to the Stormers.
“We’d had two games in a row that we weren’t happy with and we were determined to play better,” he said. “We wanted to play at the right end of the field and get control. We were much more intense with the ball.”
The Crusaders play the Brumbies in Christchurch on Friday in their final fixture of the regular season.
30 Comments
7 May 2006, 21:23 pm
Plotted my ***. They just outplayed them, simply as that.
7 May 2006, 21:24 pm
‘simple as that’ rather.
7 May 2006, 21:26 pm
Crusaders are the best team around, and i’m actually glad the Bulls lost. Some prima-donnas in that team 2, same goes for the Stormpies.
7 May 2006, 21:35 pm
homework lasted about 5 minutes long; not much needed to outwit all that bull
bulls should bring back danie van schalkwyk and recruit tiaan snyman and jorrie
7 May 2006, 21:36 pm
jorrie and snyman????? ha ha ha, nice joke jb
7 May 2006, 21:52 pm
Sounds like they did what it looked like on field. They out smarted the Bulls coach.
Lovely to watch their execution, even if it meant the Bulls coming short.
I think that John Robbie and Naas had it right on Boots ‘N All. The Bulls, although the strongest RSA franchise and with the biggest and best squad, are underachieving.
The lack of consistency of performance, simple minded game plan and the resulting lack of development of players means that they will always battle with multi faceted opponents.
Although their supporters overstate it a bit, there is also the ‘Welkom to Klapstad’ factor which was very apparent in the Sharks game. There is never a suggestion from the coach, team or supporters that there is a problem area they have or are addressing because a particular opponent is strong in that area.
Always the denial and derision about the physical superiority of all things Pretoria of their lesser opponents, particularly other franchises like the Cats or Stormers. I think this is why they travel so badly because they can’t take their press and supporters with them. I think their over emphasis on size also leads to inflexible and defensible game plans. Always the Pakslae or whatever are preferable to the under sized Paulse, Russell, Rose and so on, usually with the additional racial sneer about quota’s.
I think the Bulls have the greatest potential to win the S14 out of all the RSA teams. The reason why they probably won’t is that they, rather than their critis or opponents, have stereotyped themselves into a Bulls style of rugby that dilutes talent rather than enhancing it.
7 May 2006, 22:07 pm
Sarky I agree. For several years my team has had the slogan “expect the unexpected” and the ‘canes really took that to heart playing irrationalspontaneous rugby, regularly beating one or two top teams and losing to the bottom ones. They lost that slogan last year and now expect to win, be it ugly or by 1 point. I’ve been impressed by how the team has been dissappointed even though they’ve won this year. They know what they are capable of and have recreated their culture to be a winning team rather than just an exciting team
7 May 2006, 23:35 pm
I hardly think they had much homework to do,all they did was wait for the Bulls to bring the ball to them.Even after they lost lineouts they turned the ball over at the first contact without mutch problem.
7 May 2006, 23:47 pm
Pity the Cats are not going to get relegated…
Imagine how the other SA teams could benefit?
Sharks:
Jaques Fourie
Lawrence Sepaka
Stormers:
A tight five (Incl KleinJan, Jannes for beef.) Jorrie Muller (He and Gus Theron… Brilliant)
Andre Pretorius (They need a fly half)
Bulls:
Wickus van Heerden
Ahwin Willemse (Another black wing…)
Spears:
Their Second Team…(They finishing last anyway…)
FreeState:
Ricky Januarie
Conrad Jantjies
(Some Game breakers…)
7 May 2006, 23:48 pm
Oh and not a big plot to beat the bulls. play game away from forwards…
done.
7 May 2006, 23:51 pm
They were so comprehensively beaten in all facets, from pre-game hype, to onfield execution that it must have a very bad impact on the psyche of the ‘Boks.
The Bulls believed themselves to be indestructible at Loftus and were so heavily beaten that JW must have some serious concerns now.
Only consolation is that Jake is a far better coach than HM.
7 May 2006, 23:59 pm
heyneke meyer is like a bobbejaan stuck with his hand in a pumkin,so too is kobus vd merwe
8 May 2006, 00:08 am
why do our coaches boast about size before our big matches,Heyneke was again outsmarted by thinking that the bulls size would be a dominating factor,also when Jake White announced the biggest pack in rugby union history,the opposition simply kept the “big men” running about,by kicking cleverly and executing a well thought game plan,as someone once posted “NEW ZEALAND players tend to be students of the game,we tend to be beef and brawn,execute pointless options like unnecessary kicking and one dimentional attacks go astray due to bad handling
SEND all our coaches to NZ to caoching clinic!!!!
8 May 2006, 00:10 am
or to kamp staaldraad haha
8 May 2006, 01:15 am
super size,
Bulls would like Ernst Joubert and maybe Jano Vermaak , and Sepaka to join Chillyboy and Gurtro
8 May 2006, 02:12 am
It’s called having a flyhalf and something called brains. Over confident and cocky, they were shown how championship rugby is played.
8 May 2006, 03:02 am
wp forever, here’s a deal for you:
Your rugga coaches can come to kiwiland clinics on the condition that our opening batsmen can stay in SA until they’ve learned how to bat!!
8 May 2006, 03:21 am
Da bulls are sa’s best rugby team at da moment and the canes were lucky to have beaten dem but as you say ricane you make your own luck.I think even da cane supporters are amazed at what da canes have done, go you canes. There is life after Cullen.
8 May 2006, 07:16 am
Pompies, apparantly you can’t find you’re *** even if you use both hands. Luck had nothing to do with it. The bulls were outplayed, and that’s the long and the short of it.
8 May 2006, 07:27 am
pompies wake up.The Paekakariki Express played in a good side that gave him the structure and oppurtunity to shine.
8 May 2006, 08:46 am
Have said it before;
Collective pack weight vs collective IQ
The latter will win every time. Until SA gets this we’ll be in the same position every year.
8 May 2006, 09:27 am
I particularly liked the way that they kept stealing the ball right in the tackle.
The bulls have a way of tucking the ball under one arm, to have the other arm to be able to bash into defenders. The ‘sader knew it and took the bulls two at a tackle. One took the player, the other had the ball before the bull hit the ground.
8 May 2006, 09:27 am
the most concerning thing is that the sharks, cheetahs, cats and soon stormers are too stupid to exploit all these obvious bulls shortcomings. if only the teams and coaches were as smart as the suporters. tut-tut.
8 May 2006, 09:34 am
That’s what I’ve been saying. Make me the head selector for the rugby and cricket, maybe coach too, but it might be a bit too much too handle with my presidential duties.
Ja, die beste stuurman staan seker aan wal…
8 May 2006, 09:46 am
KEO!!
I do beleive that Habana would do quite well @ centre, but i do agree with you the best BOK XV would have Fourie and de villiers @ centre, they are by far our most talented pairing, all you old die hard stormers fans should take your blinkers off, De Wet Barry and Joubert’s time has come to an end, they were very good and they had a nice run together, but there are players who offer more than them now! Deal with it!!!
As far as all those anti de villiers guys, Keo i dont know if you have heard the same things as me but word out there is that the stormers are not a happy team (political nonsense amongst the players/coaches i dont know and dont care really), but i can see on Jean’s face in the game as well as some of the other players is that they are not happy, and it goes further than just losing alot of games, Jean was getting very irritated on the field and his comments about equating moving his movement to the wing the same as being dropped was profound….players dont normally say things like that to the media ….something is up @ newlands…so i agree he hasnt had his best season but i know when i play and am low on confidence and my head is not in the game i play ****!!
So keo do you think jake is gonna give us all reason to pull our hair out and select barry and joubert @ centre and then we can all watch the boks crash up channel one all day and we can scrape out a couple of wins because our pack is really brilliant!! by the way watch closely de wet is starting to slip more and more tackles, John smit bounced his *** on saturday and him and joubert were outplayed by two youngsters just starting out in the big time!!!
8 May 2006, 11:21 am
Yes, the Bulls were drilled, and it hurts like hot coals being shoveled up my ***. But even as a Bulls fan, I cannot help but be impressed at the ‘Saders tactics. true, they took the game to the Bulls, but not the way other teams try to. The Sharks fronted up and took the players on mano e mano. they were spanked.
The Saders attacked the Ball. It seems quite simple when you put it like that, but its fairly brilliant. Instead of trying to take man-mountain Bakkies down, direct the tackle at the ball. This could mean the Bulls spilling the ball in the contact, or the Saders poaching it. And that exactly what happened the whole game. This creates insecurity in the Bulls players, who in effect are having their only advantage in the game negated. This in turn stops any creative play and they go into defensive mode.
No more pop passes, with the notable exception of Frikkie Welsch who was popping passes all over the place. Maybe someday he’ll get some pop-catchers to round off his creative genius.
As an arrogant, ignorant, ******** Bulls fan I’d like to say that we were outplayed, the ref did not steal any turnover balls, he did not knock any balls, etc etc. we were spanked by a brilliant team, and I only hope we can learn from it.
8 May 2006, 12:53 pm
The Saders to have a away of gettng at least one man to lie all over our side of the ruck (or especially when a maul goes down) to prevent our cleaners from getting the ball out quickly or to prevent the ball comng out at all – the AB’s do this too.
8 May 2006, 13:14 pm
Yes, I saw that too wicked wugby wascal, but then the bulls should have just rucked the ******** out of there. How many times would anyboby want to have Bakkies’ boots in their back? Instead they just stood around waiting for something to happen – even Joost, an ex-Bull, commented on their lack of commitment to cleaning out.
8 May 2006, 13:55 pm
Hey Stan ,…. you prick, why so quiet?
Or is it thast you have one in your mouth right now?
The Bulls couldnt hit a donkeys *** with a Banjo, is how useless that are right now.
8 May 2006, 18:09 pm
I was lucky enough to see the match as Sky actually showed it. I did not enjoy the outcome.
I mean it was something special to watch, and I think Jake White will watch the game 10 times over to steal a few of those Crusaders tricks. But I honestly thought the bulls had a good chance in that match, but truthfully the Crusaders would have smashed any team they were so on fire.
Fortunately the Brumbies might run into a similar Crusaders team, and the Bulls might just smash the Stormers and sneak a semi. But its not likely, and a trip to either Christchurch or Sydney would just be a hell of a long way to travel for a whipping.
Best to let the kiwis and ozzies fight it out, and our guys can rest and get ready for the international season.
Congrats to the Sharks for beating my boys. I hear it was a good match.
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