Lions hammer bleak Bulls
24 Jan 2009
The Lions caused a shock when they gave the Bulls a 44-21 hiding in their friendly at a packed Wits University.
The Bulls may have opted to field an understrength unit without Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez to name just two, but they would have expected to be competitive at the very least.
But the Lions produced some stupendous rugby for this early in the season, scoring five first half tries, and seven in all, that entertained the 6 000 strong crowd.
The key to the win was quick ball they won at rucks, as this afforded the backs the necessary platform to pressure the Bulls’ defensive line. The first four tries were all scored on the overlap due to the earlier sterling work at the breakdown.
Such was the Lions’ dominance that they would have earned the bonus point - had this been competition time – after 32 minutes. The fifth was possibly the best of the evening after a 20m break from captain Baywatch Grobbelaar sent Jaque Fourie over to make the score 34-0 heading into the shed.
Fourie also highlighted his importance to the team with his marshaling of the defence, which kept the Bulls scoreless for the first half. One such hit on fellow Bok Danie Rossouw where he drove him backwards was particularly memorable.
What would have also pleased Lions coach Loffie Eloff was the form of his recruited Bok wingers, Ashwin Willemse and Henno Mentz. Finishing has been a problem, but both grasped any opportunity that came their way and were also productive around the park.
The second half saw a number of replacements on for both sides, and as a result the match deteriorated into a scrappy one. The Bulls managed to open their account five minutes into the second half with a try from replacement flank Deon Stegmann, but the Lions hit straight back.
Michael Killian, on for Willemse, charged down Burton Francis’s clearance and flopped on the ball to snuff out any hopes of an unlikely Bulls comeback.
The Lions have no more official friendlies and must wait three weeks until their Super 14 opener against the Cheetahs. Conversely for Frans Ludeke’s Bulls, they have two warm-ups where they will hope to gain some confidence.
Lions - Tries: Ashwin Willemse, Henno Mentz, Gert Muller, Earl Rose, Jaque Fourie, Michael Killian, Jano Vermaak. Conversions: Rose (3). Penalty: Rose.
Bulls - Tries: Deon Stegmann, Bakkies Botha, Akona Ndungane. Conversions: Burton Francis (2), Bryan Habana.
* The Lions B team beat their Bulls counterparts 22-13 after leading 12-3 at half-time. Lions centre Walter Venter was a standout for the hosts.
By Grant Ball, in Johannesburg
320 Comments
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24 Jan 2009, 22:13 pm
#199 SodaJoe:
yeah me too Why does he not try and get CJ back from Ireland
24 Jan 2009, 22:16 pm
# CoachPete: I tink it’s worth it for CJ to really raise his game in NH. Learn to be a fearsome scrummager.
24 Jan 2009, 22:18 pm
#200 SodaJoe:
Pienaar has the silky skills but lacks the fundamental overall stability, long as Pienaar is playing behind a dominant pack he’ll be fine, under pressure just like Steyn he will flurry and float, watch Grant put all those negator’s right back in their boxes with JdV right beside him… watch and witness.
24 Jan 2009, 22:18 pm
#202 SodaJoe:
Maybe but I would like to see our better props in RSA anf helping SA teams in Super 14
Rassie knew of the problems last year and he has to go with what he has.
I think Stormer front row will struggle again
24 Jan 2009, 22:20 pm
#203 yliad:
Sorry Skoppie I am with Soda on this one big time, Pienaar is the man at 10
Maybe grant as back up for boks . lets see how he plays
Sharks will have better ball from the scrum, than stormers
24 Jan 2009, 22:20 pm
#203 yliad: Well Skops if we finally get a flyhalf of the calibre of Carter, Larkham, etc we will win a ton of games.
Personally I think Ruan is better than Grant, but you think otherwise, having 2 very good potentially great flyhalves is awesome. Steyn is a 12/15 and a useless 10. Butch is done.
24 Jan 2009, 22:21 pm
#203 yliad:
Oh and dont rule out Butchie
24 Jan 2009, 22:22 pm
#205 CoachPete: Personally I think Gant on the bench ahead of Steyn. Steyn really wastes a lot of ball – either crash bang, or those ridiculous drop kicks.
24 Jan 2009, 22:22 pm
#204 CoachPete:
Yip Rassie has got 6 or 7 international class loosies and only one decent prop and a powder puff front 3
Somehow he’s going all out for mobility and negating the basics, hopefully his little Maverick plan with Koster on the wing works, though I have my doubts even if Nick Mallet approves.
24 Jan 2009, 22:22 pm
#206 SodaJoe:
Steyn is a 15 we have plenty centers.
Butch not a bad 10 if 3rd string back up
24 Jan 2009, 22:23 pm
#208 SodaJoe:
thats why he needs to ply 15
24 Jan 2009, 22:23 pm
#207 CoachPete: Nah he’s done. Thanks for the good times – great footballer and underrated hero of RWC, but hopeless in hurly burly speed of new rules.
24 Jan 2009, 22:24 pm
#209 yliad:
I hope he does not ruin Koster’s rugby career by playing him on the wing.
We are talking about the future boks captain who is a loose forward
24 Jan 2009, 22:24 pm
#209 yliad: Maybe the smartest coach that we have, but seriously – that front row makes John Smit look like Graham Price.
24 Jan 2009, 22:25 pm
#212 SodaJoe:
Ok then its Rose in place of Butch as 3rd # 10
24 Jan 2009, 22:25 pm
#213 CoachPete: Agree – the koster wing thing is just dof.
Stormers are going to fly or die – no in between.
24 Jan 2009, 22:26 pm
#205 CoachPete:
Pinaar or Grant at 10 last year and i guarantee we would have won the 3N, Butch lost us that competition, him and FdP and a poorly balanced loose trio in Burger, Smith and Spies
When Joe and Watson played with January at 9 we won in NZ, when we switched to the other combo for Perth and Cape Town and Durban we went backwards. Butch and FdP in Perth and in Cape Town were both diabolically shocking and so too was Percy that day.
24 Jan 2009, 22:27 pm
#215 CoachPete: Don’t jinx us – *******.
But Pretorius in form is a good player, journeyman but a good one.
24 Jan 2009, 22:27 pm
#213 CoachPete:
Agreed stupid move if ever I saw one, totally out of the box idiocy if you ask me.
24 Jan 2009, 22:29 pm
#217 yliad: Agree on Butch. Not the rest.
FdP + Ruan = one of our great combinations. Grant on bench to cover 10/12 & maybe 15.
Gotta go strip beds – be back in a bit
24 Jan 2009, 22:29 pm
#217 yliad:
Yes i agree i would have loved to see Fdp with Pienaar , earlier in 3N
Yes Spies only good when boks are on the front foot
Big Joe could handle going backwards better
24 Jan 2009, 22:31 pm
#218 SodaJoe:
But that appears the option . Pretorius is injury prone and like you say about Butch i think Pretorius is done.
24 Jan 2009, 22:31 pm
#215 CoachPete:
Better deal, Butch is PAST tense like as in DINOSAUR.. put him out to pasture already and get on with the real business of winning the 3N for once in a blue moon.
Grant and Pienaar are the Bok fly halves, with A.P. and even Rose as backup.
Steyn must stick at 12 and maybe 13 at a push, and lose his selfish big head streak, we got enough better 15′s than him, even this Wilton Pietersen I would groom to take over from Jantjes before Steyn at FB.
24 Jan 2009, 22:32 pm
#219 yliad:
Skopppie you see us expat yankee saffas think alike
24 Jan 2009, 22:34 pm
#223 yliad:
Maybe you rigth about Pietersen at 15, but how about him on the wing too.
Skoppie just remember right now we have Jdv and Jacobs and Fourie so where does steyn fit in?
24 Jan 2009, 22:38 pm
#221 CoachPete:
Did you watch FdP in the baa baas game with Steyn at 10, total abysmal f’up, they should have played Percy at 10 and when Gregan came on thats when things started happening round the fringes, FdP is a waste of ball and so too Butch and Steyn.
Today speed and precision momentum behind the scrum is paramount, all this skop skiet and donder bullsh’t went out with the dark ages of JW rugby, its doomed to failure, and had we played front foot rugby with Grant or Pienaar at 10 last year preferably with January at 9, we would have probably won 11 or 12 out of 13 and not only 9.
24 Jan 2009, 22:41 pm
#226 yliad:
Yes that was a poor performance by steyn I know you not a huge Fdp fan i
still like Fdp very soild, steady experianced player .
24 Jan 2009, 22:43 pm
#224 CoachPete:
yippidee do dah that we do, it cos you not like those other goolongonedwanaland bumkins that think they finally found the promised land and look down their elongated snouts at all and sundry beneath them. Least you lot that went west got enough common sense to check some progress where its due.
24 Jan 2009, 22:45 pm
#228 yliad:
Ok i wont get you started
24 Jan 2009, 22:47 pm
#227 CoachPete:
FdP is slow.. dead boring slow behind the scrum, he’s no match winner unless we playing a down and out England who stand around the scrum with flat feet all day long.
January and Adams much better, even Vermaak and De Bruin from Free State who’s a bit of a FdP clone with a big boot.. not mad about Kockott neither, far too big for his boots,.. he’s better suited to go play for the Goolongonewannabee team
24 Jan 2009, 22:49 pm
The bulls now have by far the worst pack in the competition. There backline isn’t much better. They need to go a buy school players from the Cape, as they normally do.
24 Jan 2009, 22:50 pm
OK Coach.. K9 been hanging in the wings for the past hour or so trying to get a word in edgewise, so I better be gone.. give somebody else a chance to talk k’k with you.. or whoever.. I’ll hang back for awhile now.
so long
24 Jan 2009, 22:52 pm
#230 yliad:
And Classens if he retuned?
We agree to disagree about Fdp. I like january when he is not knocking on behind scrums and rucks,
Adams has been unlucky and maybe in the wrong place.
Injuries have not helped him
Yeah i like Vermaak too
Kocket is a bit one dimensional, but can kick at goal pretty good.
I will watch De bruin more to comment.
24 Jan 2009, 22:53 pm
#232 yliad:
Ok cheers
24 Jan 2009, 22:56 pm
Ok i am outta here too.
Cheers soda and others
24 Jan 2009, 23:04 pm
#212 SodaJoe: Butch is fast becoming the poster boy for expansive rugby in the GP, Sky have his face all over their adverts. Huge game tomorrow for Bath at home against Toulouse, I hope Butch’s goal-kicking stays good.
#226 yliad: nooo, they should’ve played Shane Williams at 10, it is Barbarians rugby after all
the coaches were unlucky in that one in fairness to them, Steyn was the only 10 they knew of.
#203 yliad: I agree that Pienaar will find it tough under pressure, it will take time for him to convert. i’m surprised you’re a fan of JDV, all he seems to do is crash it up and although he gets through sometimes he can be very wasteful. If I were McGeechan and assuming JDV still has his place a big tackling 12 (maybe Wilkinson or Henson) could totally take him out of the game.
24 Jan 2009, 23:10 pm
#198 yliad: You are living in a dream world my friend, Pienaar is a far better pivot than Grant. If anything the Stormers are all hype. The Sharks team is packed full of Bok players, got a great centre combo with Steyn and Adi, a solid front row, mongrel in the loosies with Deysel, a great fullback and solid wingers with Odwa and JP, not to mention Pienaar who I have a feeling is going to be a great no.10.
The Sharks were by far and away the best team of the Currie Cup and were the only South African team that actually put up a serious fight against the Crusaders last year on their home turf, the rest just rolled over and died! So you have little evidence to back up your assertion that suddenly the Stormers are so great…
Also you need to factor in the arrival of a new Kiwi back coach, in my opinion South African coaches just aren’t creative enough!
24 Jan 2009, 23:15 pm
#236 Big Hit: Hello bud. Never said that he was a bad club player. But I think Butch struggled internationally, step up too big and fast. Anyway it’s time we built a flyhalf for the ages not the next test match.
I disagree on JdV – hardly a crash ball player – good tackler for sure but also very fluid, great vision and brings out the best in his flyhalf and outside center. Almost a complete footballer imo.
How’s the England team shaping up?
24 Jan 2009, 23:17 pm
#237 Crouching Tiger Hidden Bokke: Rassie might be getting too creative I think ….
Sharks are on paper asily the team to watch.
Skops is pulling your leg. He has an eye for good players, but even he knows the Stormers front row would be pumped by Paarl Gym front row.
24 Jan 2009, 23:26 pm
#238 SodaJoe: I think Butch was a good international 10 but didn’t get time to adjust to the ELVs. His first games under the ELVs were against the All Blacks in NZ (twice) and Australia in Perth.
I don’t see JDV doing much other than taking it up, he never kicks and he never sends the ball wide. Its 50/50 as to whether you’ll get an offload out of him.
The England team are suffering an injury crisis as usual: Moody, Rees, Wilkinson, Richards, Hipkiss, Grewcock, Palmer and now Stevens all out plus a couple like Simpson-Daniel and Strettle not considered due to injury. We play too many games up here. I’m still optimistic of three home wins however.
25 Jan 2009, 00:26 am
I love this. I hope all our sides are competitive this year. What an awesome headache for PDV to have too many players to pick from this year. Go Lions and Cheetahs. Sharks forever!!!!
25 Jan 2009, 01:26 am
only warrm up girls
25 Jan 2009, 06:43 am
It seems I have stumbled into a parallel universe where the Lions thrash the Bulls… maybe Bafana Bafana will win the world cup!
25 Jan 2009, 06:50 am
#243 SpringbokSarah: Morning Saartjie. What r u doing awake this time of a Sunday?
25 Jan 2009, 06:53 am
#244 K9_BaasPatrolliehond: I woke up at 4:30… I AM TOO AMPED TO SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I missed Newlands so much…
25 Jan 2009, 06:54 am
#241 CraigE: What about the Stormers?
25 Jan 2009, 06:56 am
#242 greatest13gerber: yeah…just imagine if the Lions didnt play at 50%…..
25 Jan 2009, 06:58 am
I need to remember to take my calming pills to Newlands…
25 Jan 2009, 06:59 am
#247 K9_BaasPatrolliehond: rofl…
Did Andre Pretorius play btw?
25 Jan 2009, 07:02 am
#245 SpringbokSarah: Lets hope ur team do well today and WIN……..the most important thing.
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