Poor defence could derail Bulls
16 Mar 2010
The Bulls have to make significant improvements on defence if they are to sustain their title charge.
Their defensive failings have been largely overlooked because of their attacking prowess (they are the tournament’s leading try-scorers with 24).
However, their defensive line has looked porous at times from structured play while fundamental errors and lapses of concentration in defending broken field attacks have been prevalent in their four matches. This has seen them concede an average of 3.75 tries per match – a woeful record for a team who have consistently been among the tournament’s best defensive units over the last four years.
The Brumbies, Waratahs and Highlanders threatened to exploit this newly developed vulnerability, but faded under attacking pressure from the Bulls. More experienced units, particularly on their home track, without the legion of blue-clad disciples screaming support for their demi-gods, and with the lung-busting altitude being a non-factor, would have sustained that pressure and possibly emerged with a victory.
The Bulls have seemingly mastered the art and science of attacking play under the new breakdown law interpretations but are nowhere near as efficient from a defensive perspective. This needs to be remedied as a priority, before an acute problem becomes a chronic one.
Significant progression needs to be made in a week and there are few sterner tests of a team’s capacity to resist than the Hurricanes. The Wellington boys have admittedly fallen short of the standards they’ve set for themselves on attack, particularly in the Republic, but their opposition’s contribution to their relative impotency must not be overlooked.
It is in the careful analysis of those matches, the Stormers’ performance being the prime example, that the blueprint for an improved defensive showing is found.
The Stormers bossed the tackle point in their 37-13 defeat of the Canes at Newlands on Saturday, and subsequently gave themselves a better opportunity at contesting the ball on the deck. The Canes were seldom able to recycle the ball quickly, and this gave the Stormers’ defensive line opportunities to reshape.
All teams rely heavily on the momentum gained from a speedy recycle to break down their opposition, but where the elite ones are able to adapt to a more pragmatic approach, the Canes tend to be fairly inflexible tactically. Cut their supply and their potency is severely diminished.
The Bulls rarely allow open wounds to fester, their 2008 title defence being an exception, and one can rest assured that there’ll be an intense focus on that facet of play ahead of the Canes litmus test on Friday.
Sound defence has been the cornerstone of every successful rugby team, and if the Bulls are to reaffirm their credentials in that regard, it begins with passing the aforementioned test emphatically.
By Ryan Vrede
202 Comments
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16 Mar 2010, 11:57 am
I hope the Bulls will pick some guys who can defend this weekend. Dippenaar will look silly against the big boys in midfield. I would also concentrate on defense for this game.
16 Mar 2010, 12:00 pm
As a Stormers supporter I hate what the Bulls have been doing the past few years. But as a fanatical sports supporter know one can doubt the pedigree Meyer created at Loftus. The Bulls are leaking tries but they are putting the points on the board as well. With Morne Steyn putting penalties over from almost anyware surely they can play a “tight” game as well. If the Stormers can keep up their revived spirit, tipping the Bulls vs Stormers game later the season will become a difficult task.
16 Mar 2010, 12:04 pm
@4thWiseMan: the joys of editing
16 Mar 2010, 12:16 pm
I am a Bulls supporter out and out. But we are living in the new millenium and one has to feel some degree of joy for the Stormers getting their act together. It would mean so much for SA rugby if we have two powerhouses at the very least. The Sharks seem to have fallen out the bus a little, but the Stormers are making me, a Bulls supporter, very proud. The two most powerfull unions in SA rugby at the top of the S14 pile. What more could a man ever ask for? Bulls and Stormers for a S14 final this year! We MUSt start believing in ourselves and believe that is possible for us to dominate world rugby yet again, and sustainably so! We belong on top! Well done to the Stormers boys! But know that come finals and you’re playing the Bulls, I predict each Stormers player will have two anusses by the final whistle!
16 Mar 2010, 12:35 pm
@Black Panther: Not at all all I am saying is that you are bragging about how good the AB team will be and just want to wish you luck cause you could not get one win from us last year, personally I think this is the weekest AB team I have ever seen. But that is my opinion,
16 Mar 2010, 12:38 pm
@Airwell: And the strongest Bulls team BTW.
16 Mar 2010, 12:46 pm
@BokPower: Yah,yah..we’ll see,but so far it’s shaping up to be the match of the tournament…can only be good for SA rugby
16 Mar 2010, 12:54 pm
lets say the bulls and stormers make it to the finals
yes the bulls have had bad defence but are winning games
so when they are to face each other in the final the bulls have been there and won it twise….
The Bulls are going to win it again,
Just deal with it now.
The WP still need to make a CC final, they made a semi last time and what happened. Next time they will be better prepared.
16 Mar 2010, 12:55 pm
@Storm outta hell: 99 – Calm down, bru, he’s trying to get exactly that kind of response from you.
He probably thinks he has a sense of humour. Shame.
16 Mar 2010, 12:57 pm
@TheTackler:
What utter ****.
What happened last year? Your loose trio were spanked, hard.
Yeah, your backs really are impressive, I mean, Joe Rockoko can sure teach our boys to catch a ball!
I’d watch yourself when speaking about Morne Steyn, he is currently streets ahead of Carter, evolved into the complete flyhalf and slowly, but surely is being recognized as the best in the world.
16 Mar 2010, 12:59 pm
@oscarthedawg: Yeah well,once I wind my neck out there’s no holding back…he’s probably the fat clown with the tanned bra-straps
16 Mar 2010, 13:21 pm
New Zealand is always a great team, but they just lack that edge at the moment. Outside Carter and McCaw I can’t say they have many players at the moment who could become legends, the way Saffers see AB legends of the past.
In SA we have Gods already nevermind legends. Matfield, will go down as an all time great. Bakkies will go down as an all time great. Fourie du Preez as the best scrumhalf that ever lived. Bryan Habana a legend. Schalk Burger will be in the history books as a legend. Heinrich Brussow is fast revolutionising deck play. Morne Steyn has broken records left right and centre. Jacques Fourie is slowly starting to get the credit he desreves. In my eyes Jean de Villiers is a legend. Juan Smith is a legend IMHO. I can further see some new legends in the making already… That young Bulls wing one of them (van den Heever). Bismarck is a monster Hooker (NZ can’t compare), John Smit the best captain SA has ever had.
I just don’t feel NZ aren’t living up to their All Conquering Legendary status with the players they have, and for that same reason I can’t see them even coming coming close to SA in the World Cup Next year.
And for what it is worth, never ever ever ever have I seen the All Blacks as All Conquering Legends, this is a falacy believed by their younger generation who witnessed half of the professional era the Springboks didn’t even take part in. They easily forget that the Haka (meant for the ancestors) won’t help, as all their ancestors know about the Boks is that they were the best for the greater part of century! Their ancestors felt Joggie Jansen breaking their bones.
The Boks have caught up structuraly me thinks and the back log of 20 years is close to being wiped out. AND, most importantly,we are only getting started!
16 Mar 2010, 13:31 pm
@BokPower: pride comes before the fall…
SA deserved their wins last year, they were the form team, basing assumptions 5 weeks into a 14 week competition, months away from the actual 3Ns, when there are factors like injury -what if some of these legends youve mentioned are injured? who replaces FDP if he suffers something similar to Brussouw? Pienaar? we all know how indifferent his game can be..
or the loss of form? whose to say Bakkies will be the player he was after his injury? Our loose trio is only a decent number 8 (this is what we’ve lacked for a while) away from being on a par with SA’s…
also, finally the ABs arent the best team inbetween world cups, perhaps thats a good thing for us? and we’re still competitive against you guys…
16 Mar 2010, 13:41 pm
@BokPower: what if we throw the game against France and you meet them in the semis of the WC? havent got a good record against them in the last ten years or so? we had 07 s loss, one in NZ last year (their first win there in 14 years), yet trounced them at a ground that they have only ever suffered one other loss from memory.. you sound like some kiwi supporters before 07…
16 Mar 2010, 13:41 pm
@poppa69: France in the pool stages..
16 Mar 2010, 13:52 pm
@Black Panther:
84
Stegmann is an opensider.
And go look at the stats vs Brussow just this year even.
16 Mar 2010, 13:54 pm
Stegmann doesn’t have technique my arse!
Won a turn over in the final vs the Chiefs WHILE having his ankle ligaments torn, and placed.
16 Mar 2010, 13:57 pm
@poppa69: Agree pride comes before falling. Again you were telling us re the Blues players who were in the AB side in the 95 World Cup. Look at that side and compare it to todays side. It sucks. It is the normal way thing go you have your ups and downs, no unfortunately for you you guys are on a down cycle. Thankfully for us we are on a up cycle (long may it last).
16 Mar 2010, 13:58 pm
Why are we talking about Springboks – All Blacks? At the moment its 3-0 (or 4-0 if you count the Barbarians) for now. Case closed. It’s Super 14 time, and the two teams I predicted a final from before the season started are at 1 and 2. Who’s the clever Kitty?
16 Mar 2010, 14:03 pm
NZ has been grooming bigger and faster players over the years and that is leading to their demise. Some of the NZ players have shocking balls skills and spills easy passes. When everything do come-off it’s a try. Australia has on the otherside moved to smaller, skilled players, with Cooper being a star so far this year. I feel the balance between size and skilled players are were the Springboks coming into their own. Spies is playing excellent rugby and he has speed, big and has brilliant skills for a big player.
16 Mar 2010, 14:03 pm
@Kobus Kitty: the S14 final is over 2 months away, and they havent played under “ANZAC refs” yet…
and 42-33 is what really counts Kobus, you know it and I know it..
16 Mar 2010, 14:08 pm
@ufo: @katman: I think you guys are mistaken on the Mike Tyson issue.
If you ask any boxing affiocianado what they thought Mike Tyson’s single most impressive part of his “game” was, guess what they all say:
“HIS DEFENCE”
At barely 6-feet tall, how do you think he got close enough to knock out so many of his opponents? He constantly fought against bigger, taller fighters with significantly better reaches than him. Many of those fighters (Spinks, Ruddock) had fearsome reputations as punchers. If you watch any of his “classic” fights (i.e. pre Buster Douglas) you will watch him stalking his opponents with his head buried securely behind his two “lethal weapons”, bobbing and weaving around all the jabs and hooks. And when he got his chance: POW! Game over.
Yes, he was ferocious on attack. One of the most agressive fighters ever. He wasn’t kidding when he told Lennox Lewis that he wanted to eat his children. At the time he was in the zone (fight mode) and meant every word.
A great puncher, but an even better defender.
But then, none of this has any real relevance to the rugby post. But I see your point: You are saying that as long as you can outscore your opponents you’re going to win, and you are most certainly correct on this issue. The bulls seem to dominate at will. I hope that when the Stormers meet them in the semis or finals, that we can make them rue the lack of defensive structures and put them away, a-la- Buster Douglas.
16 Mar 2010, 14:10 pm
Can anyone tell me what happened to keo’s mobile version. Iv been using rugby-talk on my i-phone because keo’s mobile version completely disappeared without a trace without even telling anybody.
16 Mar 2010, 14:10 pm
@poppa69:
We had a positive test record against the ABs till 1996, not our fault politics upset the boat.
16 Mar 2010, 14:14 pm
@Agile ***-Tyrant:
Mike had **** defense. He got in close by the “flying Mike punch”. Anyway he was never really the same after 1992.
16 Mar 2010, 14:15 pm
@Agile ***-Tyrant: not our fault either… you have 2 WCs to 1, we have a better head to head, just how it is
16 Mar 2010, 14:15 pm
@Agile ***-Tyrant:
Ag at Stormersboy
16 Mar 2010, 14:18 pm
@Airwell: @105
can you please point to the bit where Im “…bragging about how good the AB team will be” in this article ?
I merely responded to some nonsense here, no mention whatsoever about the ABs. This is, afterall, a S14 thread and Tests/TriN are months away.
Besides, why would I have to brag about how good/bad the ABs “will be”. They are currently IRB no1, and deservedly so after 2009 closed out. Thats what the stats say, opinion by me or others would merely be over-egging the pudding. Whether you believe it is the “weakest AB team ever” says more about you, as a pundit, than it does about the ABs. Atleast you have KKK as fine company (lucy you !).
Stick to the Bulls & Stormers for now huh. After all, thats what the article is about….
16 Mar 2010, 14:19 pm
@poppa69:
I don’t care about the WCs!!!
A kind of knockout tourney since 1987.
The record matters!!!
Hel, any in the top 10 can win it. We want to prove who’s best? Look at a long average, per season, per period, era etc. I love the AB-Boks clash I wish the Pumas would stay out of the 3N that we can play more ABs. Greatest rugby spectacle… still!
16 Mar 2010, 14:20 pm
The stormers will only get better. It brings a smile to my face to see Schalk prove everyone wrong who say’s his best years are over.
16 Mar 2010, 14:23 pm
The all blacks are **** they will never be the same team they once were from yesteryears gone bye. they completely lost that aura of invincibility.
16 Mar 2010, 14:23 pm
WC this WC that, Pha!
Invictus was such a sad effort of a movie, glad I saw the pirated version and not big screen with friends, Eastwood took all the emotion and drama out of it. Where have you see na try in your life where the entire team go over the line together in one bundle. they didn’t even showthe Silent Assasin’s try disallowed against France, that’s drama.
16 Mar 2010, 14:24 pm
Bring on the puma’s, at least they know how to beat the french at world cup’s.
16 Mar 2010, 14:26 pm
@Wezwp:
ABs aren’t ****, to say that is to call us ****!
Its since these modern kids are coming into the front row…no grit.
16 Mar 2010, 14:27 pm
I f##ken want my keo mobile version site back. Who the hell took it off. im bloodyb furious.
16 Mar 2010, 14:27 pm
@Wezwp:
Keep repeating it over and over again, and maybe 1 day you might actually believe it.
This ‘aura’ you say has disappeared still keeps filling stadiums everywhere, filled San Siro in a football-mad city, filled a stadium in France nearly twice as big as as was granted to the Boks’ and finished that Test tour unbeaten. Again.
The ‘****’ ABs ended the year, deservedly, no1. The best thing about that, to us Kiwis, is even we know there is massive room for improvement. On the contrary, this is possibly the best Bok team of all time and yet they got bossed by Ireland (again) and France (again ad finitum).
16 Mar 2010, 14:28 pm
@Agile ***-Tyrant: You’re wrong there. After Buster Douglass he wasn’t the same fighter, you’re right about that.
After 1992 however, he struggled struggled in all departments. He never put down any of his better opponants, so yes, his punch went AWOL along with his defence. He never floored Holyfield, Lewis, any of the really good champions of the day.
By calling Mike Tyson a “lucky” puncher you are showing your ignorance. But don’t take my word for it. Do some research before you put forward your opinion.
16 Mar 2010, 14:31 pm
@stormersboy:
I didn’t call him a lucky puncher.
16 Mar 2010, 14:37 pm
Yet you cant fill your own stadiums for super14 games. YOUR HURRICANES
16 Mar 2010, 14:38 pm
@Agile ***-Tyrant: That’s what your post implied to me.
PS it was the firing of his long time trainer, Kevin Rooney in 1998 that many people attribute to the beginning of the end. He got involved with Don King at that time and became a bit of a brawlers as apposed to the great boxer that he had been until then. This culminated in his loss to Douglas in 1990. By 1992 Tyson was in Jail for rape and it was all over for one of the most exiting boxers in history.
16 Mar 2010, 14:39 pm
yOUR HURRICANES THE 2ND BEST TEAM IN NZ JUST GOT HIDING OF THEIR LIVES. THE HIGHLANDERS GOT DEMOLISHED. NOW BRING ON THE CRUSADERS. (EXCUSE THE CAPS).
16 Mar 2010, 14:41 pm
@stormersboy:
Ja, shame for spectators… but good riddance. If I was president, I’d have the death penalty for rape. Mike should be dead IMO.
16 Mar 2010, 14:41 pm
The stormers has always been the most loyal supporters in the country yet safa still denied them a bil test match.
16 Mar 2010, 14:43 pm
@Agile ***-Tyrant: agreed.
16 Mar 2010, 14:43 pm
I really think it will be a stormers reds final this year. all blacks are ****. Theyll never ever win that world cup. Its sad really because they deserve it for dominating rugby for so long.
16 Mar 2010, 14:45 pm
some of you stormers supporters are getting ahead of yourselves!!!!!! there is still a long way to go before we know who the top 4 will be. all it takes is for a few bad matches ala sharks last year and the season is over. so i would remain humble imo…..but that just me…have been thru a few years here and bragging always comes back to bite you. use it…don’t use it. and go stormers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
16 Mar 2010, 14:47 pm
@stormersboy:
Ja,but now the problemis for some cases a proper conviction.
16 Mar 2010, 14:48 pm
@Wezwp:
Whose Hurricanes ?
Not mine, certainly. Hopeless team. Yet they still keep making the Semis….
Please inform me, which team keeps ‘filling their stadiums’ – even the Bulls dont.
Lets face it, in the days of gross tv over-exposure, NOONE fills their stadiums come S14 time any more. Watch the early years – mid-90′s – and there were huge crowds everywhere. A thing of the past, surely.
Ive only just returned from NZ. In 3 weeks, barely anyone talked about rugby, everyone was still talking cricket. And rightly so, its SUMMER. 1 more reason…
besides, SA/Boks couildnt even fill their stadiums for the Lions Series and I dont remember too many (any ?) spare seats in the house on the 2005 tour.
This obsession with ‘crowd sizes’ is surely outdated. Capetown alone has more people than the whole of NZ, figure it out before it passes you by.
16 Mar 2010, 14:48 pm
bring back the mobile version
16 Mar 2010, 14:52 pm
@Wezwp: @141
Youre crowing about the Bulls & Stormers yet they still havent set foot outside of SA. When the Champion Bulls did last year they got, erm, ‘demolished’ by my Mighty Highlanders.
Maybe you should keep your counsel until they do again.
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