Leopards make Bulls sweat
6 Aug 2010
RYAN VREDE reports on the Bulls’ 43-38 victory over the Leopards at Loftus.
The Leopards 15 minutes of fame was followed by 35 minutes of mediocrity, before they launched a late rearguard that had the Bulls sweating in the closing stages. Ultimately the defending champions held on, but the fact that they conceded 38 points and five tries to an ordinary outfit is disturbing.
Certainly a spate of substitutions adversely affected them and their intensity dropped significantly after Francois Hougaard’s early second half try. However, it would be amiss not to credit the Leopards for a plucky performance that nearly yielded a dramatic upset.
They came out of the blocks charging, competing rabidly for the ball on the deck, stifling the Bulls’ momentum and creating attacking opportunities from turnover ball. They opened up a 10 point lead through a well worked try and a penalty, but the Bulls soon found their groove.
The hosts, whose execution of an uncharacteristic expansive approach was initially poor, settled, and systematically eroded their opponents’ resistance. The tempo with which they played after being blunted early on, stretched the Leopards beyond their capacity, while their ability to dominate the contact points amplified their threat.
Gerhard van den Heever rounded off a move that punched up left then snapped right to find the winger unmarked. Jacques-Louis Potgieter added the extras and was soon called on to convert once more when Dewald Potgieter crashed over from 7m out.
The Leopards’ fight had seemingly diminished, and the Bulls were rampant, bossing every facet of play, especially the collisions on attack and defence. They exploited ever-growing holes in the Leopards’ defensive line clinically, and the manner in which they engineered their bonus-point try, Van den Heever hitting the line hard, taking an inside pop and blitzing numerous defenders en route to the line, was ominous.
Potgieter missed the conversion, but at 26-10 going down the tunnel the result should have been sealed.
Hougaard capped an impressive performance in his preferred position of scrumhalf with a try just after the break. It’s his second start in succession after two seasons spent largely on the wing, and the 22-year-old is looking an accomplished No 9. His service is sharp and crisp and his decision-making good. His kicking game needs to improve, but it will under the tutelage of Fourie du Preez. Continued performances of this calibre must put him in line to crack the Springboks’ match 22 for the home leg of the Tri-Nations ahead of Ricky Januarie.
Leopards scrumhalf Michael Bondesio exploited ordinary Bulls defence in scoring a brace, but an earlier Stefan Watermeyer try had given the Bulls a very comfortable lead. But when Neill Jacobs converted a Walter Venter try with 17 minutes remaining to make it 40-31, there was a patent lift in the collective belief.
Potgieter banked three points, but Dumisane Matyeshana scored the Leopards’ fifth try to make it a five-point game. The Bulls, recognising the imminent threat, steeled their defence and clung to the points.
34 Comments
6 Aug 2010, 21:08 pm
pity they didn’t bury those pathetic overrated blou flou nulletjies into the dirt
6 Aug 2010, 21:09 pm
If you’re not going to do a live score update, why not put up a match thread with the teams or something?
Most peeps watching on tv anyway and might want to discuss the points as they arise.
Just a thought, because I’d imagine you’d rather not kill your site and force people elsewhere if there’s no match thread.
Anyway, unlucky Leopards. Shame about the ‘obstruction’ at the end!!!
6 Aug 2010, 21:11 pm
too many quotas in the Bulls team .. Chilli had a shocker and the game turned when hougaard left the field for a little boesman who won’t get game time at school level …
6 Aug 2010, 21:20 pm
and I thought heyneke the miraculous messiah was in charge of these floutjie bloutjie pathetic kwitansies, if these overrated poefie boys make it halfway up the S15 table next year I eata my hat
6 Aug 2010, 21:21 pm
Maak die Bulle almal Bokke!!!!!1
6 Aug 2010, 21:25 pm
Wow, the Bulls have played 5 CC matches and only gotten the MOTM award twice.
-J kruger- what a solid player, glad WP don’t have talent scouts. Nice to see him outsprint the right wing after he’s been slugging it with the big boys all day.
- Chiliboy- eish, pretty useless. If your hooker and 5 lock stand side-by-side at a retreating maul, who should reinforce? The bloody hooker.
Yet lazy Chiliboy stands there till Juandre goes in. Subbed early.
-Maku worse. poor throwins, can be glad ref didn’t get him for skew.
Can’t believe that these two are our choice Springbok hookers.
Chili is a great person- but it’s like Rob Houwing insinuates with a headline “just how good is Chiliboy?”- Because all the public hears is Chili captain this Chili captain that, political pawn bla bla bla…nevermind his poor play.
- JLP needs to work on his defence and communication.
-GvdH, looking for work. Great.
-Watermeyer growing in stature. Impressive.
-JvdW is really disappointing. Groepes good charge-down, but equally dissapointing.
-Gerrit-Jan is really abrasive nowadays. Great.
-Deon Skolz just hightackled our boys left and right and just pretty much stuffed up for the rest of the game.
Overall, unsatisfying. Can’t wait for the Bulls-WP match. We get one day longer rest though- hope they can make it count with travel against WP.
6 Aug 2010, 21:27 pm
@skopskiet(yliad)-4:
I’ll provide the salt….
6 Aug 2010, 21:29 pm
@quotas_sux(quota_conrad_jantjies_is_jorrie_muller)-3:
Ja, I dont want to say it, but all the mistakes that cost teams their possesion/territory and ultimately points in the first quarter of an hour I think…were all so-called non-whites. Shame.
6 Aug 2010, 21:51 pm
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-8:
Well then don’t say it you racist twit !!
6 Aug 2010, 21:51 pm
I enjoyed it. I thought it was an entertaining game.
When in high gear, the Bulls worked like a well oiled machine. But the series of substitutions starting around the 50 minute mark totally destroyed our coordination.
The biggest impact was Hougaard’s substitution. It took the newlook Bulls team about 20 minutes to click into gear at th start of the match, and then just when they were hitting their stride Hougaard was taken off. Bad move in the context of this game, but I understand why the coach did it.
Next week, the Bulls play WP, and the coach knows that Hougaard will most likely be in the Bok team facing the All Blacks. That means we needed to get the new scrumhalf into the swing of things as fast as possible. And sadly, he wasn’t up to it.
Overall, this Bulls team is a team for tomorrow. And you can see they still needs a lot of work before it will be the finished article.
I don’t think the Bulls will win next week at Newlands. And I think it will take a miracle for the Bulls to get a home semifinal in this year’s Currie Cup.
But as for the title – that can go to any of the top 3 teams. Once the stars are back, we can win this title on any field. But given the short time to settle back in, so can any of the Sharks or WP as well.
It is going to be a bit of a lottery at the death. It would have been great if we could get a Loftus play-off, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. These youngsters are still too rough around the edges. But this season will stand us in good stead for next season, and even better for the season after that.
6 Aug 2010, 21:53 pm
Sorry about the typos.
6 Aug 2010, 22:14 pm
Dit was die Bulls Babes se 2e span wat vanaand opgedraf het lyk dit my. Scary…
6 Aug 2010, 22:55 pm
@justrugby(justrugby)-9:
Julle wat altyd die “race card” trek pis my so af…
7 Aug 2010, 00:38 am
if you go back and watch the game, you’ll see that the first 10 points were all Chilliboy’s fault. The first try came from a lineout which came from a Rallepelle infringement. Then the penalty came from a Rallepelle infringement. chilliboy and Maku are both the worst players ever. Hougaards replacement was also useless. And the Leopards number 14 was the worst player on the field.
P.S Jaco Pretorious SUCKS!!!!
7 Aug 2010, 01:52 am
@rugbywriter(rugbywriter)-14: So seeing as though you were so focused on Ralapelle didnt he do anything good? Did nt watch the game so just want to know? Watermeyer looks like a real class act…finally fulfilling all that potential he showed as a schoolboy.
7 Aug 2010, 05:40 am
@k.camron(k.camron)-15: Watermeyer was simply awesome – rock hard in defense and a demon on attack, especially from a standing start. Strange that he barely gets a mention in this article.
As for Chilli – I just try and focus on the other 14 Bulls so as not to smash the TV in every time the useless f*ck touches the ball.
7 Aug 2010, 07:11 am
Ryan forgot to mention the superb support and offloading by the Leopards, that would put a lot of the fancied teams to shame, including the Boks currently.
As for “continued performances” from Hougaard putting him line to replace RJ in the starting 22 for the 3N home leg, Ryan seems to have forgotten that he’s already been in the starting 22.
7 Aug 2010, 07:15 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-6:
Hey leave Chiliboy alone. He’s a “SPRINGBOK”. Haahaaahaaaahaa!
7 Aug 2010, 07:18 am
@Tacitus(Tacitus)-10</
I haven't seen The Sharks playing yet but it sounds like they're winning more by ar*e than class.
7 Aug 2010, 08:37 am
@quotas_sux(quota_conrad_jantjies_is_jorrie_muller)-3: @Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-8: Chilli has always been useless but the insinuation that him nd tht useless scrumie r k@k because of the colour of their skin is racist nd sickens me there are people of ur ilk who call themselves african. Sies man. If a player is k@k then he is whether white, blue, red or black.
7 Aug 2010, 08:47 am
The only team looking consistantly classy thus far in the comp is the WP. But today will be the first real test so lets talk later……
7 Aug 2010, 08:58 am
the bloody bulls are the only team that has constantly stuffed up my SUPERBRU, I had them on a 25 point WM and they scrape home. Plus they lost against the guppies.
7 Aug 2010, 09:04 am
The Sharks will be the dark horse team in this competition.
The Cows and Brokeback Mountain goats are under threat.
7 Aug 2010, 09:12 am
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-23: I don’t think they’re dark by any stretch of the imagination. I think they’re one of the front runners. WP, Sharks, Bulls, in that order….
7 Aug 2010, 09:24 am
Only thing is they play in stops and starts. I guess that’s Currie Cup rugby for you.
7 Aug 2010, 10:39 am
I also enjoyed the game! Was really impressed with the Leopards! The only guy that messed it up for me was Deon Scholtz who constantly tackled high and came up out of the line… It might be harsh, but he cost the Leopards 2 or 3 scoring chances! The penalty kicks missed by the flyhalf also costly.
Bulls got their 5 points at the end of the day… They’ll always be title contenders…
7 Aug 2010, 11:13 am
@Mczana(Mczana)-20:
Important distinction. The insinuation is not that they are useless because they are black, but that they are playing at this level because they are black and don’t deserve to.
So you are right, it is racist, but not in the way you imagined.
7 Aug 2010, 11:28 am
@Mczana(Mczana)-20:
Sadly “Quota” has become the new K word….@JockBok(JockBok)-27:
Who decides if they don’t deserve to play at this level? A few moths ago De Jong was called quota by many posters on this site, a few still do…@quotas_sux(quota_conrad_jantjies_is_jorrie_muller)-3:
Little boesman?????? And Keo.coza allows this sort of thing on the site… Clearly Keo is more concerned with revenue coming in via hits then having a site where people can come and talk rugby in a healthy environment…..
7 Aug 2010, 11:39 am
@gretep(gretep)-28:
You cannot have such a system sanctioned from the top and not expect criticism of individuals. SARU as playing with people lives and careers and have a different agenda from the supporters.
Supporters want their team to win. SARU want transformation. You can’t have both unfortunately. But you can have criticism if it is warrented. Unfortunately, SARU don’t seem to have thought through the consequences and players are going to get labelled after bad performances.
7 Aug 2010, 12:49 pm
The Bulls were poep poor – at home at that. Defensively poor and very little attacking skill considering the weak opposition. Not much talent in the wings I think. Time to go shopping Bulls.
7 Aug 2010, 13:31 pm
@Mczana(Mczana)-20: I do agree with you BUT let’s be honest – would Chilliboy, Bandise and Enrico (2010 version) been Springboks if it was not for their skin colour?
Players like Jaco Pretorius are also useless (in my opinion) and he is nothing but a pensioner. Yes, he was part of the Bulls S14 team, but so was Chilli and Bandise – not worth the money they recieve (earn?????)
Jinka had a terrible debut – black or white is not the issue. What is your opinion on Fudge Mabetha? Then, the best wing in this year Currie Cup, is Mvovo of the Sharks.
7 Aug 2010, 13:44 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-30: For a long time the Bulls supporters recognise the shortage of wingers but the Union disagrees. We have Akona Ndungane, John Mametsa and Gerhard vd Heever. The average age of our contracted wings are surely higher than any other position – excluding lock.
7 Aug 2010, 15:03 pm
@Tjokker(Tjokker)-32: “in the wings” meaning the overall talent coming though. It was all tongue in cheek.
7 Aug 2010, 15:23 pm
Excuse the repeat posting, I’m hoping someone at keo.co.za will read this…
Well thanks Keo for isolating me further than I already am. No dstv signal in Togo since last night, no adsl to watch the game online, and no match thread on my prefered and usually imformative rugby news website to follow the scoring.
Is starting a thread and leaving the bloggers to post updates as the game goes on really too difficult? I would swear that you are trying to scale down on the hits and chase people away from this site since the new approach a few weeks ago.
So I’m off for a surf on my snail pace line, essentially taking my business elsewhere.
Really, if this was my business, I’d sack someone….
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