Bulls bully Blues
10 Mar 2013
The Bulls physically battered the Blues into submission to win for the first time in Super Rugby history at Auckland’s Eden Park.
The Bulls won 28-21 against a home team that physically took a beating.
Blues coach Sir John Kirwan made six changes to his starting XV and the powerful Bulls approach never allowed the newcomers to settle.
Kirwan at halftime bemoaned his side’s lack of passion, pride and commitment, but the Bulls were physically too strong for the Blues youngsters, who got their first taste of Pretoria’s finest.
The Bulls, as the Cheetahs did against the Highlanders, showed greater control, composure and appreciation for field position in giving the hosts a Super Rugby lesson. The South Africans were also physically imposing and did brilliantly to last the 80 minutes, given they only arrived in Auckland from Pretoria on Wednesday.
The Blues, under pressure throughout, fought back from 15-6 to momentarily lead 16-15 on 53 minutes. But the Bulls scored through flanker Arno Botha from the resulting kick-off to restore order and Morne Steyn ensured the victory with a penalty from the last kick of the game.
The Bulls scored three tries and could have had a few more. They played with enterprise and always looked dangerous on attack. The midfield of Wynand Olivier and JJ Englebrecht was strong but it was the strength in the contact that was decisive.
Rene Ranger played well for the Blues, as did captain Ali Williams and fullback Charles Piutau, but the rest were a shambles.
Williams described the effort as ‘piss poor’ and said the team would have lost respect with the performance after working so hard in the season’s first two games to win back respect.
The win is the first for every Bulls player, be it at Super Rugby or for the Boks, at Eden Park.
It completed a South African 3-0 clean sweep weekend against New Zealand teams, which like a Bulls win in Auckland doesn’t happen often. Enjoy it because it was fully deserved.
By Mark Keohane
852 Comments
Pages: « 1 … 4 5 6 7 8 [9] 10 11 12 13 14 … 18 » Show All
10 Mar 2013, 11:28 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl-398: he’s a supperugby legend for the BULLS, at international level he is not up to scratch and i would even pick Whitehead over him.
my preference…
10 Mar 2013, 11:35 am
@papaown-400:
olivier along with any cheetahs 12 are generally the best passers in our country.
sorry to inform you, but if you are “Bulls superrugby legend”…you are an SA superrugby legend.
I’m backing him to finish his career with 4 superrugby medals.
The closest Tim Whitehead will ever come to that is seeing twitpics on @pierrespies
10 Mar 2013, 11:37 am
beautiful bulls!
three generous helpings of stfu for nzinchina and poopsie.
served piping hot
10 Mar 2013, 11:41 am
SUPER XV
1. Only 3 unbeaten teams left:
Brumbies, Bulls & Sharks
2. Only 3 teams without a win:
Force, Highlanders & Crusaders
At this early stage SA has 2 unbeaten teams, & every SA team has won at least once.
Matters looking decidedly less impressive for NZ …
could perhaps be attributable to a more evenly matched NZ conference, but not necessarily so, as indicated by this weekend’s results.
3. Matches on Foreign soil:
Aus teams 2, NZ teams 2, SA teams 3
Of these matches to date played abroad, Aus teams have a 0% success rate, NZ teams a 0% success rate & SA teams a 67% success rate
Early days, yes, but nonetheless encouraging from a Saffa perspective
now, if only we could score more tries, especially at the rate of 4 tries/match
10 Mar 2013, 11:43 am
Farken brandy & coke.
Eish.
I must’ve had the equivalent of one for each of our log points.
Should’ve been a Highlanders supporter…
10 Mar 2013, 11:46 am
@BrumbiesBoy-404:
still not enough to be a proper bulls supporter.
frikken soft ozzies
10 Mar 2013, 11:50 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl-405:
Ja Boet!
10 Mar 2013, 11:55 am
Congrats to the Bulls fans. Very good performance for their first game on tour. Great week for SA teams all round.
10 Mar 2013, 11:59 am
Very niiiice weekend, especially seeing the blues getting one up the naught!
Someone crying into his Croatian hangi tonight……..beeeeaaautiful!
10 Mar 2013, 12:03 pm
Spies seems to be getting back to his best again. Great for SA rugby if he keeps it up.
10 Mar 2013, 12:22 pm
@papaown-398: My humble apologies!!
10 Mar 2013, 12:27 pm
So what changes do our teams make for next weekend?
CHEETAHS -
I wouldn’t imagine any changes would do them any good after a winning performance. Coenie makes a hell of an impact so use him in that role one more week. Heinrich Brussow coming back from injury, and the current loose-trio is on fire. Lappies Labuschagne made 28 tackles to go with excellent ball-carrying.
Only one I’d really consider for the Cheetahs would be bringing another prop onto the bench ahead of either Ligtoring Landman or Rayno Benjamin. Still get incredibly nervous about their scrum, and that it will cost them games like last year.
BULLS –
Should probably look at a couple of changes… Deon Stegmann struggles against the Crusaders. Rather go for the physicality of Jacques Potgieter ahead of him. Werner Kruger (and I never thought I’d say this) will probably stabilize their scrum a tad, so bring him back ahead of Kirsten.
I’d keep Chiliboy on the bench as he’s had a slow start to the season IMO. Jano Vermaak also gives the Bulls a lot more direction which they’re going to need against the Crusaders, though he’ll need to be a lot sharper… made a few stupid mistakes against the Blues. Thought for a while it might be a good idea bringing Jan Serfontein onto the bench, but they’ve got no other players who can really play fullback so having Jurgen Visser there is a good idea.
SHARKS –
I’d drop Marcell Coetzee after a VERY slow start to the season. Bring in Jacques Botes. Cobus Reinach also been offering no running threat at all. Might be time to give McLeod another shot.
10 Mar 2013, 12:35 pm
I see ou Rooi Leeu is now a Bull
24 hours ago he was a shark
10 Mar 2013, 12:38 pm
@hendrikp-300:
Yeah like us kiwis need all the help to win the super rugby title.
Maybe you would like a bonus point for slotting 5 penaltys.
How about going 70 min withiut a try you get a bonus point.
10 Mar 2013, 12:42 pm
@hendrikp-412:
And changes at the Stormers, with the injury to Habana, I’d go:
15 Joe Pietersen
14 Aplon
11 van den Heever
OR
15 Taute – he will be fit
14 Aplon
11 Joe Pietersen
Pietersen must start as he is now the no.1 goalkicker in the team.
And de Allende must retain his place – he played out of his skin yesterday. So Juan after a lengthy lay-off will have to start off the bench. That’s the way I see it.
10 Mar 2013, 12:42 pm
Hahaha big STFU to Poppa the Cursed and NZINCHINA!
Can Transie go back into the archives and and retrieve some of the highlights?
10 Mar 2013, 12:43 pm
@Hurricane-414:
Maybe I’m a traditionalist, but I don’t think a team should be penalized for playing what you might constitute as winning rugby. The comment about it being for kiwis was partly tongue-in-cheek but it’s kind of true as well – you lot benefit from it more then we do considering the open running rugby produced in the derbies.
I’ve never been a fan of the 4-try bonus point.
10 Mar 2013, 12:45 pm
@I am a stormer-415:
Stormers have a bye.
Anyway, I like the idea of Joe Pietersen on the wing. Gerhard vd Heever is incredibly lucky he wasn’t penalized in that final act of the game against the Chiefs – he would’ve cost the Stormers the game right there. I don’t rate the guy at all and think we have better options then him already.
10 Mar 2013, 12:45 pm
@katman-380: Welcome back pal.Good
that you are here again.
10 Mar 2013, 12:46 pm
There was talk of “smashings” and “20 point hidings” and “no chances of a win”…
10 Mar 2013, 12:47 pm
Sharks v Brumbies is taking on epic proportions in terms of the log.
10 Mar 2013, 12:47 pm
Blues will learn from this.
Been a while since the last time a coach come of 2 good wins against good teams and decide to change 6 players for his next game.
10 Mar 2013, 12:48 pm
@hendrikp-412: Yeah can’t see too many changes to the Cheetahs though I’d consider getting Rhule onto the bench. I really like him and I’m excited about the bloke but he’s looked a bit unsure this season. Maybe consider Benjamin. Having said that Rhule hasn’t done much wrong – just doesn’t look as dangerous. What you reckon?
10 Mar 2013, 12:49 pm
Would also bring Juan de Jongh back for the Stormers next game. I enjoyed de Allende running the ball strongly, but if they stop defending the way they have the past 3 seasons they’re going to lose a lot more games. Damian de Allende is a good tackler but their communication in the midfield was shocking.
10 Mar 2013, 12:53 pm
@Cheetahs01-423:
Can’t agree. He’s surprised me defensively. Their 3 tries all came from mistakes by the Highlanders. They haven’t given Rhule any space at all, merely shifting the ball from side to side meaning he gets dragged down as soon as he touches it.
Give him a bit of space and he’ll still go in under the poles. Also his pace in getting back to retrieve kicks is something you won’t see too often from Benjamin who is strictly a ball-in-hand player.
10 Mar 2013, 12:58 pm
@hendrikp-425: Yeah I agree defensively he has been solid and was tested yesterday with a few kicks on him. I just think he hasn’t looked as dangerous with ball in hand, however, that is probably down to a lot of lateral running, especially last week against the Chiefs.
Well hopefully you right and he’ll be running in under the posts this week against the Waratahs.
10 Mar 2013, 13:22 pm
@ShaunB-420:
there was talk of ‘big Polynesian boys handing out finger licking arse kickings’..
KOMPUTER SAYS NO!…
10 Mar 2013, 13:28 pm
36.NZINCHINA: Reply to this comment
5 Mar 2013, 11:30 am
You can’t expect the SAFFA teams to score similar type back line tries as the NZ teams do as there is a big gulf in skill level, but surely they can perfect some basic moves and score from them
10 Mar 2013, 13:29 pm
211.NZINCHINA: Reply to this comment
5 Mar 2013, 15:36 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-204:
Bakkies if you want a quiet chuckle tune in on Sunday when your boys get sliced and diced.
10 Mar 2013, 13:29 pm
Hi ShaunB
Pops did congratulate the Bulls on the win.
Bakkies
You know, you were here this morning.
Predicting wins is something everyone does, not just a certain country.
I had the Highlanders, Chiefs and Blues to win and got all 3 wrong, not unhappy about it, but just saying………..
10 Mar 2013, 13:30 pm
similar to the sharkshits talking of smashings and 100 point hidings when they go down to PE and Fck up Cheeky’s lightweight boytjies.. I wonder what the fck happened to all of that by the most devastating Super rugby side in all of saffa land the perennial choking rip off artistes from banana chomping mercenary humping land?
as for Reinach.. Here is what some esteemed rugby writers on this site rate about him
‘Cobus Reinach is in line to be the next Springbok scrumhalf.
Cobus Reinach has gone from Currie Cup young gun to Super Rugby first choice in a matter of months, and it is only a matter of time before he pulls on the Green and Gold jersey.’
In my non esteemed view he’s another of these hyped up piepiejollers who supposed to be the automatic shoe in for Bok scrummy position just because his daddy could run 400 mts in around 45 seconds and played on the wing with the last great Bok back line that played when rugby was still about being real when you played with the heart and passion that is reserved for those who were brought up and raised in a certain province and retained that allegiance.
Reinach to my mind is a worse scrummy to McLeod by some distance McLeod offers far greater all round threat and is more pacy round the field and has a better eye for opportunity than Reinach altogether.. but he didn’t go to Grey Bloem so in banana boy parlance he don’t cut it for guppies who offer Grey Bloem players first dibs at being dynamic boom shakalaka artists because they cost a little more than the J’oberg offspring.
Bok scrummy – FH hierarchy in pairs
Van Zyl – Goosen
Hougaard – Steyn / Pollard
Pretorius – Goosen
Groom – Jantjies
McLeod – Lambie
Vermaak – Steyn
Duvenhage / Groom – Catrakillis
Duvenhage – Grant
Reinach – Lambie
As I said that is my non esteemed non rugby reliant thinking on this great Bok incumbent Cobus Reinach as the automatic shoe in for Bok 9 honours in the great traditions of Danie Craven, Dawie De Villiers, Divan Serfontein, Garth Wright, Joost Vd Westhuizen, Fourie Du Preez (don’t quote me quote everyone else) and Ricky Januarie / Bolla Conradie / Ruan Pienaar / Paul Bayvel / Robert Du Preez etc. and etc.
10 Mar 2013, 13:31 pm
411.NZINCHINA: Reply to this comment
6 Mar 2013, 09:41 am
@Sharks_are_gonna_get_you-401:
Yip I think the Bulls are going to get soundly beaten, their upright forwards are going to get turned over and the brown brothers will do the rest out wide,the Stormers at home are pretty hard to beat but the Chiefs coaching staff are superb the plan will be in place and if executed by the players correctly the Chiefs will win comfortably.
10 Mar 2013, 13:35 pm
267.NZINCHINA: Reply to this comment
4 Mar 2013, 13:15 pm
Grant there seems to be very little vision on attack especially from broken play/counter attacking situations where a small gap is very rarely exploited, as Meyer said running it from your own 22 only happens in the movies lol
10 Mar 2013, 13:35 pm
Skopishit loves to randomly select ONE player from each team and lay all the blame at that players feet.
Speaks of his small mind.
10 Mar 2013, 13:36 pm
392.NZINCHINA: Reply to this comment
4 Mar 2013, 15:28 pm
@the curse-374:
Exactly there will know owning of the Chiefs scrum at Newlands, when was the last time you saw a SAFFA scrum destroy another team in super rugby like the Crusaders who man handled the Stormers scrum in 11? The Chiefs will open them up in the second 40 and beat them comfortably.
10 Mar 2013, 13:39 pm
505.NZINCHINA: Reply to this comment
3 Mar 2013, 02:21 am
So the Chiefs need to score 7 points at Newlands and they should beat the Stormers.
10 Mar 2013, 13:40 pm
508.NZINCHINA: Reply to this comment
3 Mar 2013, 03:49 am
Rangi, if we have dry tracks for both matches they will both win comfortably.
10 Mar 2013, 13:40 pm
593.NZINCHINA: Reply to this comment
3 Mar 2013, 12:12 pm
Bakkies not long until those big poly boys shred the Bulls.
10 Mar 2013, 13:41 pm
600.cane: Reply to this comment
3 Mar 2013, 12:18 pm
@NZINCHINA-592:
It will be slaughter.
10 Mar 2013, 13:41 pm
where are those 100 point hidings you sharkshit cheeky haters were going to lavishly hand out to your lowly feeder team from down the N2 highway.. where you rip off all their budding players and try turn them into anti Kings cheeky haters too with all your smoke and mirror divide and conquer colonialist snooty nose white washed agendas? 21-12 (7 kicks to 4) don’t sound like 100 point + hiding to me.. perhaps it still sounds something like that to you
10 Mar 2013, 13:41 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-435:
China has been called away on urgent milk business.
10 Mar 2013, 13:41 pm
947.NZINCHINA: Reply to this comment
3 Mar 2013, 16:57 pm
@nortierd-944:
Norty I agree I reckon the Cheetahs lose by around 20 but your Stormers are in for some more pain, this Chiefs side will run at you for 80 minutes and I doubt your boys will be able to hold them out, Chiefs by at least 20.
10 Mar 2013, 13:43 pm
956.NZINCHINA: Reply to this comment
3 Mar 2013, 17:08 pm
@nortierd-953:
Sure no disrespect to your team but the coaches at the Chiefs have that side absolutely humming and unless you completely shut them down up front which I don’t believe you will containing them late in the second half is going to be a nightmare.
10 Mar 2013, 13:45 pm
413. Dawn said:
10 Mar 2013, 12:35 pm
I see ou Rooi Leeu is now a Bull
24 hours ago he was a shark
ja nee dawn, the Sharks didn’t administer the FIFTY point “raping” he was gleefully anticipating since his surrendermonkey Lions were booted out of their entitlement perch!
now he just attaches his wagon on every bolting horse, the true ‘harlot’ that he is.
10 Mar 2013, 13:45 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-437:
Shall we let him off the hook? He’s probably following it by live scores. I can’t imagine the chinese care much for Super Rugby?
Naaaawww… in that case he should’ve kept his trap shut.
10 Mar 2013, 13:47 pm
@gunther-441:
his cows have come home to roost
10 Mar 2013, 13:48 pm
58.NZINCHINA: Reply to this comment
2 Mar 2013, 16:11 pm
@wpallday-56:
If you want to see some entertainment wait until next week at the garden of Eden, those big island boys will run straight through Pierre and his bulging bice
10 Mar 2013, 13:48 pm
Lovely stuff Bakkies…. NZINCHINA had perhaps the biggest mouth of the snivelling lot and he deserved AND GOT a big comeuppance. Must be feeling the size of flea today.
Both he and Poppa the Cursed will not hear the end of this for some time.
10 Mar 2013, 13:50 pm
@Transformation-444: so let me get this straight. Are you and the Kings happy with ONLY losing by 9 points?
Should they be giving the Kings 4 points for 9 point losses?
10 Mar 2013, 13:50 pm
@hendrikp-445:
nah fark him Hennie, this is my week and i’m going to own it
Pages: « 1 … 4 5 6 7 8 [9] 10 11 12 13 14 … 18 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.