Volume 19, Number 521 February 2019

“The Bulls have created a special role in their attack for Rosko Specman to 'hang around like a hungry Jack Russell at a braai'”, writes Oom Rugby on AllOutRugby

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Super Rugby Off to a Cracking Start

Super Rugby 2019 started last Friday morning with two away wins. In the first match the Highlanders edged the Chiefs at Waikato Stadium, taking it away with a penalty and a try in the last ten minutes. Across the Tasman, the Rebels took four points awayfrom the encounter with the Brumbies in Canberra.

The early game on Saturday morning was handed to the Crusaders on a plate by the referee, Nick Briant, who gifted the visitors two penalty tries. One may have been justified but certainly not the second and the Blues, looking far more cohesive than they have for a few years, were denied a hard-fought victory at home.

Then, over in Sydney, the Hurricanes hung on to beat the Waratahs after Bernard Foley missed a late penalty, thereby snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Later in Singapore, last season’s wooden spoonists, the Sunwolves, were competitive for the first 15 minutes before being steam-rollered by the Sharks.

Back in Pretoria later in the day, the Bulls showed us what they think of pundits who have been saying they would be the weakest South African team in Super Rugby this year. They got their season off to a cracking start by putting down a marker with a 40-3 thrashing of the Stormers.

Later that evening, Lions played their bogey side, the Jaguares, in Buenos Aires and finally put one in the win column on their fourth visit to Argentina. The match stats make fascinating reading because the home team dominated many statistics except the scoreboard, the tackles and the turnovers.

Commentators on Saturday evening were waxing lyrical about the Bulls’ demolition job at Loftus and punting it as the match of the weekend but that was a one-sided affair and it was before the Lions ran out against the Jaguares, which was was a far bigger contest and a more satisfying result – mostly for the Lions’ dogged defence at critical times in the game, often in their red zone.

 

KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER

Kings hammered; Cheetahs burgledSome Good, Some Bad, Some ExcellentLike a Hungry Jack Russell at a braai

 

Preview: Round Four in the Varsity Cup Catching Up with Some Saffas AbroadGold Cup is Back; Fixtures Confirmed

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Kings hammered; Cheetahs burgled

As we noted in the covering email for this issue, we slipped up last week by not giving you a head’s up about this past weekend’s PRO14 games involving the two South African franchises. The Kings may thank us because there’s a chance that you may have missed their 45-0 thrashing by Munster.

According to the reports we’ve read, the Kings were simply never in the game and questions have to be asked about discipline, again. That said, regular readers will know our scepticism about referees’ attitude when it comes to lower-ranked franchises. If you're expecting ill-discipline from a team, you are quite likely to find it.

We missed the first 25 minutes of Connacht vs Cheetahs thanks to idiots at SuperSport who thought Super Rugby after-the-fact analysis was more important that live PRO14 rugby. But did see Cheetahs’ Nico Lee get a yellow for a tackle that hit the shoulder and slipped up.

Marginal at best and if it was a Connacht player making the tackle, it would probably have been only a penalty. This inconsistency was perfectly illustrated in the second half when the self-same Nico Lee was the victim of a neck-roll – usually an automatic yellow card. But no, not this time. We rest our case. Bottom line: Cheetahs were robbed, again.

This week the Kings stay in Ireland, travelling up to Dublin to play Leinster on Friday night while the Cheetahs will have made a sometimes arduous journey from Galway in the far west of Ireland to Llanelli in Wales, where they face the Scarlets on Saturday afternoon.

Some Good, Some Bad, Some Excellent

OK, time to confess. Until this week we hadn’t watched any Varsity Cup action live, at all. We checked the highlights, read the match reports and pontificated from there. That changed this week.

But we do have a criticism. In these days of free live YouTube streaming – we can, and do, watch schoolboy rugby that way – it’s disappointing that fans have to accept whatever games SuperSport decides to broadcast. This week was the solitary early game involving CUT and UJ and then, later, Tuks vs Maties, meaning NWU-Pukke, Shimlas, UWC and Wits fans where simply out of luck.

But moving on swiftly, the CUT and UJ match was disappointing and clearly two teams at the bottom of the log both striving for a first win of the year. It was scrappy and advantage kept shifting as a result of unforced errors rather than positive play. Supporters of either team can read this match report.

The Tuks versus Maties match-up was the exact opposite, as befits a top-of-the-table clash. Where the previous game failed miserably to live up to its billing, this match really was “rugby that rocks”.

A sour note: a poor first half refereeing decision gifted the Cape side a try when the ref ruled that a Maties player was tackled in the air when, in fact, it was he who jumped up and into the backs to two Tuks players.

Played at the same time and Tuks vs Maties, the other two fixtures saw wins for Shimlas and for NWU-Pukke.

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Like a Hungry Jack Russell at a Braai

English may only be Oom Rugby’s third language, after Afrikaans and Rugby, but he has a unique ability to coin a phrase that gets you to laugh out loud. And his column on AllOutRugby this week is no exception.

The headline above is a teaser but this is the full sentence: “Papier oblige and the Bulls change direction. Below we see Gelant take the ball nice and flat, carry to the line, and then delay his pass beautifully for Specman who have been hanging around like a hungry Jack Russell at a braai.”

It’s brilliant; Absolutely brilliant. But then so is his analysis [with pictures -Ed], which begins with break-down of Rosko Specman’s second try of against the Stormers. Take it away Oom: “It all start with a poor exit kick by Stormers 15 Marais from near his own 5m line. Normally we want to kick properly out in a situation like this, but Marais hook the ball and it stay in play.

“Credit to the Bulls who is well set and we see Brits carry it straight back to his support, as we see in the picture below. The man to keep our eye on is Specman on the top right. He put pressure on the Stormers kickers and now he is returning to play.

“But what is interesting is that he is not returning to his position on the left wing… he is heading for the middle of the field. It can be because Kriel took up Specman’s position on the left when he chased, but it is also possible that it is a broken play situation, and now Specman have a role to play to possibly exploit a disorganised defence.

 

“The Bulls recycle from Brits, carry to the left with Vermeulen, and again to the left with Jenkins as we see below. We can see the value of big carries when we notice how many defenders getting sucked into these battles.

"Every big carrier is like flypaper that attract tacklers, and every positive ruck is like a obstacle that the poor folding defenders must negotiate as they chase the ball. The Bulls is doing the hard work now that will pay off later.

“But again the man to look at below is Specman. He is sitting outside first receiver Pollard, scanning and waiting for opportunities...”

While the writing may not be pucker English, the analysis is, as always with Oom, pure gold. We urge you to read it and to follow the Oom on Twitter because he does come up with some gems. Here’s another, very important question he posed, rhetorically, of course:

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Preview: Round Four in the Varsity Cup

Before we look at the next round of fixtures on Monday, we looked for live streaming of Varsity Cup matches this week because we wanted to monitor all three games played at the same time. Alas, the links we found in a YouTube search took us to Fox Sports, where credit card details were required. We declined, naturally. Unless any readers can refer us to an alternative streaming destination, it seems that we’ll just have to accept whatever SuperSport chooses to let us see.

Looking ahead to round four, the early game is Ikeys vs UJ at UCT and should be a romp for a home team still angry at the thrashing dished out by Maties in round two. Expect the so far lacklustre UJ to take the full brunt of that anger and head home on Monday night feeling battered.

In the later encounters, Maties travel to CUT, Tuks host Wits and Shimlas entertain NWU-Pukke. In the first of these, Maties are sure to put CUT to the sword and a three-digit scoreline isn’t impossible. And up in Pretoria, Wits will have to seriously up their game to challenge a tough Tuks side on their own patch.

But the clash of the week will probably be in Bloemfontein, where Shimlas host the team from Potchefstroom. Lying third and fourth on the table an each with a game in hand over Maties and Tuks above them, both will be keen to bolster their chances of making the semi-finals in April.

Catching Up with Some Saffas Abroad

Regular readers will know the we keep half an eye on rugby leagues all around the world for no other reason than to see what the South African exports are doing in those leagues.

Well, it seems that we’re not the only ones. SARugbymag.co.za is also doing that. Indeed, Dylan Jack and Mariette Adamshave a useful analysis of this past weekend’s actions in most of the leagues we follow and they came to the conclusion that Cobus Reinach won battle of SA expat scrumhalves last weekend.

About the diminutive player they write that he continued his exceptional try-scoring form to win the battle of the South African scrumhalves as Northampton Saints demolished Sale Sharks 67-17.

“Reinach opened the scoring with a try in the sixth minute before adding a second five minutes later, finishing with stats of 80 metres run, six tackles made and taking his overally tally to eight tries for the season. He easily outshone countryman Faf de Klerk, who had a disappointing outing for the Sharks by his high standards.

“Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Jono Ross and substitute flank Josh Strauss all did duty for the Sharks, while Heinrich Brussow was a replacement for the Saints.”

Gold Cup is Back; Fixtures Confirmed

With the excitement of the then approaching Super Rugby 2019 competition and the apparent stop-start nature of the PRO14 competition as European teams or players take part in other competitions, we missed the announcement in early February. But here it is: Gold Cup club rugby is back and will kick-off around the country on Saturday 9 March.

The announcement appeared on SA Rugby's web site, which explained that the competition will revert to the pre-season time-slot that was a feature of its first three editions (2013-2015). It is also in a leaner, sixteen-team, six-week format in order to place greater emphasis on strength versus strength.

Interestingly, taking a page from the Super Rugby playbook and, specifically, the recent #SuperHeroSunday event at Cape Town Stadium, a number of double-header match days are planned.

 

The sixteen teams contesting the competition in 2019 are divided into four pools of four teams and play each other once over a three-week period.

The top two teams in each pool will contest the quarter-final round with the winners progressing to the semi finals the following weekend. The final weekend will also feature a third/fourth play-off match. The four pools are:

Pool A: Stiles Progress George (SWD), Durbanville-Bellville (WP), OneLogix United Bulk Villagers Worcester (Boland),Northam Platinum Rhinos (Limpopo).

Pool B:Multisure Gardens (EP), Sasol Digi Mag Secunda (Pumas), College Rovers (Sharks), Phakisa Holdings East Rand United (wildcard, Falcons).

Pool C:ABE Midas Naka Bulls (Blue Bulls), CT Hydraulics Sishen (Griquas), Welkom (Griffons), Recall Security Bloemfontein Police (Cheetahs).

Pool D:RotoTank Roodepoort (Golden Lions), Newrak Rustenburg Impala (Leopards), KWV Springs (Falcons), Hollywoodbets Swallows (Border).

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For your weekend viewing pleasure

It’s a chocka-block weekend of rugby ahead with a full house of fixtures in Super Rugby, PRO14, the English Premiership, the French Top 14 and the Six Nations. Oh yes, for the insomniacs among you, there are also a few wee-hours of the morning matches in American Major League Rugby.

But, as usual – and due to limited space – we’ll focus on Super Rugby. As was the case last week, all four local franchises are in actions in similar time-slots as last week. At 3pm, give or take a few minutes, the Sharks host a wounded Blues outfit fresh off a narrow loss to last year’s champions, the Crusaders. It will be a tough match.

Then, just after 5pm the local derby kicks of in Cape Town where the Lions take on a Stormers side still hurting from the thrashing received at Loftus last weekend. Lions will want to replicate the Bulls performance by the Stormers should be a tougher proposition in front of a home crowd.

 

Finally, the Bulls have travelled to Argentina and will face a Jaguares team that will be determined to bounce back from defeat at the hands of Joburg’s finest last weekend. That match kicks-off just before midnight but there does appear to be a 6am replay on Sunday morning, as there was last weekend.

 

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The Rugby Team at Leopard Newsletters.

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