Supersport dot com Teams of the season and Awards

South African XV for 2010:
15. Zane Kirchner (Bulls) 14. Gerhard van den Heever (Bulls) 13. Jaque Fourie (Stormers) 12. Wynand Olivier (Bulls) 11. Bryan Habana (Stormers) 10. Morne Steyn (Bulls) 9. Ruan Pienaar (Sharks) 8. Duane Vermeulen (Stormers) 7. Francois Louw (Stormers) 6. Schalk Burger (Stormers) 5. Andries Bekker (Stormers) 4. Victor Matfield (Bulls) 3. Werner Kruger (Bulls) 2. Tiaan Liebenberg (Stormers) 1. Gurthro Steenkamp (Bulls).

Australian XV for 2010:
15. Peter Hynes (Reds) 14. Drew Mitchell (Waratahs) 13. Will Chambers (Reds) 12. Matt Giteau (Brumbies) 11. Digby Ioane (Reds) 10. Quade Cooper (Reds) 9. Will Genia (Reds) 8. Ben Mowen (Waratahs) 7. Scott Higginbotham (Reds) 6. David Pocock (Western Force) 5. Nathan Sharpe (Western Force) 4. Dean Mumm (Waratahs) 3. Al Baxter (Waratahs) 2. Stephen Moore (Brumbies) 1. Ben Alexander (Brumbies).

New Zealand XV for 2010:
15. Israel Dagg (Highlanders) 14. Joe Rokocoko (Blues) 13. Rene Ranger (Blues) 12. Ma`a Nonu (Hurricanes) 11. Zac Guildford (Crusaders) 10. Dan Carter (Crusaders) 9. Jimmy Cowan (Highlanders) 8. Thomas Waldrom (Crusaders) 7. Liam Messam (Chiefs) 6. Daniel Braid (Reds) 5. Josh Bekhuis (Highlanders) 4. Brad Thorne (Crusaders) 3. Owen Franks (Crusaders) 2. Andrew Hore (Hurricanes) 1. Ben Franks (Crusaders).

Match of the season:
The one match that this season will always be remembered for is this weekend’s final. Unfortunately, this week’s wrap comes a few days too soon. As such we’ll award it to last Saturday’s semifinal between the Bulls and the Crusaders for setting the stage for this coming weekend’s spectacle.

The Jorrie goes to:
New Zealand’s goal-kickers, normally among the world’s best, came in with a disappointing season’s percentage of 68.4 this season. In comparison Australia’s goal-kickers slotted 73.5% of their kicks while South Africa’s points machines, who on average were a lot more willing to go for long-range efforts, succeeded with 74.5%.

It is strange that the likes of Dan Carter, Stephen Donald, Piri Weepu and Stephen Brett would all choose the same year to have an off season. We wonder if there is any truth to the New Zealand Herald’s opinion that the loss of kicking specialist Mick Byrne has hit the Kiwis harder than expected.

Coach of the season:
Ewen McKenzie had a lot to prove when he became the Reds’ seventh coach in 11 years at the start of the season. He has a reasonable amount of success when he was in charge of the Waratahs earlier in the decade, but his stint with French giants Stade Francais came to a disastrous end when he was sacked towards the end of last year because of a string of poor results.

Together the question-marked coach and the perennial Super Rugby strugglers scraped the slate clean at the start of the 2010 season. The talented but very inexperienced side adopted a very adventurous approach and once the squad started gelling around their set-in-stone coach they morphed into a very competitive outfit. In this, their best season since the glory days of John Eales, they ended up claiming the scalps of, among others, the Bulls, The Stormers and the Crusaders. Had it not been for a very disappointing two-point loss to the Waratahs, they would have beaten all four of this year’s semifinalists.

Queensland has traditionally been one of the powerhouses of provincial rugby in the Southern Hemisphere, and for brining them back into prominence we give our coach of the season award to the former Wallaby prop.

Team of the season:
It is hard to argue against a Bulls outfit that is in their third final in four years. They haven’t lost a home match in far more than a year and have become a formidable foe on the road. In their trophy cabinet is every bit of silverware that could be won by a senior SA provincial squad. But so used have we become to northern dominance that none of this is reason enough to award them the prize.

Instead it goes south.

Some judicious off-season player acquisitions and a renewed focus on defence and the quality of first-phase possession are perhaps the main reasons behind the Stormers’ rise from tenth in the Super 14 standings in 2009 to finalists this year.

The coaching team of Allister Coetzee, Robbie Fleck and Matthew Proudfoot can also take some of the credit as must captain Schalk Burger, who led from the front at all times.

Whatever the reason behind their success, the team as a whole delivered on years of promise to make 2010 their best Super season ever. That makes them our worthy recipients.

Player of the season:
2010 saw its fair share of young talent shoot to prominence on the world stage. In New Zealand players like Israel Dagg and Rene Ranger caught the attention, while The Reds’ halfback pairing of Will Genia and Quade Cooper ran circles around many a more-fancied opponent. For the bigger set guys there was the delight of seeing Brumbies prop Ben Alexander run in an earth-shattering seven tries.

In South Africa it was also a pair of youngsters that raised eyebrows. Bulls wing Gerhard van den Heever showed a knack for finishing while Stormers flank Francois Louw combined brilliantly with his captain Schalk Burger to form a formidable rat-chasing duo.

The player of the season, however, is 2.08 m, 120kg man-mountain Andries Bekker. The Stormers lock had his best season ever, dominating lineouts wherever he went, shining with ball in hand while never shying away from the physicality of defence.

Congratulations to:

• Victor Matfield who played his 100th Super Rugby (SR) match for the Bulls. He also extended his own SA record by captaining the franchise for the 59th time.
• Lachie Turner and Tiaan Liebenberg who played their 50th SR matches.
• Morne Steyn, whose 243 points is the most ever scored in a SR season. The previous record was Dan Carter’s 221 points in 2006.
• The Bulls, whose 475 points is the most ever scored by a SA outfit in SR. Natal scored 453 in 1996.

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