We wanted a good proper North vs South battle for years. Well we have it. Next Saturday we have The Stormers visiting the Bulls new “Home” in Orlando to challenge the Champions and try to become the second South African team to lift the Super 14 trophy.
My Rating of the Players. This might just be the exact two teams taking each other on in Soweto. Although Gerhard vd Heever will most probably replace Jaco vd Westhuizen at wing.
| Bulls | ?/10 | Stormers | ?/10 | |
| 1 | Gurthro Steenkamp | 7 | Wicus Blaauw | 6 |
| 2 | Gary Botha | 7 | Tiaan Liebenberg | 8 |
| 3 | Werner Kruger | 6 | Brok Harris | 6 |
| 4 | Danie Rossouw | 8 | Adriaan Fondse | 7 |
| 5 | Victor Matfield | 9 | Andries Bekker | 6 |
| 6 | Deon Stegmann | 7 | Schalk Burger | 9 |
| 7 | Dewald Potgieter | 8 | Francois Louw | 8 |
| 8 | Pierre Spies | 9 | Duane Vermeulen | 7 |
| 9 | Fourie du Preez | 9 | Dewaldt Duvenhage | 9 |
| 10 | Morne Steyn | 9 | Peter Grant | 9 |
| 11 | Francois Hougaard | 7 | Bryan Habana | 6 |
| 12 | Wynand Olivier | 8 | Juan de Jongh | 9 |
| 13 | Jaco Pretorius | 6 | Jaque Fourie | 8 |
| 14 | Jaco van der Westhuyzen | 6 | Gio Aplon | 7 |
| 15 | Zane Kirchner | 8 | Joe Pietersen | 7 |
| 16 | Bandise Maku | * | Deon Fourie | 7 |
| 17 | Bees Roux | * | Eusebio Guinazu | * |
| 18 | Flip van der Merwe | 7 | Anton van Zyl | 7 |
| 19 | Derick Kuun | * | Pieter Louw | * |
| 20 | Jacques-Louis Potgieter | * | Ricky Januarie | * |
| 21 | Stephan Dippenaar | * | Willem de Waal | * |
| 22 | Pedrie Wannenburg | 8 | Tim Whitehead | * |
* Players not long enough on the field for a rating.
Stand out performances by
Bulls
Fourie du Preez, Victor Matfield, Morne Steyn, Pierre Spies, Pedrie Wannenburg.
Stormers
Dewalt Duvenhage, Peter Grant, Juan de Jongh, Schalk Burger, Tiaan Liebenberg, Francois Louw and Jaque Fourie.
Possible improvements
Bulls
Gerhard vd Heever for Jaco vd Westhuizen. Jaco vd Westhuizen to the bench in place of Stephan Dippenaar. Deon Stegman, quick lesson in how to get the referee on your side.
Stormers
Front row. Get Andries Bekker more into the game. And get Bryan Habana to calm down, he gets too much involved in pushing off the ball, he must be number one candidate for a yellow card. Yes even beating Stegman.
Ek wil nie windgat klink of wees nie, maar na ek beide games van die naweek gekyk het behoort die Bulle nie te veel probleme teen die Stormers te he nie. Ek weet aie kan in ‘n week gebeur en dit bly ‘n final !!!
Hoop nie Danie se besering is ernstig nie.
Blouste – Dink jy nie ook die stormer game was effens vervelig nie? Ek het net stukke gesien maar die opwinding in die bulls game was meer, dalk is dit omdat ek bevooroordeeld is maar dis net iets wat ek opgetel het.
Ek dink die Bulle se rus gaan eers die naweek werklik ‘n effek he…
@ Onerb:
Ek het dieselfde gevoel gekry…
Dit was enige iemand se game tot na halftyd en toe kom die Waratahs se wiele af, miskien die “travel factor”.
Ek het die Tahs ook nog nooit werklik gerate die jaar nie. Maar ek vat niks weg van hulle game nie, die Stormers het gedoen wat hulle moes…
Maar jy is reg, die intensiteit was bie vir my dieselfde as die game voor hulle s’n inie…
Nou Sa in die 7’s final teen Aus…
Go Blitz bokke !!!
Terug oor ‘n kwart uur…
Agreed Onerb,I’m usually a fan of picking a player on form so I’d also pick him,he is solid in the scrums and good in the loose,nice to see that we have depth at Loosehead. However its a tough one,if you look at the Matfield Bekker debate I’d pick Matfield any day of the week even though Bekker’s form has been red hot this year.
25 @ Onerb:
ons het gelukkig nie verloor deur dit nie, maar ek het gedink hy het nooit kontak met die bal verloor nie. Net dit opgehaal omdat ek die volgende in die wedstryd verslag van die New Zealandse Rugby Heaven rugby site gelees het.
“Despite the stadium being only half full because many of the fans were late after having to endure a traffic jam into the township, the crowd created a massive din when minutes later lock Danie Rossouw was denied what appeared to be a legitimate try by TMO Johan Meeuwesen.
So confident were the Bulls, that they had already marched back to halfway and Steyn was lining up the conversion.
Instead it was the Crusaders’ turn to feel the officials’ love with McCaw being awarded a try by Dickinson following a drive after a scrum near the left-hand blindside.
Carter’s conversion and a penalty later in the stanza were all the Crusaders had to show for the first half, while the Bulls added a try to fullback Zane Kirchner and Steyn added the rest with his boot”
How Waugh feel about their performance
Crestfallen Waratahs captain Phil Waugh insisted his side’s performance against the Stormers was so poor they would have struggled to win a game of Sydney club rugby.
Waugh was shattered after his season came to a shuddering halt with the Waratahs’ 25-6 semi-final loss at Newlands. Just as dejected were Waugh’s teammates and coach Chris Hickey, following a performance in which NSW never found momentum. Afterwards, Waugh was in no mood to offer excuses.
”We won’t win any competition if we perform the way we did,” he said. ”It would be tough to win a club competition the way we played. We broke the line numerous times and dropped or turned [the ball] over. [In] these games you have to consolidate and turn line-breaks into points.”
Super,to me it looked like he lost control but I was not sure,all I can say is that I’m glad I was not the Tmo for that decision.
They were crap yesterday but the Stormers defence did that to them..
Winston – the benefit of the doubt should go to the saders, the mccaw try however was not as cut and dried, no-one but stu saw the ball grounded.
It is going to be a great game, if the Bulls manage to break the defensive code of the Stormers we might see a lot of tries from the strong runners like Danie, Spies and FdP. Would that be the case i see a big score for the Bulls.
How do you break that defense? You tell me. Maybe a great Steenkamp hit, a Gary Botha drive, a Victor Matfield gem> But know this , the Bulls will run at them.
Wonder how much the fatigue will come into this game.
Another article said-
How do All Blacks respond after sloppy S14?
The Bulls will host the final again. Last year the Boks sling-shotted off the form of Victor Matfield’s troops to dominate the Tri-Nations, beating the All Blacks three times in the process.
This year South Africa have the added bonus of the Stormers stepping up and enhancing their stocks while the All Blacks look to find competitiveness amongst a rash of costly injuries and some seriously indifferent form.
There will be hope that Henry, Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen can conjure up some magic under the new law interpretations.
But the reality is the South Africans have adapted better than anyone. They had everyone belatedly trying to emulate their kick and chase game last season and have now blended their traditional power with pace – both speed of mind and hand – to reap rewards that come with dominating the multi-phase style of play in vogue in 2010.
It’s a game suited to the massive loose forwards that the South Africans possess. None more so than Pierre Spies the Bulls No 8 who set the tempo for this semifinal, scoring in the opening couple of minutes and using his speed and athleticism to taunt and thwart the Crusaders.
Any fears of the Bulls losing momentum after resting virtually their entire team last weekend were quickly dispelled by a blistering start.
They looked fresh and fit.
waars die manne vanaand? Hoop nie hulle is nog op soek na die exit van soweto nie….:-)
The Stormers are going to kick some blue bull ass on Saturday.
The crusaders were way to fatigued, it was obvious to see. Their sleeping patterns were in total disarray which was one of the main reasons they lost. The type of rugby wp has been playing recently should give them The title This weekend. Btw didn’t i tell you from The start gbs, yet you thought i was crazy.
Onerb the Stormers can’t help it if their match was rather one sided. To most of The Stormers that was The best victory they could ask for.
please dont work on my p###’and come with your kak ratings. My ratings bulle 0 Stormers 10 and a half.
WezWP, something you ate, mate?
@48
You GO WEZWP!!!!
HAHAHA!!!!
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