So we were beaten, by the team that adopted the best strategy for the day. Congratulations to all my fellow bloggers who happen to be Bulls. Be sure that this isn’t the end of the rivalry, and the Stormers will come again, stronger, better prepared, and more experienced.
I will never get used to the Vuvuzela noise as it was in the Stadium on Saturday, and without wanting to sound negative, I sincerely hope that the Vuvuzela fad isn’t carried over to Loftus. It doesn’t have a place in rugby, and personally, I will stop attending rugby matches permanently should it become a regular occurrence.
That being said, what everyone said was true, experience has been a major factor, the Stormers came, but they were found wanting. We were behind from early on, having to chase a game, against a fanatic home-crowd, and having 50/50 calls ALL go against one, it would never have been easy.
A few light points…albeit some iffy handling Andries Bekker showed that he meant business, with at least 4 line-out steals, 3 or 4 turnovers and some powerful defence.
Pierre Spies, dissappeared from the game after 25 minutes, and Duane Vermeulen and Francois Louw had exceptional games.
But in the end we lost, it was sad, and I will never understand why we only left our best game for the final 30 minutes.
Again, congatulations Bulls, on a well deserved victory…
Dont tell me you are also going to start with the ref story, you guys got beaten fair and square, why did you not mention the Ricky Januarie non try that was awarded Saint???
The ref made some mistakes but never influenced the outcome of the game.
Gongrats to both teams for reaching the final, and to the Bulls for winning their third in four years.
good MOURNING everyone (except the bulls of course)
Winston, that reminds me: who actualy scored the Stormers second try – was it Januarie or Louw?
Anyway, the Bulls brought their A-game and the Stormers brought their B-game and that basicaly was that. The dact that Joubert brought his C-game is irrelevant, cause you always play the ref as you find him on the day.
Looking forward to next year.
Next year will be the Bulls Hat trick year!!
Hellooooooooooooo on a wonderful Bulls morning!
Hello to my Stormers friends here, Asbak, Kitaarsnaar & Saint…
Stormers were worthy opponents!
Bulls dominance was rooted in the Font Row and generally in the tight FIVE. The Bulls props pounded the Stormers props, both sides of the scrums! Matfield was better than Bekker on the day and both Danie Pakslae and Flip was better than Fondse and Van Zyl.
The loosie battle was a facinating one, almost equal but this game showed that a traditional loosie combination of Pure Fetcher, Traditional No 7 and Traditional No 8 is better than the unorthodox Stormers approach who utilizes 2 No 7 Flanks and no Pure Fetcher.
The Bulls Halfback pairing, Fourie du Preez & Morné Steyn, was spot-on on Saturday… and a lot of credit MUST go to Wynand Olivier who shut both Stormers centres down with excellent and aggressive tackling.
Hougie clearly bested Gio GifAplontjie and Zane was streets better than a very off-key Joe Pietersen.
Matfield wasnt a heck better than Bekker. Bekker made Matfield look like a puppy
gbs @ 6
congrats gbs’ie
thought your team were the best team on saturday
well done bru
i’m looking forward to next year 😆
but not in the sense that we used that phrase in the past
this stormers team are getting better and better
and who knows
we might replace YOU guys one of these days
as THE BEST side in sarugby!!
GBS,
No problems with the assertion that the Bulls scrum was dominant (who would have thought that after the same front-row frommeled the Bulls at Newlands last year for Luke’s push over try).
I’d really like to see stats on ball possession, territorial dominance, line-out won/lost before I can go with the rest of your summary.
For me, the Bulls experience at playing finals and the Stormers inexperience at this and inability to handle the ref cost them.
Whether this equates to dominance depends on the colour deep inside your eyes.
fender @ 9
“For me, the Bulls experience at playing finals and the Stormers inexperience at this and inability to handle the ref cost them.”
…
agree on that one!!
Solank die stormers nie gaan leer om druk te kan hanteer nie, gaan hul nie die grotes wen nie.
Die rede waarom die stormpies nie die ref kon ‘handle’ nie, is omdat by beide die skrums en afbreekpunte was hul onder groot druk en op die agtervoet, en gedwing is om foute te maak, wat in strafskoppe verander het en punte vir die Bulle … soos die CB semi laasjaar.
En, solank die stormers die ref die skuld gee, en nie op hul eie spel en foute fokus nie, gaan hul aanhou vou onder druk.
Soos ou Bob Tongstadt self gesê het, geen span sou saterdag die Bulle gewen het nie, die ref sou ook die Stormers kon red nie. Joubert het foute na beide kante gemaak.
Stormers het baie goed gedoen die jaar, en hou aan verbeter, maar, die Bulle is vir nog ‘n jaar die kampioene.
Nog een jaar oor, in die huidige bedeling vir die Stormers om die S15 te probeer wen, want na 2011 verloor beide die Bulle en die Stormers hul sterspelers, en breek daar ‘n nuwe era aan.
Let us not blame the ref for Saturdays game. Bulls were the better team and deserved the win.
Ricky grounded the ball over the line either. No try there. Not that it would have meant anything by then. Also Morne gifted Habs a try. Sorry my Stormer friends here Bulls were just too good from Stormers on Saturday.
Also said that Orlando would be a huge, huge boost for Bulls. Many thought it was going hamper them. Not so it was a massive boost to play there.
Now for Bok Rugby……..heeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaa. We all become one again 😀
bdb, dissie aldag dat ek en jy saamstemmie ;-), ma hie stem ek 100% met jou saam!
8@ Ashley:
Asbak, thanks for the congrats…
Yip, Stormers were good this season and should be right up there next season…. a team with balance written all over it… and I agree they lacked the “Final Experience Factor” on Saturday.
9@ fender:
Kitaar, I think the only stat really which favours the Stormers is line-outs, where the Stormers stole 2 Bulls lineouts against the Bulls only stealing 1 Stormers lineout. Stormers also put one in skew though.. so that department ended pretty level.
Have a good look what an old Stormers journo, Louis de Villiers says in Rapport…. by the way, he’s very good oke… we sat 2 rows apart in the party bus to and from Soweto….
The general feeling between ALL the journalists on Saturday evening at the game was that the Bulls were better…
The penalty stats are interesting….
Total number of penalties: 19
Bulls: 8
Stormers: 11
The reasons for the penalties were as follows:
* = points conceded
Bulls:
Tackle: 7 (Olivier, Rossouw*, Spies, Pretorius, Wannenburg 2, Maku)
Discipline: 1 (Steyn – high tackle)
Stormers:
Tackle: 5 (Jaque Fourie, Burger, Vermeulen*, Aplon, Pietersen)
Offside: 1 (Vermeulen)
Scrum: 3 (Blaauw, Kritzinger** 2)
Discipline: 2 (Blaauw* + 10; Bekker – jumping on tackle/ruck)
So, the Bulls were penalized 7 times at tackle / ruck time and the Stormers only 5 times…. I think that puts clear that Joubert did not favour the Bulls above the Stormers at the tackle….
I’m busy at the moment analizing the match in minute detail… will give more info in my match report… which will also contain a number of photos of Saturday….
@ Puma:12 – meant – Ricky NEVER grounded the ball over the line. So no try there.
Now see some people said it was Flo that got that try. Have to see it again to be sure. Why not use the tmo there?
Welcome back, Puma – I trust that the break was good and the memories mad even better.
You won’t find this Stormer supporter complaining that the ref cost us the game. The Bulls handled the pressure like the seasoned players that they are (well most of the time, Steyn under pressure pass to Habs being a stand-out exception) and thoroughly deserved their win.
They deserve all the accolades that they get.
Rugby Princess made an very accurate statement yesterday that begs repeating. Something along the lines of ‘you diminish your own achievement by slating the team that you have just vanquished’.
Its an easy trap to fall in….
15: ek het nog nie weer daarna gekyk nie, maar ek het ook gehoor nadat Januarie die bal kort gedruk het, het ‘n bul die bal agtertoe gehak met sy voet, en toe het ‘n stormer (Pieter Louw) op die bal geval, en toe is dit ‘n drie. As dit so is, dan is die vraag of Januarie die bal vorentoe verloor het/gerol het, of nie.
Saint, Sour grapes…….hehehehehe. That final was played in Soweto in a soccer stadium with the soccer world cup just a week away. Vuvuzelas was the order of the day for that final 😀 😀
Yeah, to be honest they do distract. I must say for this final it was a must, cause of where it was played and the world cup just about to start. ..hehehe. Never saw McCaw moan about the Vuvuselas? 😀 I knew that was going to distract the Stormer players and supporters. Bulls had a good training run the week before with the Saders game playing with the Vuvuzelas going. 😀
Really don’t see it being a feature for the future in rugby. Like Matfield said they could hardly hear the lineout calls. Though like I said for this final for where it was played it was fine to have them.
@ fender:16 – Morning Fender, I had a brilliant holiday. Love it there.
Stormers played superb rugby this year and next year they will be right back there. So all the Stormer supporters should not feel disappointed. Rather look forward to next year.
Also to play at altitude is no easy feat. I always say go early not late. Think Stormers made the mistake of arriving late.
The vuvuzelas are loud…. farking loud… you do not get exactly how loud they are on the TV, at the ground in Orlando it was just amazing how loud that sound is…… but it was all good on the day!
Personally I would not like to have that monotinous drone at rugby in general…
@ grootblousmile:20 – gbs, On tv it is LOUD so at the ground it must even louder. I am taking my ear plugs to the Portugal/Brazil game 😀 That is if they are allowed there. Think it will only be used mostly where the African teams are playing. Hope the Brazil supporters bring their drums like they normally do when their team plays.
Okay back later.
Just wanted to say congrats to the Bulls. Could not get to the pc on Saturday at all.
Nee kyk, al moet ek dit self sê, die BBRU weet wat hulle doen. Ekself was baie pessimisties oor die skuif van die semi en finaal na ‘n ander stadion, veral omdat Fort Loftus so belangrik is vir die Bulle. Maar, dit lyk asof die skuif nog meer in die Bulle se guns getel het, en dit vir die Saders en Stormers nog moeiliker was om in Orlando te wen as Loftus.
Intussen is Loftus vir miljoene deur FIFA verbeter, en Loftus se trofeekas het hierdie jaar reeds 2 bekers bygevoeg: VC en S14 (terwyl die CB ook nog daar staan).
Na laasjaar se S14 finaal het ek gedink daardie oorwinning sal genoeg wees om my tevrede te hou vir die volgende 15 jaar … maar die Bulle hou net aan om meer en meer te wil wen. Lyk my hoe meer jy wen, hoe meer wil jy wen: ‘n wenkultuur.
Ai, dit is lekker om ‘n Bul te wees !
I spoke to most of the Bulls players after the match and met up with 2 of the Bulls players parents, Francois Hougaard’s dad, who I met last year at the CC Final as well… and Dewald Potgieter’s dad.
Both very proud of their sons obviously… both solid fellas!
The Bulls organised a special Bus for the families of the players… kudo’s to them for doing that as well.
Hmmmmmmmm….
More almal…
😆 😆 😆 BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULLS !!!!!!! 😆 😆 😆
‘n Paar dinge wat na vore gekom het na saterdag:
1. Aplon, blitsige speler, hart van ‘n leeu, maar net te klein vir groot rugby
2. dieselfde geld vir Joe P, net te klein (hy moet dalk meer saam Januarie by McDonalds uithang?)
3. FH begin nou soos ‘n Habana vir die Bulle speel, en saam Shadow ‘n baie gedugte vleuelpaar vir die Bulle (sal Habana saam met een van die bulle vleuels vir die bokke speel)
4. WO se verdediging en vermoeë om oor die voordeel lyn te gaan is ‘n moet vir die bokspan.
5. MS en FDP, wat kan ‘n mens meer sê ?
6. Duane het ‘n baie goeie jaar gehad, maar te stadig en voorspelbaar vir ‘n agsteman. Spies se krag en spoed sê alles.
7. F Louw en Potgieter, albei ysters wat die Bokke nie sal teleurstel nie
8. Schalla is ‘n legende, net jammer hy het al sy speelgoed uit die kot gegooi tydens die wedstryd en na die tyd met die onderhoud, oor die ref. Goeie speler, maar die feit dat hy nie kon kalm bly onder druk nie, het gewys hy is nie aangewese om bokke te lei soos Smit en Vic nie.
9. Bekker is oppad, maar Vic bly nog die onbetwisde koning van slotspelers.
10. Tiaan het ‘n alleenstryd gevoer in die voorry vir die Stormers, maar die druk het hom ook begin vang met sy ingooie. Gary bring ‘n baie groot verbetering in die Bulle se skrums.
11. Guthro is seker die speler in die hele reeks wat die meeste verbeter het, ons nr.1 vaskop huidiglik. Werner het ook baie verbeter, en sal geen bokspan teleurstel nie. Sal goed wees om hom solank in die groep te kry, as ‘backup’ vir BJ.
26@ bdb:
BiDiBiDi
Gurthro is ons Nr 1 LOSKOPSTUT… nie vaskop nie…
… en na Saterdag is dit duidelik dat benewens BJ Botha op VASKOP, daar net 1 ander ou oorweeg kan word… Werner Kruger (al was hy hiperkak laasjaar, was hy uitstekend hierdie hele seisoen)
aristokrat
thats the one word that comes to mind
loose translation from latin means something like
“the best rule”
that i think apply to this current bulls team!!
well done guys!!
28@ Ashley:
Asbak, hoe was jou naweek in Darling?
Stem al die Stormers nou saam dat spanne wat die meeste drieë druk, bekers wen, en nie spanne wat die beste verdedig nie ?
Die saak is eintlik eenvoudig: dit is baie makliker om jou verdedigingspatrone reg te ruk, soos die Bulle gewys het deur die seisoen. Dit is egter baie moeiliker om hardlooprugby en driedrukrugby aan te leer ! 😉
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