A load of bull has been uttered about the Bulls. So what if they rest up to 13 top-tier players for the final round match against the Stormers this weekend? That is the privilege of finishing well ahead of everyone else. That allows them certain luxuries.
Article by Greg Growden on Rugby Heaven, Australia
If they are able to rest 13 players, good on them, because it shows what incredible depth they possess. According to those in the know, the Bulls’ B team is almost as good as the Bulls A line-up, and could easily win – in Cape Town, anyway.
This is nothing new. During their golden period, the Crusaders regularly rested players, and it didn’t do them any harm. It was all part of keeping their full squad motivated.
More importantly, those complaining at the Waratahs don’t have a leg to stand on. As Peter Garrett sang in his Midnight Oil days: ”Short memory, must have a, short memory. If you read the history books you’ll see the same things happen again and again. Short memory they’ve all got it.”
That is certainly the case in Tahland, because in 2002 the Waratahs did something very similar.
With the Waratahs sitting pretty in second place with just one round to go, then NSW coach Bob Dwyer rested a number of key players for the match against the Crusaders in Christchurch.
The tactic was a disaster. The Waratahs were belted 96-19 by the Crusaders, prompting the classic quote by Test hooker Brendan Cannon, who was demoted to the reserves. When Cannon took the field in the second half, he ran past the opposition bench and told them: ”There’s 64 points in me.”
The next week, the Waratahs played a home semi-final against the Brumbies, and were again belted – this time 51-10.
But there is one enormous difference between the 2002 Waratahs and the 2010 Bulls. The Waratahs’ depth was uninspiring, and they couldn’t adapt. The Bulls instead have an abundance of capable players, and can adapt.
So, it would be wise for the Waratahs head office to stop being distracted by this guff, and instead keep its trap shut. After all, NSW have not yet even qualified for the finals, and for Waratahs officials to go on about how much money they will miss out on by not hosting a home semi-final is premature, and silly. It could easily act as an unnecessary distraction for the team during what could be the most important week of its season.
The Waratahs are not in the position of being able to even confidently say they can stage a home semi, especially as they are also facing the reality of missing out on the finals altogether. Maybe they’re just jealous they can’t rest one player, let alone 13.
Thankfully some NSW players have privately admitted they fully understand the Bulls’ motives. They know first hand the hard toil of the Super 14 tournament, and how rest periods are crucial in revitalising a team. You only have to witness how each team longingly looks forward to their one bye week during the competition.
And despite Waratahs officials huffing and puffing about how they are going to complain to SANZAR, really what is the governing body going to do about it? Hit the Bulls with a feather duster. The Waratahs’ whinge will be filed in the ‘are you kidding?’ basket.
And so it should be.
The whole thing is just a load of hot air.
Hoor Hoor!
Agreed. This whole kerfuffle is about a winning franchise doing what they are entitled to do – field 15 players plus replacements suffice for them to acquit themselves well on the night. I fully support their right to send out whomever they bleeding-well like and may the better team win.
Phew!!
loosehead @ 1
no VRYSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? 😯
super
ok, lets explain the “bull” that I have uttered the whole week
1. WE still need to win this game to get a home semi, so what kind of team you send down here is NO CONCERN OF MINE!! it still depends on the result WE get, so what you do, dont concern me
2. if you should lose momentum because of this move, then again ITS NO CONCERN OF MINE. you trying to f*ck up your season, then do so with my blessing!!
MY CONCERN though lies with the fans!! JEEZ man, a lot of guys, if not the majority, can only get to newlands once or twice a season!! a lot of them have been looking forward to this match for weeks, expecting another classic between “north and south”!!
what do they get?
tickets to fuckin BOSWELL & WILKIE’S CIRCUS!!
FUCK THE BULLS!! AND FUCK THEIR FUCKIN EXCUSES!! I HOPE THIS FUCKIN MOVE BLOW UP IN THEIR FUCKIN FACES!! FUCKIN C*NTS!! 👿
*please, do excuse the language, but thats how i feel about this whole f*ckin issue!!*
4
Strongly put and i agree with you, i dont like this move by the Bulls management.
WE never needed to do this before.
When i came back yesterday that was my first concern i uttered to GBS.
I see a lot of people feel that way, we might lose momentum.
BUT I was wrong many times this year, it seems that the combined force of Heynecke and Frans , and with the experience of Victor all the new things work. So lets hope from a Bulls perspective that everything is well thought out.
Lucky the tickets were sold out long ago. I would have tried to get down to the Cape tomorrow but now i doubt. Maybe a few boxes of good wine might persuade me.
SUPER @ 5
sorry man. i just needed to get this off my chest!! maybe i’m more of a traditionalist than i realised!!
come-on, this was the one game (bulls/wp) that i have the fondest memories of from childhood. this was the one game (even in those poor years) that we wanted to win. jeez a win over the bulls turned a bad season into an “ok” one!!
(sigh) ag, maybe i’m just cross because i feel that the bulls management is taking an oppertunity to face the arch-enemy away from us!!
6
Ashley i feel 100% the same, we should have taken you apart at Newlands, man what a pleasure to see that again. I wanted a all out war there, i feel robbed. Beating the shit out of the Stormers down there would have been brilliant.
Well the coaching team better know what they did.
superbul @ 7
lmao
i was about the ban myself for an hour or so for “use of bad language”
but
i think i’d rather do so after five this afternoon!!
Super, Thanks for putting this article up. I read it yesterday in the Sydney Morning Herald. Also RugbyHeaven. Mentioned it here on the Tahs and Team threads. Very good article by Greg Growden. He is spot on and like his style. No nonsense writer. Just get on with it.
See the kiwis are moaning about this. Yes the supporters at Newlands wont feel they have got their money worth but all the Stormer supporters really wont complain too much. They know they have a home semi now.
The kiwis are right though. This does look after South African rugby by making sure we have two home semi finals. That will bring huge amounts of money in. We know how much it brought in for us during the double semi and final we had in 2007.
Anyhow it could backfire against the Bulls though I doubt it. This rest will do far more than not for them. It is not as if they are not training and keeping fit in the gym. Bulls will be ready for the semi full on.
Now though in future it has to be planned different. I think that we play all our home games first (think in the new format that will happen) not sure after how the tourney will go. It must be planned though that all home sides have played each other before the last 3 games. Something like that. That way if we do rest players it wont matter too much. Oz and Nz wont worry too much. To be honest it does seem a bit unfair to the other teams. BUT every team in this tourney would have DONE IT if they were in the Bulls position. Every single team. Yes and rest the whole team if they had the depth of the Bulls.
So go BULLS and STORMERS. That is for next week 😀 This week is really a nothing game… 🙁
7 – Super, If this does backfire on the Bulls and Bulls lose in the Semi. I wonder how they will feel? I for one as a rugby lover will feel robbed of seeing two of the best teams having a full go at each other. Really hope now that both teams win their semi final.
10@ Puma – That is the calculated risk Ludeke has to face and can only be answered by him and his coaching and medical staff…. maybe there are a few niggling injuries, definately there is some fatigue.
You and I both know that Fourie du Preez, Spies and Victor have not looked at their sharpest…
What about Wynand, he’s played a full game for 12 games in a row, so too Gary Botha, Gurthro, Werner Kruger, Morne Steyn, Gerhard van den Heever & Zane Kirshner…
Even Francois Hougaard has played most of the games, was injured for one game and then came back to be man of the match against the Saders.
How fresh is Dewald Potgieter and Deon Stegmann who both have to graft hard on the ground and on defence, match after match?
How fresh is Danie Rossouw…
The thing is, we don’t know… but we certainly know rest will be condusive to recovery of these issues…
What we wonder and speculate about is how focussed and switched on the Bulls will be after a week’s rest… this is more a mental aspect for preparation, not so much a physical thing… you can rest assured that the resting Bulls are not just sitting twiddling their thumbs this week…. and next week.
Go Bulls!!
IMO the Bulls made the right decision.
There would have been risks either way…
I think they chose the one with the least risk involved and made the most sense from a player management perspective.
I’ve had my doubts in recent years like our lack in propper warmup matches last year, but we won the trophy and it turned out to be the right decision.
I back the team and management decisions fully !!!
And I think this B-team of ours are in with a chance at least…
How can this team lose momentum or be delt a phycological blow if none of them are playing.
And as for the rest of you tossers out there, if asked beforehand if any of your teams would have liked an extra bye in the competition EVERYONE would have grabbed it with BOTH hands.
Now you complain, please, grow a pair !!!!
The Bulls “Bye” weekend was very early… after the 3rd game if I remember correctly…. so this rest week comes at a very good time!
blouste @ 13
of course EVERYONE wouldve liked a second bye
but
bru, EVERYONE wouldve gone for a bye with a few weeks to go to regain momentum
almost EVERY team have struggled in the week after their bye
lets hope for your sake that your team in the exception!!
oh, and as i said @ 4, i really dont give a damn WHAT you do!! you play in pink for all that i care!!
I agree gbs
People trying to make much out of nothing.
If Bulls supporters worries about this – fine…
But to all the others , this is our decision and we will have to live with the results, don’t worry about us, get your own “kraal” in order !!! 👿
@ 15
We’ll never play in pink @ Newlands, out of fear of being molested !!!
Slaapstad being the “pink” city and all…
#15
“you play in pink” = you CAN play in pink
blouste @ 17
too late
your team will be raped this weekend!! 👿
blouste @ 16
as i said …. i dont give a damn
i’m de moer in because fans have paid good money to see shit being flushed down a toilet!!
@ 20
We will see…
After recent scorelines between Bulls and Stormers like 75 – 14 and 43 – 10 etc. it makes perfect sense for us to send a 2nd string team would’nt you say 😉
I dont give a damn about your fans…
They should support a team where they can be assured of a couple of good games each season, like winning the Vodacom Cup, Currie Cup and S14.
Surely it’s not our fault those Stormper spannetjie het jare laas iets ordentliks opgedis vir hulle supporters om te sien nie… 🙂
Ten minste kan hulle nou dalk ‘n wen sien deur hul spannetjie… 🙄
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