Southern Kings (6) 23 / Vodacom Bulls (0) 7 (Final Score)
The Southern Kings hosted the Vodacom Bulls in Port Elizabeth in a warm-up match for the Bulls to prepare them for the upcoming Super Rugby Competition. Similarly this game was the first measure for the Southern Kings to see how they might progress in a Super Rugby Competition from 2013.
This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 and CSN.
This was the 1st live coverage of South African rugby for 2011, this year is going to be busy, so strap yourselves in, kiss the wife a last few times, get the cold ones and snacks ready…. rugby is upon us!
Summary:
Handling mistakes cost the second stringers of the Bulls and with a fired up Kings side, they were up against it in the end, the Kings winning by 23 / 7. There were far too many 50/50 passes, forced passes and butter fingers and a lack of patience showed by the Bulls.
The Kings absorbed the Bulls forward pressure well, earned a few good penalties from a strong scrumming platform and unlike the Bulls, took their chances at goal. The Kings looked composed and knew what to do with turn-over possession.
The speedsters of the Kings also converted 2 chances well to score tries when it mattered.
The Kings seem to be on the way up, and that is good in the South African context. The new acquisitions in their squad has suddenly brought out a hard edge, a core of players, who can take them forward with style. I say this knowing full well that it’s early season and one should be careful not to make hasty assumptions.
We must however remember that this was not the Bulls best side, for instance they were playing with effectively their 6th and 7th choices at lock (after Bakkies, Victor, Danie, Flip and Juandre) and with their 3rd and 4th choice scrumhalves (after Fourie du Preez and Francois Hougaard).
1 Player in the Bulls squad for the match, Werner Kruger, would be in the Bulls starting 15, with maybe 3 or so players who might make the bench for the Bulls starting 15… so it’s not all doom and gloom, but rather indicates a worry in depth at key positions.
Last season the Bulls also had a very mediocre run in their warm-ups, yet they came out firing in the actual Super 14 Competitian and as history will tell, won the competition in fine style.
There is still a lot to fix in the Bulls but we should not take anything away from a very game and motivated Kings side.
The Bulls might have learned from this game that Louis Fouché should be ahead in the pecking order over Francois Brummer at flyhalf, after Morné Steyn.
Scorers:
Kings: 3 Penalties & 2 Conversions Monty Dumond, 1 Try Mathew Tayler-Smith, 1 Try Siyanda Grey
Bulla: 1 Conversion Louis Fouché, 1 Try Courtnall Skosan
Teams:
Vodacom Bulls:
15 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Stephan Dippenaar, 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 Sampie Mastriet, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Ruan Snyman, 8 Gerrit-Jan van Velze, 7 CJ Stander, 6 Derick Kuün (c), 5 Cornell Hess, 4 Fudge Mabeta, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Henry Bantjes, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: Hans van Dyk, Frik Kirsten, Tendayi Chikukwa, Okkie Kruger, Dustin Jinka, Louis Fouché, Bradley Moolman, Courtnall Skosan.
Southern Kings:
15 Tiger Mangweni, 14 Norman Nelson, 13 Siyanda Grey, 12 Matthew Tayler-Smith, 11 Paul Perez, 10 Monty Dumond, 9 Jacques Coetzee, 8 Darron Nell, 7 Mpho Mbiyozo, 6 Devin Oosthuizen, 5 Barend Pieterse, 4 Rory Duncan (captain), 3 André Schlechter, 2 Hannes Franklin, 1 Jaco Engels.
Replacements: Jaco Fourie, Ronnie Uys, Riaan Vermeulen, Ross Kennedy, Lungelo Payi, Marlon Lewis, Shane Gates, SP Marais, Frank Herne.
Ek is ‘n sterk voorstaander van jy speel soos jy oefen, en vir die Bulle se VC/CB aspirasies lyk dit nie goed nie. Hoop maar net hul was oorgerus. Voorry was OK, slotte heeltemal te lig in die broek, loosies missing in action, agterlyn swak.
Enigste ligpunte: Jaco VDW en Fouche wat na ‘n beter opsie lyk as Brummer.
Jammer dat die Kings nie CB speel nie, sou goed vir hul gewees het.
OK, I’ve put up a game analysis…. see if you agree.
Goeie analise, GBS.
Bulle is seker omgekoop om die wedstryd te gooi ! 😉
The pace of the game impressed me though, from both sides.
Not having seen the Stormers / Lions match I cannot judge the difference between the pace of that warm-up and this one though.
Kings het goed gespeel, ek het gehou daarvan dat hul die bal so rondgooi. Hulle het hul balle ook beter beskerm en gleenthede afgerond.
Bulle se hande was swak, sal dit baie moet verbeter.
Weet nie of dit Kuun of die afrigters se roep was om heeltyd die dryfmaal bewegings te oordoen nie. Na 3 of 4 keer as dit nie werk nie, probeer jy iets anders. Kuun is ook nie koelkop genoeg vir kaptein nie.
Bulle moet wat die VC/CB betref, ‘n nuwe jong kaptein aanwys wat die span kan help bou vir die toekoms.
Ek groet, lekker slaap.
95@ bdb:
Bulle was nie geduldig genoeg nie, te veel 50/50 passes en geforseerde passes…. dis maar waar meeste van die kakkas vandaan gekom het.
Moet sê, Moses van der Westhuizen het hard probeer…. maar ek sou graag eerder vir Mangweni behou het.
Die Kings hettie sleg agterlyn spelers nie, hulle het in die Bulle se gesigte gepeel…. en daar’s nie ‘n gebrek aan spoed by hulle nie.
Aikona was maar baie blerrie stil en lyk moer stadig… Watermeyer en Dippenaar sal iets drasties aan hulle passing en opsies moet doen.
96@ bdb:
Cheers BiDiBiDi….
Gooooooooooooi Mieliessssssssss
naand se mense
look its nothi8ng to go by as its a bulls b team , but seriously a very poor showing by the youngsters and its not good for the bulls depth
bulls capt , fudge and jaco at FB were pathetic to say the least
Wel, ten minste het ons nie teen die Southern Queens verloor nie
(julle wie julle is 🙂 )
@ sharky_forever:
Ok Rudi just read your summary and agree 100% ,like i said in my previous post the bulls will be shaking their heads at the depth thats been shown up, agreed its early days and these games dont count for much , accept in this case
Here to me the juniors were meant to stick their hands up for the future , very few did, if any????
Again to me the bulls capt showed he is a stupid and for the most dirty player and did not lead by example, i think if memory serves me, you yourself told me this guys is a bit of a waste of time , if it was you ur right
I have said it before and i’ll say it again , brummer is not the future at 10 for the bulls , he is not a good kicker nor does he read play well
Anyhows sooner forgotten by the bulls and move on the better , i for one will not read to much into this game, as no doub t the bulls players i think thought lets just rock up easy game
Must say, having pondered the result of this game yesterday whilst braaiing and generally just dilly-dallying about the house, I’m not too concerned at all at the result.
The side which played here will provide very little to the Bulls as far as starting players are concerned, only Werner Kruger at tight head is a certain starter… and he was OK.
On the bench we might see Dean Greyling, who with much more solid locks behind him, should do better as well.
At looseforward CJ Stander was busy and I would have him on the bench rather than Küun.
At flyhalf Louis Fouché seems to be better and bigger and stronger than Brummer, with better natural feeling for distribution and option taking.
STefan Watermeyer should be the Bulls midfield bench option… he must just sort out his wayward passing and look to improve on taking better options.
Akona, Mastriet and Moses van der Westhuyzen does not bring much to the party at present, old Aikona is rusty as hell and currently slower than a snail…. there’s lots of work still needed, maybe at Vodacom Cup level at first….
Will be interesting to see how the real Bulls frontliners go… especially what the form of previously injured players like Fourie du Preez, Gurthro, Gary Botha, Dewald Potgieter, Deon Stegmann, Wynand Meisiekind & Gerhard van den Heever is like in the new season….
@ grootblousmile:
Good morning everyone
Rudi have to say i agree , hey of course i enjoyed the Bulls losing 😉 , but you know me well enough to know that was not a good bulls team , the real deal will be a very different story
What might concern you is the back-up that is not good for the most , i mean fudge mabetha was rubbish , yet he has been around for some time and kuun ? he is seriously worth it??
Nee wat, die doel van hierdie wedstryd is bereik, en dit is om te help om die Kings op die ‘map’ te sit.
Hoe meer ek daaraan dink, hoe meer sal ek nie verbaas wees as die Kings gevra het dat die Bulle hul B span stuur nie. Dink net wat se skade sou dit vir die Kings veroorsaak het as hul afgeslag sou word deur die Bulle se A span.
Soos King Solomon’s Mines na die tyd gesê het, hierdie wedstryd beteken niks vir die Bulle se SUPER 15 SEISOEN nie.
Dit gesê, moet die Bulle wel bietjie bekommerd wees oor hul reserwekrag en die volgende geslag opkommende spelers wat by die ‘ou manne’ sal oorvat na hierdie jaar. Daar is ‘n paar manne wat nou al ‘n paar jaar daar is, en hul moet nou ernstig begin hande opsteek, soos CJ Stander, van Velze, Snyman, Brummer, Watermeyer en Dippenaar. Nie een van hulle gryp die geleenthede aan nie. Hulle moet maar gaan, en plek maar vir jonger manne wat lus lyk vir rugby, soos Fouche, Skosan (?) en Bradley Moolman wat sommer baie lus gelyk het vir groot rugby, in die klompie minute wat hul opgekom het.
Met dié dat Nico Serfontein ook nou oor die Juksei geloop het, hoop ek die Bulle stel vir HM aan om ‘n nuwe geslag spelers af te rig vir die toekoms.
Hello again,
I only saw the last 50 minutes and all i can say is. I am glad the first game is 3 weeks away. Watch the team picking up momentum in the next 15 days.
It was anyway far to early in the season to expect a polished , smooth performance.
Hierdie span lyk beter:
Zane
Basson
Jaco P (sal oorweeg om vir Hougie hier te speel as hy reg is)
WO
VDH
MS
FDP
Spies
Dewald
Stegmann
Vic
Bakkies
Kruger
Gary
Guthro
Dean
Chili
Flip
Danie
Hougie/Jaco P
Fouche
Jaco VDW
@ bdb:
A good team but seriously JVDW ?? you have to be kidding??? that oke was useless on saturday
you problem lies at prop
if guthro for example has a bad imjury which he has every now and then the bulls will struggle up front
105: super, dit is seker so, maar die vraag is dan: dit was die Kings se eerste wedstryd van die seisoen, en hulle het na my mening ‘n ‘polished smooth performance’ gelewer. Dalk was hul net baie goed gemotiveerd, en die bulle het gedink dit gaan bloot net nog ‘n ‘oefenwedstryd’ wees, en toe kry hul ‘n onaangename verrassing !
Jammer dat Watson nog nie vir die Kings gespeel het nie, want dan sou die Bulle hoogs gemotiveerd gewees het ! 😉
107: ek dink hy was die enigste agterspeler wat iets probeer het saterdag vir die Bulle. Sal hom nog steeds as reserwe kies, soos julle vir Oupa Stefan aanhou kies.
@ bdb:
😆
you may be right biddi, still not sure though,
109
@ bdb:
Kyk die Kings het geoefen vir die games dit is hul peak. Miskien speel hulle nog n game of wat so goed. Die Bulle wil so teen week 2-7 glad speel.
Ek sal maar my mening gee van hierdie seisoen dan sien ons of ek n punt beet het.
Ek glo dat elke enkele span gaan die jaar twee hoogtepunte moet he, die tydsberekening van jou dip gaan die geheim wees.
sorry but oupa stefan still plays damn good rugby , and is still prolly the fittest man in SA rugby , compare apples with apples 😉
103@ sharky_forever:
Bulls depth is not such a problem… take your own example, Fudge Mabeta…. he is only 6th in line at the Bulls… that means there are 5 great locks in front of him, 4 of which are current Bokke.
Hookers…. no problem, 2 Springboks, one current and one (who is actually even better) former Springbok.
Props…. Gurthro is our best Loosehead in SA, yes even better than Beast and Werner Kruger has 2 Super Rugby Titles under the belt as well as a Bokke call up in late 2010. Depth after them is slightly suspect, but compare their depth to the rest and it’s about the same (Stormers, Lions, Cheetahs).
Loosies… no problem either, 3 current Springboks will run out as looseforward combo…. adequate cover in CJ Stander and Van Velze… and a youngster like Okkie Kruger waiting to break through.
Scrummies, no problem… 2 current Springboks in Fourie du Preez and Hougie.
Flyhalf…. the current incumbant match winning Springbok in Morné Steyn with a good new prospect in Louis Fouché in tow… not too shabby, Nige!
Centres… 2 Springboks in Wynand Olivier & Jaco Pretorius (not that Jaco is so good at all), but the DEPTH HERE is probably our biggest problem, was last season as well yet we took the title.
Wings…. Bjorn and Shadow… one current Springbok and the other a player many have touted as possible future Springbok (I don’t), with Aikona and some youngsters in the background.
Fullback…. Zane was the Bokke 1st choice in 2010, it seems and old Moses van der Westhuyzen was a Springbok, centuries ago. But still no serious problem, I’d leave Moses out altgether because Bjorn could fill in here as well, with Aikona then slotting in on wing, if needed.
@ superBul:
die geheim gaan wees om nie n dip te he nie 😆
113: onthou net die onderskeid wat ek maak, ek het ook geen sorge oor die S15 seisoen nie, dit gaan vir my oor die VC/CB span. Maar, laat die verskillende reekse eers begin, dan sien ons hoe die spanne vaar en kan dan sien of hierdie opwarmingswedstryd ‘n waarskuwende lig vir die Bulle se VC span is.
Super, gaan jy Saterdag Nelspruit toe vir die wedstryd ?
114: Ja, Stefan is die oudste fikste stadigste agterspeler in SA rugby ! 😉
@ bdb:
daar kom die blou bul stront in jou uit 😆
STEFAN IS BY FAR NOT THE SLOWEST BACKLINE PLAYER IN SA morne steyn for example is slower then him and so too akona to name but 2
115: wat van Hougaard op senter ? Ja, ons moet pasop om nie soos daai klomp van Durbs van hom ‘n Russel of F. Stain te maak nie, maar soos iemand genoem het, hy is te goed om op die bank te los.
118@ sharky_forever:
Ag kak man, as Stefan effe stadiger was het hy agteruit gehardloop….. hehehe
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