The 1st game up in a season of Super Rugby is never easy, but hell it was nice to sit in the Press Benches at Loftus Versfeld again watching Super Rugby!
Firstly, I have to complain bitterly about 2 things though…. the first being Pretoria Traffic Department’s abhorrent handling of the traffic around Loftus, before the match. Many people were still stuck in traffic after the match had started, not a first time occurence in Pretoria either.
Get yourselves sorted out Traffic Department, you are a blight on Pretoria!
Secondly I have to complain about 3G Internet coverage at Loftus! None of the Cell Networks allowed any workable Internet access for the scribes in the Press Boxes and with 45 000 supporters in the stands with their Cell Phones on, these Networks were all clearly overloaded. Note to myself, take this up with the Bulls… they in turn would have to take it up with their principle sponsors, Vodacom and the other Cell Networks, or else provide a working Wi-Fi Hotspot scenario for proper Internet Access.
For both the Vodacom Bulls and the DHL Stormers, this was not easy either! These 2 “Big Guns” went hammer and tongs with one another at Loftus Versveld on Friday evening 22 February 2013.
The Bulls won on the evening, by 25 / 17, bagging 4 Log Points and giving the Stormers no Log Points.
The First Half was dominated by the Bulls, with Morné Steyn and to some extent Francois Hougaard keeping the Stormers pinned deep in their own half, with exceptional tactical kicking and great awareness of where the space were behind the Stormers back 3.
Both the Stormers and Bulls competed well in the lineouts, with both sides managingg to steal opposition ball on a few occasions.
At the scrums the Bulls dominated, forcing penalties and in broken play and chasing ground ball, the Bulls also dominated.
Morné Steyn, dead-eye Dick at posts, punished the Stormers on 3 occasions, whilst Elton Jantjies was totally wayward with his attempts at goal, bringing the halftime score to 9 / 0 in favour of the Bulls.
After halftime Morné Steyn slotted another penalty, taking the score to 12 / 0 in favour of the Bulls, before eventually the Stormers re-grouped and starting to find some stride.
Jean de Villiers scored a dubious try in the left hand corner, after Bryan Habana came very close – just tackled and held short of the goal line. Jean de Villiers pounced on the loose ball and forced it down over the ruck. The TMO was called in to adjudicate whether a try had been scored and looked at 3 facets of play. Firstly he looked at Bryan Habana’s attempt to score and the tackle area there (which could easily have been ruled as Habana either playing the ball on the ground or making a double or tripple movement in the attempt to score). Secondly the TMO looked at the grounding by Jean de Villiers, whick appeared to be sound. The TMO also looked at a phase just prior to scoring where it was touch and go whether Nic Groom had knocked the ball, my opinion then and after having re-viewed the footage, is that he did indeed knock the ball ever so slightly.
That said, the try stood and Joe Pietersen, on as replacement for Gio Aplon, took over the goal kicking and slotted the conversion from very near touch. The score was now 12 / 7 in favour of the Bulls.
Not too long after, the Stormers, once again through Joe Pietersen got an easy attempt at goal, duly slotted, to bring the scores to 12 / 10.
Two Bulls penalties followed, taking the score to 18 / 10 in favour of the Bulls.
By now the Bulls were also convincing in attack.
Francois Hougaard tried to grubber a ball through, in order to follow up and score, about 5m from the Stormers line. Chiliboy Ralepelle was first to follow up though and scored just right of the poles.
This try was also referred to the TMO for adjudication and just like was the case with the Stormers earlier try, it was touch and go whether the try would be awarded. It initially looked like Chiliboy was in front of Francois Hougaard’s kicking foot but on detailed closer inspection the TMO ruled that the ball touched a Stormers player, Frans Malherbe, from Hougaard’s kick, thus placing Chiliboy Ralepelle onside to score.
So, I guess one could reason with conviction that the two dubious tries cancelled one another out.
By now the Bulls were leading 25 / 10.
The Stormers did not give up and threw everything at the Bulls, playing phase after phase in the Bulls 22 till the 2.08 m tall lock, Andries Bekker, who is often criticised for hanging around at centre and wing, took a gap, like a consumate centre, to crash through right in front of us in the Press Box. The attempt to convert was on song again by Joe Pietersen and the score was now 25 / 17 in favour of the Bulls.
Only a few minutes remained on the clock and the Bulls managed to close the game out without conceding any more points, bringing the final score after 80 minutes of gruelling rugby to 25 / 17 for the Bulls.
Morné Steyn was chosen as the Man Of The Match, for his flawless kicking performance and balanced overall performance.
We waited patiently for the after match Press Conferences. I prepared my Samsung Galaxy S 3 phone with built in Voice Recorder, to record the Audio of these pressers, for you folks… never anticipated that anyone would phone me during these Press Conferences… so I left the Cell Network running like normal on the phone… BIG MISTAKE!
A clearly unhappy Allister Coetzee with Jean de Villiers was up first and everything went smoothly until my phone started ringing, right in front of Allister, who promptly picked up my phone and with me jumping out of my seat to silence the bloody instrument. After silencing it and all laughing at me, the press conference continued.
You will note from the Audio clips below that the Stormers Press Conference is in 2 Parts…. well thank you very much Tanya van Niekerk, it is thanks to your untimely call!
Then it was the Bulls turn and Frans Ludeke and Pierre Spies were obviously elated at the result, yet very cautious to take too much out of the result, it being early days in the competition.
Here are the 3 Audio Clips, for your enjoyment:
Stormers – Part 1:
Stormers – Part 2:
Bulls:
Scorers:
Bulls:
- Penalties – Morné Steyn (6)
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – Chiliboy Ralepelle (1)
- Conversions – Morné Steyn (1)
Stormers:
- Penalties – Joe Pietersen (1)
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – Jean de Villiers (1), Andries Bekker (1)
- Conversions – Joe Pieteresen (2)
Teams:
Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Lionel Mapoe, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies (Captain), 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Juandrè Kruger, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Morné Mellett.
Replacements: 16 Willie Wepener, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Grant Hattingh, 19 Arno Botha, 20 Jano Vermaak, 21 Louis Fouché, 22 Francois Venter.
Stormers: 15 Jaco Taute, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jean de Villiers (Captain), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Rynhardt Elstadt, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 De Kock Steenkamp, 3 Pat Cilliers, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 Don Armand, 19 Nizaam Carr, 20 Dewaldt Duvenage, 21 Gerhard van den Heever, 22 Joe Pietersen.
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa), Stefan Breytenbach (South Africa)
TMO: Johan Greeff (South Africa)
Interesting to hear C say that the Stormers looked better with ball in hand and that they shouldn’t have been trying to match the Bulls at the kicking game. Morne was back at his best while Elton had a bad day with the boot and that was the main difference between the sides. The Bulls were not that much better, it’s more that the Stormers lost the game than the Bulls convincingly won it.
@ The_Young_Turk:
Meant AC above
Let me just make it clear that the Stompies were awful, their play sterile, aimless and error strewn. That said the Bools were not any more enterprising and while they should be happy with the win and Morne’s form, their performance left a lot to be desired. For a display of the top saffer teams it was very disappointing. The Stormpoppies have a massive hill to climb with 2 tough matches to come and they could very well end up with 0 points after 3 matches. On their weekends performance they would certainly deserve it.
I could write about this match till the cows come home, but I have neither the time nor the patience. Yes it was the first match of the season, and yes, there is a long way to go, and yes, the teams will improve. But we have to stop using this piss poor excuse at the beginning of the season. The teams are in a professional era. They have plenty of pre-season training and warm up matches. The should be hitting the competition running, as has been shown by the NZ, and to a degree, the Aussie sides. Not good enough in my book.
First up, Morne Steyn deserved MOM. No one else came close – that in itself says a lot, because he was no more than average, and was just doing his normal job. Jantjies should take the credit for making Steyn look so much better. Elton looked well out of his depth in this match.
Taking off our pink/blue or gay tinted spectacles for a moment, and looking at these two sides in the cold light of day, it looks like neither have moved on from last season. Both sides are still insisting on playing in a style that should have gone out at the end of the last decade. Neither side has moved on. Both are of the biggest and wealthiest unions in the country, yet neither seem to want to invest where it matters. The game has moved on, and whilst both side have a style of play that will always see them there, and there abouts, it is not enough to win the competition, or take the Boks forward.
Stepping back a moment from Fridays match, and looking at in perspective, it was without doubt the worst match of the opening S15 weekend proper – eclipsed even by the Kings/Force, and who would have thought we could say that. The Bulls played the better rugby of two side playing pretty average to poor rugby. Neither of these two sides will go on to win this competition unless they change their style. Yes, either of them may top the conference log, but after that – no chance.
I have stopped playing SuperBru. My reasoning? Simple. I felt that last year, my choice on Bru before the game was influencing how I looked at the game. This year, I want to try and take a step back and ask the question why the rest of the rugby playing world laugh at the styles played by these two teams. Why they know that we won’t win playing this style. Friday gave me a good insight. Not only was it not winning rugby, it is not nice rugby to watch. Tis isn’t the fast, flowing rugby that the powers that be are advocating, nor is it the type of rugby that the purists want to see. One side a jumping bean, and the other a very absorbent packet of cotton wool.
The Bulls won this match because Steyn was on form, and Jantjies was not. Simple as that. I can’t see either of these teams beating the top NZ teams, and perhaps even going down to a couple of the Aussies lot. THe Sharks, with their first half performance should walk both these two sides. The Stormers, my team, look hopeless. They should beat the Cheetahs, but I say that only because they have a team of better depth, anything could happen on the day. The Bulls will beat the Cheetahs. That leaves the Kings. Both sides should beat the Kings, but again that is only because they have the bigger, better players. Game style won’t win it thats for sure.
The Kings were a breath of fresh air. None of us expected that. Yes, they played the second worst team in the tournament, but that game plan with better players will see them go a lot further than the Bulls or the Stormers in the long run, mark my words.
Both sides have the players. Both sides have the potential, but both sides are going backwards.
Both sides need a better game plan. If that means that overseas coaches need to be brought in a la Sharks and Kings, so be it, because with what seems to be the ostrich headedness of our own coaches we simply won’t cut the mustard.
Every product needs to adapt and change with the times. Rugby is no different. The Bulls and Stormers seem intent on bucking the trend. Sad. Very sad.
4 @ Just For Kicks:
Jeeez, you can be such a sour poep when you want to be (and I mean it in the nicest possible way)…. hehehe
Anyway, everyone sees it differently I suppose, and you certainly have the right to see it your way.
Let me tell you how I saw the match…
I saw a much finer and better balance between defence and attack from both Bulls and Stormers, with the Stormers looking good on attack at times, compared to their sterility last season… and same with the Bulls, they certainly defended better.
I was pleasantly suprised and very happy with the Bulls defensive alignments as well as their emphasis at the breakdown battles and more emphasis placed on possession rugby.
Neither side is the finished article though, as you rightly point out.
We’ll both see what happens after the next match, Bulls have the Force at Loftus, whilst the Stormers have to face the Sharks – a heavy prospect.
These type of games between the Stormers and Bulls, far more pertinently reflects like Test-type rugby than it reflects champagne-type rugby… that is how seriously these 2 foes see each other. It was NEVER going to be free, open-flowing, try-ammassing rugby… not this derby, not between these 2 sides.
Having just wittnessed the Scotland / Ireland game… 12 / 8 scoreline, would you consider that hard yet dour game better than the Bulls / Stormers game? No, I certainly won’t, but it seems to be acceptable because it was Test Rugby in the Six Nations.
Anyway, I’ve always been a glass-half-full type of guy, the eternal optimist, so I tend to look for positives out of events….
@ grootblousmile:The Scot/Ire match was not a great spectacle either. The difference was that it was a game that kept you on the edge of your seat for 80 minutes, not bore one to sleep.
@ grootblousmile:
Agree with you on a far superior defense by the two SA teams.
If the 2 teams played either the Chiefs or The Highlanders, the 2 NZ teams would not have found so many gaps. The reason is that SA teams would commit to tighter defensive positions and would not have been spread out to run with the ball. So the fast ball , to run with would not have been there because the competition for the ball would have been fierce.
It is simply like GBS said two types of rugby, barbarian style or Test style.
The Bulls started of running from everywhere and looked spectacular , but they realized very fast that defense is still the Stormers main pillar. The adjusted immediately and played their trusted game and got the result they wanted.
6 @ Just For Kicks:
Friend, the Ireland / Scotland game was an error-ridden, dour game.
It was utter crap, apart from the fact that Scotland won… which suits your likes, whilst your Stormers lost, which does not suit your likes…. The Stormers loss is what I believe principally inspired your Comment No 5, no more, no less.
The Ireland / Scotland game kept me so on the edge of my seat that I found ample time to Update the Cricket Thread a few times, write the whole Bulls / Stormers match report, cut and edit the 3 sound clips of the after match pressers and answer a few mails inbetween, without missing anything in the Ireland / Scotland match.
Gaap!
Hell, Turkey even found time to go listen to what Allister had said and to comment on 2 occasions here on this article, whilst watching the Scotland / Ireland match. I would not be surprised if additionally he had time for a young bella too…
As a totally neutral outsider let me throw my tuppence worth in on the weekend’s Rugby.
1. Bulls – Stormers: Stormers looked like a pick up side down at the local club. No cohesion and it looked like they had no game time whatsoever under the belt.
The Bulls played their old stoic brand of effective Rugby that will never win over anyobe who’s blood is not “blue”, but it worked ok on the day.
Morne Steyn controlled the game well and this alone was enough to guarantee the points. (Except of course for Jantjies dismal kicking which I’ll come to in a moment.)
Notwithstanding the poor play of the Cape boys, I have to ask myself what they have done to Jantjies and Taute.
Both seem to have bulked up considerably since leaving the Lions, and IMO it is to their detriment. MUSCLES DONT MEAN EVERYTHING.
Jantjies looked decidedly off balance whilst kicking, and I attribute that to his weight gain and hence mass distribution having changed.
Taute seemed to have lost all of his old speed, and again, muscle induced IMO.
Now to my biggest problem with this game.
SANZAR AND THE STORMERS CONTINUE TO ROB THE PAYING PUBLIC OF ONE OF THE MOST CRUCIAL ASPECTS OF RUGBY UNION!
Why does the rest of the Rugby playing world use a 23 man mach day squad, while SANZAR use only 22?
In competitions in Europe if all of a teams 4 props are unable to continue due to injury there are serious repurcussions for the offending team.
On Friday evening the Bulls scrum were decidely superior to the Stormers. Young Mellet bought the turncoat Pat Cilliers back down to earth and he was subsequently substituted. However soon thereafter he was forced back onto the field on the loose head side of the scrum. My immediate comment to those watching with me was that uncontested scrums were only moments away.
Lo and behold, less than 2 minutes later, Cilliers took a “knock” and the dreaded happened.
Now, many will say that this was just coincident, but a serial offender, (the Stormers) remains a serial offender, and no amount of arguement will change my opinion.
As the people paying the salaries of those at SANZAR and SARU, the public have a right to see full and complete games, not watered down excuses because one particular side can’t scrummage for 80 minutes without their props having the opportunity to examine their own hemaeroids without the aid of a mirror!
CORRECT THE PLAYING CONDITIONS SANZAR!
2. Cheetahs – Sharks:
Firstly let me say that I only saw the second half, and that the pitch looked the worst I have ever seen at a SR game in SA.
Obviously I can only comment on what I saw, and there wasn’t much from a quality point of view.
Sharks scrum was VERY strong, but heir team seemed woefully unfit and lacking of match practice.
At one stage there was a ruck near approx’ 15m in from the touchline, and the Sharks players not in the ruck were all bundled within 10m of the ruck with no defensive lines whatsoever.
Cheetahs played their normal running game but there were just far too many errors.
What I saw of the game didn’t impress me from a Rugby point of view, but I can see that the Sharks should develop into a formidable unit as the competition develops. That though may not be good enough, A team needs to be on top of their game from the first round. If they’re not, they may well end up rueing it like the Sharks did last season, having to circumnavigate the globe a few times in as many weeks in order to make the final.
3. Kings – Force
Pehaps the Force should change their name to Farce!
Only one word can describe their 2 SR performances thus far. CRAP.
Having said that, the Kings still needed to win it, so congratulaions to them.
In reality, I’ve seen better structured Rugby from 3rd division second sides than I saw in this game. The starting hookers were both absolutely abysmal at throwing the ball into the line-out and didn’t do enough of anything else to warrant inclusion into any team at this level.
The backline play of the Force was absolutely rubbish, and the aimless kicking from both sides was, well aimless I guess.
I think these 2 teams will in all likelihood be contesting for the wooden spoon, but at least the Kings have won one and sit on top of the SA conference, albeit at this early stage.
I suppose we’ll be hearing for their mass inclusion into the SA National team practice group shortly, but I think a rude awakening may await them in 2 weeks time after their bye next week.
The Sharks await them, and the migration from KZN to Algoa Bay may just prove a feasting ground for the Durban lads.
All in all, IMO SA Rugby is lagging behind the NZ level by a good few percentage points, and I fear that as it currently stands, even the top Aviva and French clubs would more than give our SR teams a run for their money.
The Aussies clearly don’t have enough depth for 5 SR teams, amd maybe not even 4.
IMO the whole worldwide Rugby Union season and competition schedule needs a rethink.
Possibly linked along time zones with the top British and European teams competing with the top SA sides, and the NZ and Aus franchises competing along with the Pacific Island sides?
SR has become stale. I for one am bitterly dissapointed at the quality dished up by the first 2 weeks of competition.
Not a bad start to the Super Rugby Tournament, pretty much what I expected, except for the Kings v Force result. Congrats to the Kings, very impressed with their first game, not a bad start at all. Still won’t support them though. Is it safe to say that the Force was beaten by a Currie Cup First Division team? If so, it must be extremely embarrassing for the Ozzies… in which case I-like-it-allot!!
Agree with GBS, Bulls vs WP/Stormers always test-match-like rugby, don’t expect champagne rugby. The Cheetahs vs Sharks game was pretty exciting, esp with the wife going nuts… Was fun to watch!!
@ Just For Kicks@4:
Maaaaate, I can not agree with you more. There is no forward movement in our rugby and denial is not going to bring us anywhere. Yes, SA rugby has a unique style but in 1952 Craven took is charges to the UK and played a running game par excellence. Don’t tell me we can’t play like that the rules are different and benefit the team running with the ball. Scrums and line-out and defnce have structures so has the breakdown and running rugby. Why can we believe in structures of the set piece and kicking game to the point of self-destruction and reject the idea that running rugby also has fundamentals that need to be mastered.
Our coaches and players are scared of change and don’t know the fundamentals/structures of the running game. Another problem is that we selcet players that are suited for the set piece 10-man game and then we try and play running rugby with them. Our loose forwards are to big and slow and our centres are buldozers and not fleetfooted enough for the running game. Our locks are lineout specialist who can not run with a ball and our props can hardly catch and pass a ball. Our flyhalfs have poor speed of the mark and have no idea how to put players next to him in space. Our fullbacks are chosen for their ability to kick a ball into outer space and not for their ability to join the backline. This problem starts in high school so the fleet footed little ball players get left on the sideline and go and play cricket or hockey.
If you don’t mind I am going to copy our remarks here and posts it on my website.
@ Scrumdown:
Morning SD. I thought that 1 of the rule changes this year was that ALL teams (i.e. in any rugby comp in the world) had to have a full front row on the bench? Uncontested scrums are an abomination and completely ruin the game, and I agree with your comments.
Thanks for putting up the post with sound bits and all GBS, especially useful for those of us who didn’t get to see the game, reading through the ongoing comments through the game and some after match ones as well as the Stormers press conference doesn’t sound like it was the best of games but hey BULLS WON!!! Nice to get that out of the system
Regarding your complaints GBS, I bet you were wishing when you phone went off during the presser that the Cell coverage was as bad as it had been for the 3G, they should really tell you all to put your phones off during the conferences
From the Stormers press conference was odd to hear Mr Coetzee say something along the lines of with it being a first game they didn’t know what to expect of the team, I know they have brought in quite a few players but surely as head coach YOU set the standards and you should have known exactly what you expect for your team and your team should be up to speed right from the start. Also heard someone, coach or captain de Villiers saying they will have to go back and do a lot of hard work, what has been going on during pre-season preparations then if you don’t know what to expect and now feel you have to go and work hard at ironing the problems out? Possibly also a concern for Stormers fans will be Jean de Villiers mentioning that the Stormers got some points out of every game enroute to topping the table last year, so already a bit of a step back to come away from Loftus empty handed and possible although us Bulls didn’t get any bonus points and only scored 1 try this is a big victory in denying Stormers any points for losing too.
9 @ Scrumdown:
Hello Scrumdown nice to hear a neutral’s perspective on the Bulls/Stormers game too, during the press conference the Stormers seemed to allude them losing the ball a lot with the Bulls earning way more turnovers, how much of this did you think was down to good work in the loose by Stegmann or was it all just Stormers poor play? Also share you views on the 23 man squad, I asked the question just a few days ago about that as I was surprised to see Super rugby was still stuck with 22 even though we have been playing up north in our competitions with 23 and the end of year tours were played with 23. Only question I have though is on this bit “In competitions in Europe if all of a teams 4 props are unable to continue due to injury there are serious repurcussions for the offending team.” do you know of any fines or such that have been handed out for this, why I ask is that Glasgow Warriors have had a terrible run of injuries to props this season, so much so that they got special dispensation to play at least one (I think could have even been two) pro12 games with 22 players and only 2 front row replacements, but am not awar what price if any they had to pay for it. Fortunately though for Glasgow things are looking better on the front row injuries again and they have been up to 23 again recently.
6 @ Just For Kicks:
jokes aside though I think the atmosphere must have been superb we really have to get you here for a 6 nations games GBS, and JFK we will have to meet at Murrayfield for a 6 nations games – lets try and plan for next year’s.
8 @ grootblousmile:
I thought that the Scotland/Ireland game got really exciting especially as it was so close, but then I was not a neutral watching and of course I was pleased to see my team pull off a really good victory coming from behind.
Anyways GBS if your were doing so many of those things during the game then you surely couldn’t have seen much of the game and maybe by coincidence whenever you looked up there were errors
Also GBS I think you said you picked Ireland to win by 11 – you bad man how could you – anyway for Ireland to win by 11 they at least needed to score 11
Last thing on this one is a quote from a new fan who was at the game :”Stayed in same hotel (Apex) as the team, so unreal seeing the rugby players passing you in the corridors. We managed to get one photo with Sean Lamont, what a nice polite person he was, certainly made our day getting that photo. So thank you very much Sean. And Scotland winning was of course the icing on the cake! Well done to the team. This was my first rugby match,what an awesome experience for me and my friends … big fan now!!!” – surely as real rugby men you guys will be chuffed to read that someone who was there for the first time was really taken by the whole experience and is now another fan added to our game and big thumbs up to Scotland on and off the field!
19 @ Bullscot:
As far as I am aware, the rules stated that the team not able to compete at the scrum because of a lack of Props would concede all possession at scrum time with a free kick to the opposition.
I don’t know if that was implemented or has ever happened.
I’ll check on the IRB website later and see what they have o say about it.
One thing’s for sure, the Stormers milk the situation at every opporunity.
As far as your other question, I thought the Stormers were just so woefully off the pace that it was actually quite easy for the Bulls to win ball and generally disrupt the mountain goat’s play.
Stormers looked like they were still in practice game mode for the first 30 mins IMO.
It baffles me how a team can go into the first week of competition as undercooked as the Stormers were. Poor management I guess.
20 @ Bullscot:
Great to hear of a convert to Rugby Union.
Now about all those prats in Liverpool and Manchester……
21 @ Scrumdown:
Thanks for that Scrumdown will try and keep an eye out for that one in up coming games about the free kick, but I guess with that law in place all of a sudden none of the teams during the game will have problems that will mean uncontested scrums, don’t think I saw the Glasgow games where they went it, with permission, with only 22 players but I gues if they did need uncontested scrums due to Glasgow they wouldn’t have had the free kicks against them as the powers that be sanctioned it, or maybe that could have been the conditions under which they got permission to do it in the first place.
Ok I am a big fan of Stegmann so hearing about the turnovers it is natural to think that is what a fetcher does so hoped it was down to his play anyway but as didn’t watch the game didn’t just want to assume it was all down to him having a blinder of a game.
22 @ Scrumdown:
Yeah is good to hear about more folk tuning in to rugby thats why when I read that quote thought it would be nice to share it here. But it is also possible to like both football and rugby
bullscot @ 24
no its not!! 😀
25 @ Ashley:
Anyway, sorry for your pain but thanks for the 4 points, 5 would have been better though but 4 will do for now 
Hello Ash, this is where we go to Christmas pantomine time and answer “OH YES IT IS!” and you go “OH NO ITS NOT!”
24 @ Bullscot:
The Comprehensive school I went to in Coventry certainly didn’t think so, and so consequently I still struggle to sit through 90 minutes of Association Football.
And as for that 13 man game played “up North”, if you were caught even talking about it at Binley Park Comprehensive you got your arse warmed with a Cricket bat or Hockey stick.
No place for “that lot” in Rugby Union country.
27 @ Scrumdown:
as much as I like football even if my team are struggling would prefer it if more schools up here were a bit like your old comprehensive and had rugby at school, not to the exclusion of football but in addition. As for rugby league its not a game I’ve taken too, to watch a 5 minutes highlights package where you see all the running and passing and try scoring in a short time is good but man to sit through a whole game of carry up stop stand over the ball pass, bash/carry up … I think for four times then only you have to make a choice on what to do and often its kick, nah not for me
14 @ McLook:With pleasure.
28 @ Bullscot:
Looked at the IRB website and found out the following:
Where 23 players are provided for in Rule 3.1.4 “Union Specific Variations”, when a team cannot replace a front row player and uncontested scrums are then allowed, the PLAYER CANNOT BE REPLACED.
So there is no loss of possession but rather the offending team is forced to play with 14 players.
I still haven’t found out why SANZAR haven’t gone over to the 23 man squad. Will continue looking.
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