The Toyota Cheetahs delivered their best performance of the Vodacom Super Rugby season when they won comfortably against the DHL Stormers in an exciting local derby, but the Vodacom Bulls and Cell C Sharks were kept try-less as they ended up on the losing side in Round 11.
The team from Central South Africa and the Capetonians were involved in an thrilling derby where the most tries were scored this season. The Toyota Cheetahs won this encounter in Bloemfontein on Saturday afternoon by 35-22, outscoring the visitors by five tries to three.
It was the most tries scored against the DHL Stormers in a local derby since the Cell C Sharks and Vodacom Bulls put five and seven respectively past them in 2007.
Earlier on Saturday, the Vodacom Bulls had to battle the elements and Sias Ebersohn’s boot in Perth. The Force beat the visitors from Pretoria by 15-9 in a kick-fest where no tries were scored.
sarugby
It was the first time ever the Vodacom Bulls had failed to score a try in two consecutive matches as they went without a victory on an Australasian tour for the first time since 2008.
And the Cell C Sharks, despite losing their first home match of the season by 34-18 against the Highlanders on Friday evening, managed to hold on to their top spot on the log. They’ve since departed on their Australasian tour and know they will have to improve a lot from this defeat if they are going to be successful Down Under.
The Lions had a bye this weekend and have also made the trek across the Indian Ocean where their overseas tour kicks off next week.
Cell C Sharks (12) 18 / 34 (24) Highlanders:
The Cell C Sharks looked a bit lethargic as they delivered probably their worst performance of 2014 when the Highlanders, full of life upon arriving in South Africa, became the first team to beat the KwaZulu-Natalians in Durban this season.
The home team lost by 34-18 in a match most supporters at Growthpoint Kings Park will want to forget as soon as possible. Their team was outscored by four tries to zero in only their second defeat of the season.
The Highlanders basically had the result sewn up at the break, in which time they had scored three tries. But the Cell C Sharks refused to give up. The home team looked sharp early in second half and fought back from 24-12 down to 24-18, but the fact that they didn’t finish their chances cost them dearly.
However, when Malakai Fekitoa waltzed through for the Highlanders’ only try after the break – from one of their very few opportunities, mainly thanks to slack defence from the home team – it was game over.
This was the first time since May last year, when they went down to the Reds, that the Cell C Sharks leaked four tries in a Vodacom Super Rugby match.
Scorers:
Cell C Sharks:
- Penalty goals: Tim Swiel (6)
Highlanders:
- Tries: Shane Christie (1), Richard Buckman (1), Aaron Smith (1), Malakai Fekitoa (1)
- Conversions: Lima Sopoaga (4)
- Penalty goals: Lima Sopoaga (2)
Force (9) 15 / 6 (9) Vodacom Bulls:
The Force won a kick-fest in a wet Perth by 15-9 over the Vodacom Bulls, who returned to South Africa winless from a Vodacom Super Rugby tour for the first time in six years.
Because of the bad weather, both teams used the boot most of the time to gain territorial advantage. Attacking opportunities were limited, but the fact that the Force made fewer mistakes is probably the reason they won.
The Vodacom Bulls did have a few chances, but looked flat on the attack. Their kicking game, usually pretty good, also let them down on a day where it needed to fire.
They were brilliant at line-out time and poached more than a third of the Force’s throw-ins, which begs the question why didn’t the visitors kick the ball out more often? The Vodacom Bulls’ scrum was also very solid, but they missed too many tackles and knocked the ball on too often.
In the end, the kicking boots of Sian Ebersohn, Jacques-Louis Potgieter and Handré Pollard, who between them slotted eight from eight, were the only telling factors in this match which will not be remembered for too long.
Scorers:
Force:
- Penalty goals: Sias Ebersohn (5)
Vodacom Bulls:
- Penalty goals: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (2), Handré Pollard (1)
Toyota Cheetahs (20) 35 / 22 (10) DHL Stormers:
It was a try-fest at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein where the Toyota Cheetahs had too much firepower as they beat the DHL Stormers by 35-22 on Saturday afternoon.
A total of eight tries were scored, five of those going to the home team, who used their opportunities better and also showed some improvement on defence.
The DHL Stormers started the match very well when Juan de Jongh was held up over the line shortly after the kick-off, but from ensuing scrum Nizaam Carr burst over under the sticks.
Thereafter the Toyota Cheetahs awoke from their initial slumber and scored three great first-half tries – by Hennie Daniller, Rayno Benjamin and Willie le Roux – to go into the break leading by 20-10.
The DHL Stormers narrowed the gap to 23-15 after an hour when Devon Williams rounded off, but the Toyota Cheetahs were not done yet. First Cornal Hendricks rounded off after a turn-over close to their line with the visitors hot on the attack, and four minutes later Trevor Nyakane crashed over to put the result beyond any doubt.
The Capetonians had the last say when Springbok captain Jean de Villiers scored his team’s third try, but it was too little, too late for the visitors, who swapped places at the bottom of the log with the Toyota Cheetahs after this defeat.
Scorers:
Toyota Cheetahs:
- Tries: Hennie Daniller (1), Rayno Benjamin (1), Willie le Roux (1), Cornal Hendricks (1), Trevor Nyakane (1)
- Conversions: Elgar Watts (2)
- Penalty goals: Elgar Watts (2)
DHL Stormers:
- Tries: Nizaam Carr (1), Devon Williams (1), Jean de Villiers (1)
- Conversions: Peter Grant (1), Kurt Coleman (1)
- Penalty goal: Peter Grant (1)
Other results – Round 11:
Blues 21 / 13 Waratahs (Auckland)
Brumbies 41 / 23 Chiefs (Canberra)
Hurricanes 35 / 21 Reds (Wellington)
Ek weet ons rugby is deurmekaar… maar ek loop die volgende op Facebook raak… dit is deurmekaar, my vrinne!
Check hier!!
Liewe Dokter Murray
My pa en ek woon saam in ‘n woonstel en ons het ‘n radio en ‘n TV. Hy is ‘n wewenaar en ek is ongetroud. Onder ons woon ‘n weduwee en haar dogter, albei baie mooi en sonder ‘n radio of TV. Hulle kom kuier gereeld by ons en ek raak toe verlief op die weduwee. Ons trou toe uiteindelik.
Intussen raak my pa verlief op die dogter en hulle trou toe ook. Net daar begin my probleme. Omdat my pa met die dogter van my vrou getroud is, (ook my dogter), is my dogter nou my ma. Ek is ook terselfdertyd haar pa, omdat ek met haar ma getroud is. Verder is my pa my vrou se skoonseun en ek is dus sy skoonpa omdat ek met die ma van sy vrou getroud is.
Toe kry my vrou ‘n seuntjie. Dit is ook my seun en die broer van my skoondogter, omdat sy die dogter van my vrou is. Die seuntjie is ook ek en my pa se swaer. Ek is dus my eie seun se neef en ook die neef van my skoondogter, omdat sy my seun se suster is. Daarom is my skoonma ook my tannie.
Toe kry my pa se vrou ook ‘n seuntjie en hy word dus my broer. My seun is oom van my kleinkind, omdat hy die broer van my dogter is. My vrou is sy ouma grootjie, want sy is die kind van haar dogter. Ek is dus sy oupagrootjie. Aangesien die oupa grootjie van my broer ook myne is, is ek dus my eie oupagrootjie!
Dokter moet asb help, Wie is ek nou eintlik? Ek drink deesdae onbeheersd en sukkel met selfvertroue. Wie de fok is ek nou eintlik en hoe beland mens in so ‘n spul kak?
Help tog.
Willem
Although it was the battle of the basement, Cheetahs v Stormers was still a very enjoyable game to watch.
Pity that the Bulls couldn’t get the 1 win on tour, but the loss of Stegmann and Potgieter really hit them harder than they planned for.
Sharks was the major surprise, I’m sure not many, myself included, expected them to lose at home after the start they had.
The manner in which they lost, 4 tries to 0 ,must be the biggest concern to their supporters though.
They started with an all round game plan and have steadily regressed to a more defensive and kick orientated game plan. The loss of Lambie did hit them hard and plays a major roll, but Jake has the option of playing Frans at 10 if he wants to go back to a more balanced game. It’s his choice not to do so.
1 @ grootblousmile:
Sounds a bit like the Lions’ Exco’!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just reading Sarugbymag and sports24. Has anyone here read what the ne wSuper Rugby format will look like? It is toally really rubbish if we use that format. I for one will totally not be interested any longer.
Damn and I am one for us staying with Oz and NZ but honestly that is a crap crap crap format if they decide to do it. Then we have to go north as it would be even more rubbish than the format they have now…
@ Puma:
Typo.. 🙄 toally = totally
GBS put a article up on the new SR format that might come in for 2016.
See Rugby365 also have it up. Damn it is even worse format than we have now. I will no longer watch any of it if we go that daft route. Want it back ro how ir was when we play each team once. No way do we want to
Play less kiwi sides.
Ek haat dit wanneer mense hulle onnosel hou met simpel vrae wat my teen die mure uit kan dryf!
Net nou die dag gaan koop ek ‘n sak EPOL hondekos by Pick ‘n Pay en ewe, terwyl ek so in die ry staan, vra ‘n vrou agter my of ek ‘n hond het.
Nou kyk, net daar voel dit asof my derms draai van kwaadgeid, en my brein begin skree soos staalwol teen ‘n swart bord.
Sommer aspris, sê ek vir haar, “Nee ek het nie ‘n hond nie – ek begin met die EPOL dieët.”
Sy lyk toe nogal soos die basterbrak in ons straat, terwyl sy haar kop draai en my snaaks aanloer, maar ek gaan ewe aan:
“Eintlik weet ek dat ek nie weer op die dieët moet gaan nie, laaskeer het ek in die hospitaal beland. Ek het wakker geword in intensieweeenheid met pype wat in en uit elke gaaitjie in my lyf uitkom.”
Sy staar my aan met ‘n mengsel van skok en belangstelling terwyl ek aangaan. “Maar ek het 22kg verloor in drie weke en dit was beslis die moeite werd.”
Ek gaan toe aan en vertel haar dat die EPOL dieët eintlik volledig voedsaam is met al die vitamiene en minerale wat mens nodig het vir elke dag. En hoe mooi my hare deesdae blink.
Haar oë hardloop oor my voorkop na my boskaas en ek voel die simpel ironie dat sy glo. Ja sowaar, glo sy als wat ek sê!!
Ek gaan aan om haar te vertel; al wat jy doen is om jou broeksakke vol te maak met EPOL soggens en jy eet een of twee wanneer jy ookal honger voel. Hulle swel mos 5x hulle grootte uit en vul jou magie sommer vinnig! Dit is so maklik!
Teen hierdie tyd luister al wat ‘n persoon is na my storie – veral die man wat agter die uitvraerige vrou staan.
Heel geskok vra die vrou my toe of ek in die hospital beland het van voedselvergiftiging.”
Ek antwoord haar toe ewe kalm en verbaas: “Nee”, sê ek “ek het in die straat gesit en my gat gelek, toe ry ‘n kar my raak.”
EK DOG DIE OU AGTER HAAR KRY ‘N HARTAANVAL VAN DIE LAG!
SIMPEL VROU – NOU VRA EK? VIR WIE DINK SY KOOP EK DIE VERDOMDE HONDEKOS!!!!!!
@ Puma:
I agree with you Puma. I don’t like it either. They should get rid of the double derbies, now they will play less international games. Argentina and Asia teams will add no value to Superugby, infact it will devalue it even more. Superugby should involve less teams, but only the best. Local competitions should be held first and only the top 2 teams from each country should qualify for superugby.
Feb-April should be Currie cup
May-June Superugby
July incoming tours
August-September Rugby championship
October outgoing tours
Nov-Jan Off-season
8 @ leon:
Leon did you rea waht they are suggesting for the new format of SR? Well boet if they go that way no way will I ever be interested in SR again. I will qatch none of it.
Imagine if Stormers, Bulls, Sharks and Cheetahs are in one pool and Lions ,Kings,asia and Arg in the other pool? It will never work. Also one pool misses all the kiwii sides and one plays the Aussies one year. Who thought of that rubbish format? Itwill neverwork. it is totally rubbish.
8 @ leon:
Ignore all my tyos as using the iPad andamuseless on this thing.
Jeez even typos there. Will go to my pc in my study as soon as painters are done there. Much easier for meon my pc…
If they go with that format in 2016 for SR I will not watch any of it only Currie Cup.
@ Puma@9:
Yes, I’ve seen the new format. Total rubbish. This could be the excuse I’m looking for to get rid of DSTV and getting more involved with local club rugby again.
13 @ leon:
I am with you Deon. If we get that format to watch I too will get rid of my dstv as the only thing on there worth watching is the sport and Sky News. I will no longer support watching SR only Currie Cup.
I think players will move to NHto playtheir rugby huge numbers, even more than we we areseeing now. That will make our rugbyweaker if we accept a useless formatlike that.
I want to see my team play all the kiwi sides and if they are stuck with the Aussie sides one year honestly don’t see many watching. Our stadiums will get less supporters than they getting now. SARU need to wake up
leon wrote:
Can’t think of a better thing to do with one’s time than spend it at the local Rugby club.
Puma wrote:
We’ve been saying that for as long as i’ve been blogging, and still nothing happens.
Just a pity there are no “fire in the belly” administrators in SA anymore.
Louis Luyt and Doc Craven must be turning in their graves watching the corrumpt spineless bunch of fools we have running SA Rugby at the moment.
@ Puma@15:
Yes, if we want to keep our best players in SA we need:
A: a Super competition that has a reputation of being the toughest and best rugby competition there is. a Player must feel that he hasn’t played rugby until he played in this competition.
B: They must pay the best money. For this they will have involve France and the UK somehow. Argentina and Asia cannot bring this to the table. They just take away money that could have kept players in SA.
SARU are so occupied with pleasing politicians that they totally miss what the players and supports want and need. I blame them for this new crap format.
18 @ leon:
Okay on my pc in the study now so less typos….hehe.
Another thing is Oz and Nz play each other for the whole season we only get to play them in the last bit. Then only the teams that make the play offs. Oz and Nz rugby will be stronger for it ours will not be. Sorry this is a real mess up by SARU that they have accepted this utter crap format. It seems it will be the new format as I read on The Roar and Rugby365 it has been leaked and this is what we will get come 2016. Well the Saffa supporters will not be happy with this I can tell you that. Sure less travel but we on this side will play a diluted SR tourney without all playing the kiwi sides. I am not for it not one bit and will lose total interest that I have in SR. As it is this new format we playing now I have lost a bit of interest to the way it was before. The next one coming in 2016 will leave me not watching it at all.
SARU and DSTV can get lost really I have no interest at all after SR next year. Would rather watch paint dry which I have done for so many weeks with the painters here…. 😆
17 @ Scrumdown:
You know me boet I never swear on the blogs or in life well hardly. But really SARU can go get stuffed. I will not be watching a diluted format from 2016. I want to see my Sharks and all Saffa sides play every team in this tourney once and only once until they reach the semi and final. Like the old format was.
This is a utter crap format they throwing to us supporters. We not daft and will not fall for it.
17 @ Scrumdown:
SARU are spineless boet for sure.
New Super Rugby format unveiled
As there is no article on this. Here is the new SR format for 2016.
Have copied this from Supersport.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
New Super Rugby format unveiled
by Gavin Rich 30 April 2014, 13:44
Vodacom Super Rugby will undergo a major revamp in 2016 with an 18-team format and four-conference system set to be unveiled over the next few days.
The Sanzar partners were due to make an announcement this coming Monday, with the tender process for an as yet to be confirmed franchise to be outlined then, but Australian Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver spilled the beans to Australian media on Tuesday.
South Africa will have two of the four conferences under the new format, with the six local franchises being joined by an Argentine side plus the as yet unconfirmed franchise that could be based anywhere in the world. It would be preferred if the additional franchise was based somewhere roughly on a similar time zone to South Africa, but the main criteria will be money, playing strength/potential and logistics, in that order.
The South African conferences will be made up of four teams each, with the sides playing home and away against each other initially before moving into a five-team cross conference phase of the tournament against teams in the Australasian conferences. The Australasian conferences will be divided in a New Zealand and Australian section made up of five teams each.
After that the teams will play across conference against the other teams in their conference system. In other words, if the Bulls start off in the same conference as the Cheetahs, Kings and the team from Argentina, they will play those teams on a home and away basis at the start of the season and will then play either the five teams in the Australian conference or the New Zealand conference, with two matches away and three at home or vice-versa.
They will then conclude by playing the teams in the other South African conference, eg Stormers, Sharks, Lions and the tto-be-announced team in one off games, with two of those matches being played at home and two away. Who the teams play away and who they play at home will alternate on an annual basis, as will the number of away games when the teams play against Australasian franchises.
There are integrity problems related to the new tournament in that not all teams will play each other and some sides will end up with more difficult schedules than others. For instance, a side will play only against teams in one Australasian conference in a specific year, meaning that the Bulls will face either all the New Zealand teams or all the Australian teams, but there won’t be a mix.
The following year, the team will face the franchises that they didn’t play in the 2016 season. The drawback of this is that in a year where the Australian conference is weaker than the New Zealand one it will mean the sides playing the Australian ones will be advantaged. The New Zealand and Australian teams will also not play home and away against all the other teams in their respective conferences.
However that disadvantage is outweighed by the positives of having fewer games – 15 as against the previous 16 – in the league phase of the competition, and also the significantly diminished travel schedule for the South African teams. Playing two games in Australasia, which means they could be away for as little as one and a half weeks, is a significant step forward in comparison to the current system which sees local sides spending up to five weeks on the road.
South African players are said to be eager to embrace matches in Argentina, which would happen just once a season. It is a relatively short flight from Johannesburg to Buenos Aires, and teams can leave South Africa on a Tuesday and be back home by the following Sunday or Monday.
There will be more games – 44 – in South Africa under the new format, but that is explained by the addition of the sixth franchise. New Zealand and Australia will be hosting slightly fewer games than before.
In the new format eight teams will advance to the finals stage, with four sides playing each other in the quarterfinals, followed by a semifinal and a final.
The new format has been extensively worked through with the player associations in the Sanzar countries and will be welcomed because of the significantly smaller travel component for all players.
NEW SUPER RUGBY FORMAT EXPLAINED
SOUTH AFRICAN CONFERENCES
CONFERENCE 1 (teams as examples, conferences not finalised)
Sharks
Lions
Cheetahs
Argentina team
CONFERENCE 2
Bulls
Stormers
Southern Kings
Team to be confirmed (possibly Asian)
The teams in these conferences will start the season playing within their conference, in other words against the other three teams on a home and away basis. They will then proceed to the next phase of the season, which will see them play either the five teams in the New Zealand conference or the Australian conference.
AUSTRALASIAN CONFERENCES
NEW ZEALAND CONFERENCE
Highlanders
Blues
Crusaders
Chiefs
Hurricanes
AUSTRALIAN CONFERENCE
Rebels
Reds
Waratahs
Western Force
Brumbies
After this phase the teams in SA conference 1 will play against the teams in SA conference 2, meaning another four games, with two of them being played at home and two away.
Eight teams go into Finals phase.
The top four teams will proceed straight to the semifinals, with the other four sides (the means of arriving at those still to be determined) playing in the quarterfinals.
I think our best players will be leaving after world cup 2015 especially knowing they have this crap SR to play. Saru are useless for sure.
I dont know why you guys are blaming SARU, they wanted the sixth team at all costs. AT ALL COSTS.
I really dont know how else a sixth local team could be accommodated.
This is a farkup of note. SA gets its sixth team and the Aussies and Kiwis get to keep our broadcast money and reduce their travel. The problem is that most SA rugby fans aren’t interested in the sixth team – only Cheeky Watson and certain individuals in the SA government are. And SA teams face the prospect of having to travel not only to Argentina, but also to a yet to be determined location “anywhere in the world”. What a mess. If anyone was in any doubt that we should scrap Super Rugby and play in Europe then this should settle it. The format gets worse and worse each time they mess with it. It has hardly been worth watching since it stopped being called Super 12.
We get a glorified Currie Cup (which will complement our existing Currie Cup nicely 🙄 )with the addition of an Argentinian team and (most likely) a Japanese team – and continue to contribute nearly half of the broadcast money – while the kissing cousins play with each other?! 👿
Puma wrote:
Hi Puma, Mehrtens (according to an article we had here recently) was suggesting that New Zealand and Australia should pull out of Super rugby and play against each other in a competition, mmmm reading your post maybe he had some information…
Puma wrote:
so quite a change but not quite what quite what Mehrtens was hankering after as there would still be games between SA and Australasian franchises, although admittedly far fewer than currently is the case.
27 @ kaksioek:
You probably have guessed right there about the other team being from Japan, but maybe it could be a ‘Pacific Islands’ franchise kaksioek. What does surprise me is that if this other team were to come from Japan or Pacific Islands why it is proposed to be in SA conference rather than an Australasian one, would make more sense from a travel and time zone point of view. There is also arguably a far bigger ‘Japanese audience’ in Australia than in SA so from a money making point of view would think games between a Japanese team and Australasian team would attract a larger TV audience than games between SA and Japanese teams, really surprised that Aus would pass up on an opportunity to increase their exposure in that part of the world, unless they have already worked out that there is not all that much to be made from there and so are quite happy for SA to get the ‘exposure’ in the Japanese market. All of this surmises of course that your point about Japan being potentially the unnamed team…
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