The Vodacom Bulls flew the South African flag in Vodacom Super Rugby this weekend as the other four teams all lost their matches on Saturday.
The team from Pretoria won their traditional North-South derby against the DHL Stormers by 28-12 on Saturday evening and had to dig deep early on when the Capetonians scored two very good tries in the first 20 minutes.
It was the Vodacom Bulls’ biggest victory over the DHL Stormers since round 11 in 2007, when they won by 49-12 in Pretoria.
Earlier on Saturday, the Lions almost caused a massive upset in Dunedin when they came back from 23-0 down at half-time to lose 23-22 after scoring four great second-half tries against the Highlanders.
Had their kicking been better – the visitors’ kickers missed three conversions – the Lions could easily have become the first South African team to win in New Zealand this year.
The Cell C Sharks went down by 16-9 to the Brumbies in a top-of-the-table clash in a very wet Canberra, but managed to hold on to their first position on the log thanks to a losing bonus-point.
And on Saturday afternoon, the Force won in South Africa for the first time since March 2011 and beat the Toyota Cheetahs for the first time in three years when they won by 23-16 in Bloemfontein, putting a dampener on Naka Drotské’s 100th match in charge of the team from Central South Africa.
sarugby
Highlanders (23) 23 / 22 (0) Lions:
If ever there was a typical “game of two halves”, it was the Lions’ one-point defeat to the Highlanders in Dunedin on Saturday.
It was the second time this season the Lions held their opponents score-less in the second half, but other than when they beat the Reds at Ellis Park in round six, this time the Highlanders held out to win by 23-22.
The home team scored all the points in the first-half, through three well-worked tries, a conversion, penalty goal and a droppie, as the Lions struggled to really get into the game.
But as much as they struggled to get going in the in first half, the Lions were simply a different proposition in the second and played much better. They scored four tries during this time for rtheir first try-scoring bonus-point all season.
Three of these, by Lionel Mapoe, Armand van der Merwe and Courtnall Skosan, came in the final 13 minutes when the Highlanders’ tank ran dry, but between Marnitz Boshoff and Elton Jantjies they missed all three conversions, which probably would’ve seen the Lions win their first match in New Zealand since 2011.
Scorers:
Highlanders:
- Tries: Richard Buckman (2), Gareth Evans (1)
- Conversion: Hayden Parker (1)
- Penalty goal: Hayden Parker (1)
- Drop goal: Hayden Parker (1)
Lions:
- Tries: Faf de Klerk (1), Lionel Mapoe (1), Armand van der Merwe (1), Courtnall Skosan (1)
- Conversion: Marnitz Boshoff (1)
Brumbies (6) 16 / 9 (3) Cell C Sharks:
The Cell C Sharks couldn’t repeat their Melbourne win from last weekend in terrible conditions in Canberra when they went down 16-9 to the Brumbies in a match dominated by tactical play.
In the end, the home team simply won the tactical battle as they added a second South African scalp to their 2014 collection with a 16-9 win.
The only difference on the score board was a converted try by Sam Carter – the only try of the match – in the 63rd minute. It was also the only real highlight of a typical wet-weather arm-wrestle where both teams took the safe option and kicked most of the time.
Unfortunately for the Cell C Sharks, their kicking game was not good enough on the night – both out of hand and at goal.
This match will not be remembered for long, but at least the Cell C Sharks managed to cling onto the top spot on the log before the New Zealand leg of their Australasian tour.
Scorers:
Brumbies:
- Try: Sam Carter (1)
- Conversion: Christian Lealiifano (1)
- Penalty goals: Christian Lealiifano (3)
Cell C Sharks:
- Penalty goals: Frans Steyn (3)
Toyota Cheetahs (6) 16 / 23 (16) Western Force:
The Force won in South Africa for the first time in three years when they beat the Toyota Cheetahs by 23-16 at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday afternoon.
Mistakes with ball in hand was probably the main reason the Toyota Cheetahs lost this game. Both the Force’s tries came from turn-overs with the home team on the attack, but the visitors also defended very well.
After a relatively poor first half, the Toyota Cheetahs looked much stronger in second half and Boom Prinsloo’s try shortly after the break saw them inch closer to 16-13. They created chances, but couldn’t round off as the Force turned over possession regularly in their own 22 or the home team coughed up the ball through unforced errors.
A couple of times, especially late in the second half, the Toyota Cheetahs were stopped inches short of the try-line. Good defence by the Force and bad ball control ultimately cost the home team.
But the Force also showed more enterprise during the game as they continued their best season ever, with Jayden Hawyard and Nick Cummins scoring their tries at the Free State Stadium.
Scorers:
Toyota Cheetahs:
- Try: Boom Prinsloo (1)
- Conversion: Johan Goosen (1)
- Penalty goals: Johan Goosen (3)
Force:
- Tries: Jayden Hayward (1), Nick Cummins (1)
- Conversions: Sias Ebersohn (2)
- Penalty goals: Sias Ebersohn (3)
Vodacom Bulls (12) 28 / 12 (12) DHL Stormers:
The Vodacom Bulls suffocated and strangled the DHL Stormers for 60 minutes to win their North-South derby at Loftus Versfeld by 28-12 on Saturday evening.
The visitors from Cape Town started the match like a house on fire and by the 20th minute, they were leading by 12-0 thanks to two great tries, by Kurt Coleman and Juan de Jongh. Both came after some enterprising attacking play on the counter by the DHL Stormers.
Unfortunately for the DHL Stormers, they didn’t trouble scorers again as the Vodacom Bulls started to exert the pressure with their big pack dominant. In fact, the visitors didn’t even had an opportunity to kick for points again during the match.
The Vodacom Bulls was very effective in and dominated proceedings for the 20 minutes of the first half. They took the points on offer, with Handré Pollard slotting three penalty goals and a drop to ensure the teams go into the break even at 12-12.
With their pack on the front foot and a kicking game that strangled the visitors, the Vodacom Bulls kept up their dominance for the final 40 minutes. Pollard added two more penalty goals before Akona Ndungane rounded off a great counter-attacking move and with 14 minutes to go, it was all over at Loftus.
Scorers:
Vodacom Bulls:
- Try: Akona Ndungane (1)
- Conversion: Handré Pollard (1)
- Penalty goals: Handré Pollard (5), Jacques-Louis Potgieter (1)
- Drop-goal: Handré Pollard (1)
DHL Stormers:
- Tries: Kurt Coleman (1), Juan de Jongh (1)
- Conversion: Kurt Coleman (1)
Happy with progress of some players in the Bulls teams, Pollard and Serfontein, and how impressie has matfields defense been? he is all out tackling backline players at full speed. Welkom terug ou groote.
Stormers hae suffered another big blow, Scarra was probably their best player this weekend and it was a big blow when he went off, hopefully De Allende will moe to 12 this weekend, Coleman, De Allende and a passing JDJ look set to be one of the better backlines in the Cape, but JD should be back and risked een with his niggling shoulder injury for home games unfortunately, (hopefully common sense will prevail).
Sharks are up against it, and will need a win in the next two weeks to stay with the pack, luckily the kiwi teams will play a lot of games vs each other in the final few rounds, helping a Aussie or Saffa team to catch up.
Would really love to see a backline of Swiel, Jordaan and Sithole at 10, 12, 13, the backline really lacks support runners, something the likes of Deysel and the Sharks forwards have done beautifully. Both the Sharks and Saders play kick chase, but the Saders compliment their gameplan with actual good quality kicks and support runners on attack and effectie pressure form the likes of Mcnickol and Dagg. The Saders should want to open the game up and look for tries, and this will be ideal for the likes of Swiel, the Sharks hae nothing to lose, Frans Steyn looks tired.
The Cheetahs will need to make a choice about who they choose to attack from the first receiver channel, Goosen is struggling and when he plays Willie is pushed back to play a less attacking role and the Cheetahs are suffering because of that.
I feel the Lions were screwed in so many ways it is not even funny.
The Stomrers over performed for 15 minutes and then realized they should be playing to get their coach fired, luckily sanity prevailed.
Bulls like last year is showing form towards to latter part of the tournament and I hope the make th play-offs
Sharks needs to wake up a bit, they can do better that what they showed on the weekend
Cheetahs just seems direction less at present
As die bulle net kan leer om ‘n bal te vang sal dit baie beter met hulle gaan. 90% van hulle momentum word gebreek deur swak hantering. Damn dit frustreer my.
Well I think that this weeks forthcoming games are a little more predictable than the last weeks.
@ Gena_ZA:
Agreed. But hopefully the 2nd half performance will inspire the Lions for the rest of the tour.
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