Saracens (0) 26 / 39 (13)Â Blue Bulls (Final Score)
Saracens and the Vodacom Blue Bulls did battle in an inter-hemisphere match which also served as
warm-up for the Bulls at Allianz Park, London at 17:15 SA Time (15:15 BST & GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
*******************
Scorers:
Saracens:
- Penalties – 0
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – Chris Wyles (1), Neil de Kock (1), Ernst Joubert (1), Jackson Wray (1)
- Conversions – Charlie Hodgson (3)
Blue Bulls:
- Penalties – Jacques-Louis Potgieter (1)
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – Deon Stegmann (1), Francois Hougaard (1), Jurgen Visser (1), Hanro Liebenberg (1), Pierre Spies (1), Roelof Smit 91)
- Conversions РJacques-Louis Potgieter (1), Handr̩ Pollard (2)
Teams:
Saracens |
Vodacom Blue Bulls |
| 31 January at 17:15 | |
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Our man on the spot at Allianz Park today, was Bullscot and he took a few visitor photos for us, here they are:
Allianz Park, well before the game
Allianz Park, well before the game
Beer Bus
Blue Bulls warm-up
Blue Bulls warm-up
Blue Bulls warm-up
Blue Bulls warm-up
Blue Bulls warm-up
Prior to kick-off
Game ON!
Bulls scrums need tons of work.
Handling seemed much better than last season
Bulle se sleutelspelers is,
Marcel
Adriaan
Vic
Steggies
Pollard
Jan
Veral Marcel, hoop nie sy besering is te erg nie. Eers na mens afgekoel het kom die pyn en realiteit.
Sarries play tommorow again, an LV Cup game against London Welsh, I think
Defence (apart from last 20 min when all the subs was a disrupting factor) was excellent, physical intent and intensity was good, breakdowns went extremely well.
Ok almal, tjeers eers, dankie.
Bly ons kan weer n slag “rugby talk” na die afseisoen. Belangrike jaar hierdie vir ons rugby en krieket…gaan lekker wees hier!
Some Lions news…
Emirates Lions vs Pukke & Leopards – Warm-ups:
Lions 32 / 0 in the 1st game and 45 / 0 in the second game.
215 @ Pietman:
Ja, gaan ‘n lekker jaar wees.
I’ve put Bullscot’s photos up, which he took at the game today, go have a look in the Article itself!
Bullscott, that must have been one cold day, but you had the warm glow of a win to help you on your journey back!
Good photos btw. 🙂
Was dit die Bulle se eerste keuse span teen Sarries se derde span, of wat?
Geluk in elk geval, Boelietjies. Ek dink Sarries het ons Stormers laasjaar hard gemoer.
Kan nie wag vir Valentynsdag dat ons vir die Bulle blomme (onkruid) uitdeel om te vreet nie. Hulle vreet miskien nie van die “vloer af nie”, maar hulle sal definitief van die grond af vreet oor twee weke.
KANNIE WAGGIE!
“Bulls fire early…”
No surprises there. Most probably blanks as well.
“The Bulls have a number of players that are in Bok coach Heyneke Meyer’s provisional World Cup frame – players like Trevor Nyakane, Marcel van der Merwe, Adriaan Strauss, Matfield, Flip van der Merwe, Francois Hougaard, Handré Pollard and Jan Serfontein.”
Let’s see if their position on the log at the end of SR justifies the fact that about 1/4 of our RWC squad should be Bulls.
Of course, Spies can also still make an “impact” and replace Duanne Vermeulen.
Mallet in 1999 to Teichman: ” Gary, I’m going with Bobby to the RWC. He is the most talented player that I’ve ever coached”
Meyer in 2015 to Vermeulen: “Duanne, I’m going with Britney… sorry (s)Pierre to the RWC. He is the most talented player that I’ve ever coached”
@ Blue Bird:
Thanks Blue Bird. Yes it was cold but was well prepared for it, had a fantastic time. Pity you didn’t come through for it , would have been nice to meet you guys.
laat die bulle my humnle pie eet… well done bulls
Lekker suipgat ne ou bitterbek?
@ gunther:
bwahahaha….
Why so grumpy? Your tea won. 😉
Your team…
Having slept on it and pondered the play and the result, the following:
1. I was worried about lock depth at the Bulls, with Paul Willemse gone, Flip van der Merwe injured and Victor Matfield who will be used wisely in 2015. I do not think that is a concern anymore, as it looks like Grant Hattingh is motivated and ready for the season and Jacques du Plessis fitted in well at No 4 lock. What needs work though, from all the Bulls locks, is to up their scrumming power and assistance to the front row. A front row is extremely dependant on the locks scrumming well behind them!
2. I am worried about the Bulls scrums, it needs a lot of work and Werner Kruger should be backup at best, at tighthead. I hope the injury to Marcel van der Merwe is not serious.
3. Callie Visagie’s lineout throwing is still suspect and it was only exceptional catching at times by Grant Hattingh which saved many lineouts. Cannot wait for Adriaan Strauss to be ready and fully functional at hooker.
4. I think the loosies at the Bulls have incredible depth in 2015… There is proper backup for Stegmann at Openside in the form of Roelof Smit, Lappies Labuschagne will perform very well at Blindside and then of course there is still Arno Botha’s comeback & Jacques du Plessis to cover Blindside properly. The problem lies at No 8 where Spies will be played all season, despite the fact that Hanro Liebenberg & Arno Botha are better and that Vleis Engelbrecht is also there as additional depth.
5. For a change Francois Hougaard looks eager and fit (to play a better year) and he would be suited to a ball in hand approach in 2015. Piet van Zyl also looks sharper and even Rudy Paige did not look shabby.
6. Handré Pollard is definately the choice flyhalf in 2015, and ball in hand rugby suits him too. Jacques-Louis Potgieter did not look good, was not accurate at posts and I would prefer to see Tian Schoeman groomed as Pollard’s backup.
7. Bulls have dynamite centres in 2015… Burger Odendaal I would prefer at No 12 (deamon tackler and carries up strong and acts as extra “fetcher”), Jan Serfontein I would play at No 13, to fall in with the role he would have to play at the Springboks later in the year. I would have William Small-Smith as centre backup. JJ Engelbrecht will be played at No 13 though (as a witbroodjie player) whereas he looked better when he received the ball on the wing channel yesterday… causing one try in the process, that of Spies.
8. On the wings Bjorn Basson is good enough on the left wing, no problem… the problems lie at right wing where I would have played JJ Engelbrecht or Jamba Ulengo or Travis Ismaiel and only at a serious push, Akona Ndungane.
9. Fullback for me, there is only one logical choice and that is Jesse Kriel… at least he knows what to do with the ball unlike Jurgen Visser who will put an up-and-under up and hope for the best. Jurgen Visser is another witbroodjie player who will be played ad nauseam though.
All in all there seems to be a shift away from too much kicking… it appeared that way yesterday, there was definately a better ball-in-hand approach and one hopes it extends beyond the warm-up games.
For a change, early season ball handling also looked sharper amongst the Bulls forwards and they were far more clinical when close to the opposition line than at any time last year!
Breakdown work was exceptional yesterday… good urgency, good fetching, excellent counter-rucking!
Defence was one of the highlites yesterday (before too many subs spoiled it). The forwards tackled the opposition well on the other side of the gain line and the physical intensity on defence was marvelous. Once again something to build on and maintain throughout 2015!
I am hesitantly optimistic for 2015 and I hope the mindshift of 2015 is a lasting one!
I think the Bulls will be a handfull this year. They have good balance and if they can sort their scrums out (and will improve with Strauss) they may challenge for the top SA spot
@ Nama:
Dis reg, hou maar net jou KWV naby die 14e 😆
@ grootblousmile:
I disagree there was a sudden shift to “ball in hand” (such an overrated statement).
Firstly the bulls had very little ball in their own half, and their first option was to kick most if not all of the time.
Secondly, It appeared that we played more with the ball because we didn’t lose the ball or concede penalties in the ruck situation as often as the games last year. That is where it appears most of the work has gone into, Lappies is a good buy for the Bulls and I hope he does not have a serious injury as he will be key this season, Id much rather prefer him at 6 if Steggies got injured over Roelof Smit, so he might be ideal coming from the bench this year.
231 @ MacroBull:
You say I make overrated statements… hehehehe… I think your last comment is overrated…
Relax choppie, we each have our opinions… and I pick up clearly that you also do not subscribe to the openside fetcher mantra.
That is YOUR opinion, and good for you having one.
Fact is yesterday we held the ball more and definately through more phases… to me that means ball-in-hand rugby or possession-rugby… and that is what I want, in place of kicking as much as we did in the past. The fact that handling by the forwards was better yesterday than at any stage last year, causing some of the better possession / ball-in-hand phases, was great to see and I certainly hope it continues in 2015.
@ MacroBull:
Definitief. 😆
Behalwe vir die feit dat die Bulle baie goed vertoon het, wat dink julle van die gehalte van die opposisie? Hoeveel kan ‘n mens werklik lees in ‘n vertoning soos die van gister?
Ek meen te se, daar is nie werklik baie wat ek lees in die Stormers se oorwinning teen die SWD laasweek nie. So, die eintlike toets om te sien hoe ons spanne die seisoen gaan speel (en vaar) sal wees wanneer hulle mekaar pak op Vaaltuin-se-dag.
233 @ Nama:
Ek lees ook maar min in opwarmingswedstryde.
Wat ek probeer lees in die opwarmingswedstryde is wat die diepte in posisies behels en watter game plan hulle probeer speel.
@ grootblousmile:
No I didn’t say your opinion is overrated. I just think it it is an easy go to statement.
I am just saying that in my opinion, not losing the ball in the ruck situation as often as we did last year will likely lead to building more phases. More than anything it is tending to a symptom rather than a change of approach that leads to “more” ball in hand rugby.
233 @ Nama:
Saracens het op n stadium gelyk of hul eerder wil speel om nie seer te kry nie, dit kan seker ook wees na die bulle of blou bulle hulle heeltyd agtertoe getackle het.
Ons was nie baie getoets in die losgemalle nie, Lappies was in die verlede n goeie “fetcher” vir die cheetahs gewees en het menigmale wedstryde balle as brussouw gesteel.
Meer as enigiets was die n goeie “spanbou” weg van die huis weg, en ons het niks geleer nie behalwe wat ons klaar weet, dat JLP nie n goeie link is nie en dat Kruger nie n goeie loskop is nie (in die groter prentjie, dat Wessel Roux tekortkome het as scrum afrigter).
meer balle*
@ grootblousmile:
I never said I don’t subscribe to the fetcher mantra, I just believe that the role of the opensider is so far reaching these days since players 1-15 have had to work on their “fetching” ability the fetcher has had to lift his game and you will often see guys like McCaw leading the tackle stats, Hooper and Coetzee leading the Meters gained stats…thus I would rather have a player that is involved all the time in the openside position, if he is a really good “fetcher”, like Ritchee, Hooper or even Duane Vermeulen even better.
How good is this?
Amelia Kerr – 14 Year Old Legspinner Showing Incredible Potential
@ MacroBull:
3 for 19.!!! Cool Girl
Hello good summary overall in your comment 228, agree with much of it. The game can be a bit of a blur when you there live will have to try catch highlights somewhere if any one has a link. Visiting family in sunny Brighton by the sea, flying home tonight.
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