The 2015 season is shaping up as the most-closely contested South African Conference title race since the expansion of Vodacom Super Rugby in 2011.
The leadership of the SA Conference is up for grabs once more this weekend after 4 teams have already topped the local log so far this season, with anyone of the Vodacom Bulls, DHL Stormers and Cell C Sharks that could be on top on Saturday night.
A mere 4 Log Points separate the Top 4 South African teams, with the Vodacom Bulls on 24 (after 8 matches), DHL Stormers on 22 (after 8 matches), Emirates Lions on 21 (after 9 matches) and Cell C Sharks on 20 (after 9 matches).
And even the 5th-placed Toyota Cheetahs are not out of the running as they trail the Cell C Sharks by only 7 points with a game in hand and a host of local derbies to come.
Last year at a similar stage, the difference was a massive 21 points, but only the Cell C Sharks ended up making the playoffs.
In 2013, the difference between teams 1 and 4 in South Africa was 8 points at roughly the halfway stage of the competition, with the Vodacom Bulls and Toyota Cheetahs eventually proceeding to the playoffs and the DHL Stormers and Cell C Sharks just missing out in positions 7 and 8.
In 2012, a total of 12 points separated the teams from 1st to 4th at a similar stage and in the end the DHL Stormers, Vodacom Bulls and Cell C Sharks made the playoffs – South Africa’s most successful season yet in terms of representation in the Top 6.
Halfway through the season in the 1st year of Vodacom Super Rugby in 2011, the difference between the 1st and 4th South African teams was 20 points and in the end, only the DHL Stormers and Cell C Sharks progressed to the knock-out stages.
The Emirates Lions have a BYE.
Note: Teams still got 4 Log Points for every BYE between 2011 and 2013, but for this comparison we subtracted those “free points”.
Western Force vs DHL Stormers:
- Date: Saturday 18 April at 13:45 SA Time (19:45 AWST, 21:45 AEST, 11:45 GMT)
- Venue: nib Stadium, Perth
- Referee: Mike Fraser
- Assistant Referees: Andrew Lees, Will Houston
- TMO: Ian Smith
Team news:
- The DHL Stormers pack shows 3 changes and 1 positional shift from last weekend – Bongi Mbonambi (hooker), Ruan Botha (lock) and Siya Kolisi (flank) will all start, while Schalk Burger moves to the other side of the scrum.
- In the backline, the only change is at scrumhalf, where Louis Schreuder is rotated with Nic Groom, the latter moving to the bench where he will be joined by Scarra Ntubeni.
- Manuel Carizza (lock) and Michael Rhodes (flank) are injured and were not considered.
Stats:
- The DHL Stormers have won 3 from their 4 visits to Perth, but they have not scored 4 tries in the Western Australian capital since 2008.
- The Capetonians are aiming to win consecutive away matches Down Under for the 1st time since April 2012, when they beat the Reds and the Force in Australia.
- The Force failed to reach double figures in their last 2 defeats against the DHL Stormers.
- In the last 2 seasons, the Force have won 3 from 7 against South African opposition and lost 4 – in Perth it reads 2 wins from 3.
- 3 Of the last 4 meetings between the sides have seen a total of 32 or fewer points scored.
Quotes:
DHL Stormers head coach Allister Coetzee: “We have a positive feeling in our camp. In Super Rugby you always need to pitch up, otherwise your opposition will knock you off your perch. We need to ensure that we show intensity and urgency against the Force, and really be up for it, before we can even think about returning to South Africa.”
Teams:
Western Force: 15 Dane Haylett-Petty, 14 Luke Morahan, 13 Kyle Godwin, 12 Luke Burton, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Chris Alcock, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Sam Wykes (Captain), 3 Tetera Faulkner, 2 Nathan Charles, 1 Pekahou Cowan
Replacements: 16 Heath Tessmann, 17 Chris Heiberg, 18 Oliver Hoskins, 19 Ross Haylett-Petty, 20 Angus Cottrell, 21 Ian Prior, 22 Zack Holmes, 23 Marcel Brache.
DHL Stormers: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Juan de Jongh (Captain), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Dillyn Leyds, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Alistair Vermaak, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Jean Kleyn, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Nic Groom, 22 Kurt Coleman, 23 Huw Jones.
Head to Head (since 2006):
- Played 8 – DHL Stormers won 6, Force won 2
- Points scored: 193
- Points conceded: 130
- Tries scored: 22
- Tries conceded: 12
- Average score: 24 / 16 to the DHL Stormers
Cell C Sharks vs Vodacom Bulls:
- Date: Saturday 18 April at 17:05 SA Time (15:05 GMT)
- Venue: Growthpoint Kings Park, Durban
- Referee: Jaco Peyper
- Assistant Referees: Marius van der Westhuizen, Archie Sehlako
- TMO: Marius Jonker
Team news:
- The return of Springbok props Tendai Mtawarira and Jannie du Plessis, for Dale Chadwick and Lourens Adriaanse respectively, are the only changes to the Cell C Sharks’ starting team.
- Adriaanse moves to the bench where he is joined by SP Marais, in for Jack Wilson. Chadwick drops out of the match-23 completely.
- Rested Springboks Handré Pollard and Adriaan Strauss are back in the Vodacom Bulls’ starting team. Jacques-Louis Potgieter drops out because of injury and Callie Visagie moves to the bench.
- The other changes to the starting line-up are at flank, lock and tighthead prop, where Jacques du Plessis (for Arno Botha), Flip van der Merwe (for Du Plessis) and Marcel van der Merwe (for Trevor Nyakane) will start.
- Botha, Nyakane and Lappies Labuschagne have been included on the bench while Hanro Liebenberg is not involved this week.
Stats:
- Between them, the Vodacom Bulls and Cell C Sharks have featured in 6 Vodacom Super Rugby finals (1996, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012), which includes the epic 2007 showdown edged by the men from Pretoria with the last movement of the game.
- Since that final in 2007, the Vodacom Bulls have won 3 from 5 in Durban, but lost there by 31 / 16 last year.
- The Cell C Sharks have not lost 3 successive Vodacom Super Rugby matches for almost 2 years, since May 2013.
- After a slow start in the early years of Super 12 against their coastal cousins, the Vodacom Bulls have won 8 of the last 11 derbies between these 2 sides, but never by a double figure margin.
- It’s clearly the year of the fullback as Jessie Kriel, with 802m gained, and SP Marais (672m) rank 1st and 3rd respectively for metres gained this season.
Quotes:
Cell C Sharks assistant coach Sean Everitt: “There were a lot of positives to take out of the Lions game and if we can just polish those up a bit, the results could go our way. Obviously we’re still in with a good shout, but what we need to do is concentrate on our performances and make sure we rectify the mistakes we’ve made and that we move forward. And take the positives out from the weekend which were work-rate and the effort we showed.
“And at times when we kept the ball, we looked very good as well, we scored 2 nice tries from way out. We’re happy with the way we’re attacking but unfortunately, the unforced errors are counting against us.”
Vodacom Bulls head coach Frans Ludeke: “It will be a massive challenge for us, so to have the likes of Handré, Adriaan and Lappies back is great. We will be facing a Sharks team what will be hurting and desperate to redeem themselves at home and I think it is fair to say that this will be our toughest assignment this year.”
Vodacom Bulls captain Pierre Spies: “We will have to show the ability to win away from home consistently if we want to remain in the competition. Durban is a tough place to play at and with so much at stake in the SA conference, we really cannot afford to play average rugby. This is going to be an epic local derby and we need to front up to it.”
Teams:
Cell C Sharks: 15 Odwa Ndungane, 14 S’bura Sithole, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Renaldo Bothma, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Marco Wentzel (Captain), 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: 16 Monde Hadebe, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Giant Mtyanda, 20 Etienne Oosthuizen, 21 Conrad Hoffmann, 22 Lionel Cronje, 23 SP Marais.
Vodacom Bulls: 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Pierre Spies (Captain), 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Dean Greyling
Replacements: 16 Callie Visagie, 17 Morné Mellett, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Arno Botha, 20 Lappies Labuschagne, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Jurgen Visser.
Head to Head (since 1998):
- Played 23 – Cell C Sharks won 9, Vodacom Bulls won 13, 1 draw
- Cell C Sharks points scored: 511
- Vodacom Bulls points scored: 447
- Cell C Sharks tries scored: 52
- Vodacom Bulls tries scored: 35
- Average score: 22 / 19 to the Cell C Sharks
Toyota Cheetahs vs Reds:
- Date: Saturday 18 April at 19:10 SA Time (17:10 GMT, Sunday 03:10 AEST)
- Venue: Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
- Referee: Jaco van Heerden
- Assistant Referees: Quinton Immelman, Lourens van der Merwe
- TMO: Shaun Veldsman
Team news:
- The Toyota Cheetahs have made only 1 change to their match-23 for this encounter – Springbok fullback Willie le Roux will get a break and has been replaced by Coenie van Wyk, who played for the Emirates Lions last year but will make his debut for the men in orange.
Stats:
- It’s been more than 5 years since the Reds’ last victory in Bloemfontein – on 26 March 2010 when they won 31 / 10. It was the only time in 4 starts that the Toyota Cheetahs had lost at home against the team from Queensland.
- The Toyota Cheetahs win twice as many matches at home against teams from Australia compared to Kiwi opposition – against the Aussies, they are on 12 wins from 18 (66.7%) in Central South Africa, while that figure drops to 7 from 22 (31.8%) against New Zealand teams.
- The Reds have now lost 6 matches in a row. Last year they also lost 6 on the trot (Rounds 8 – 14), but their worst-ever losing sequence of 9 straight defeats was between February and April 2007.
Quotes:
Toyota Cheetahs head coach Naka Drotské: “Saturday is not going to be an easy game. The Reds have a lot of game breakers and 2 of their best players are coming back for this encounter. We’ve put a lot of pressure on ourselves and we need to win.
“If we play the way we know we can play and keep to our structures, then I believe we can win. It is in our hands.”
Teams:
Toyota Cheetahs: 15 Coenie van Wyk, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Joe Pietersen, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Willie Britz, 7 Boom Prinsloo, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Francois Uys (Captain), 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 BG Uys
Replacements: 16 Stephan Coetzee, 17 Danie Mienie, 18 Maks van Dyk, 19 Steven Sykes, 20 Tienie Burger, 21 Tian Meyer, 22 Willie du Plessis, 23 Ryno Benjamin.
Reds: 15 Karmichael Hunt, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 James O’Connor, 10 Nick Frisby, 9 Will Genia, 8 Adam Thomson, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Curtis Browning, 5 James Horwill, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Greg Holmes, 2 James Hanson, 1 James Slipper (Captain)
Replacements: 16 Andrew Ready, 17 Ben Daley, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Marco Kotze, 20 Adam Korczyk, 21 Anthony Fainga’a, 22 Campbell Magnay, 23 Chris Kuridrani.
Head to Head (since 2006):
- Played 8 – Toyota Cheetahs won 3, Reds won 5
- Points scored: 133
- Points conceded: 193
- Tries scored: 13
- Tries conceded: 22
- Average score: 24 / 17 to the Reds
Other Fixtures:
Friday 17 April:
Crusaders vs Chiefs: Christchurch – 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 07:35 GMT)
Saturday 18 March:
Hurricanes vs Waratahs: Wellington – 06:30 SA Time (16:30 NZ Time, 18:30 AEST, 04:30 GMT)
Highlanders vs Blues: Dunedin – 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 21:35 AEST, 07:35 GMT)
Brumbies vs Melbourne Rebels: Canberra – 11:40 SA Time (19:40 AEST, 09:40 GMT)
Bye:
Emirates Lions