Victor Matfield
The Vodacom Bulls, fresh off a narrow loss to the DHL Stormers this past weekend, next face the ever-improving Emirates Lions, at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday in the last Super Rugby match of the weekend.
It appears as though regular captain Pierre Spies is under the weather and will therefor sit out of the clash, with Victor Matfield back from Springbok rest and injury recovery set to take over the captaince helm for the vital match.
Meanwhile head coach Frans Ludeke is still moaning and groaning about the difficult laws and interpreations of those laws by the Super Rugby Referees.
Matfield set to captain:
Springbok veteran Victor Matfield won’t only be back to help the Vodacom Bulls try and save their season this weekend, he’s likely to lead them into battle as well.
Matfield will return from a knee injury that kept him out of action for a month at a crucial stage of the season, and will need to apply both his leadership and experience immediately to a side that has been rocked by the narrow loss to the DHL Stormers last weekend.
So close are things in the South African conference at the moment that the Bulls need to beat the Emirates Lions this weekend if they are to have a hope of making the Vodacom Super Rugby playoffs.
If they don’t they may find themselves 3rd in the conference and struggling to make the Top 6 after what could be considered a fairly decent season thus far.
The margins of error seem to be getting smaller between the teams and the Bulls have an uphill struggle as they still need to tour overseas while the other sides have completed their away fixtures for the season.
But as the Bulls always say, they can only take it “week-for-week” and that means winning the contest that they have to face at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
And since Matfield and fellow Springbok Jan Serfontein last played for the side, they have lost tight contests against the Emirates Lions and DHL Stormers, both away from home while grabbing a win in Durban and at home against the Reds.
Every point the Bulls can pick up now will be crucial, hence the decision to rush the Springbok lock back into action.
“He’s a crucial part of our game and our decision-making and leadership, and what he brings to the game as well, so it’s good to have him back,” coach Frans Ludeke said on Matfield’s return.
Matfield will also lead the side as Pierre Spies is under the weather and is set to be rested this week. Deon Stegmann will also be on the sidelines this weekend, meaning a new loose trio will be chosen.
Ludeke is likely to keep Jacques du Plessis at No 7, with the hard-working duo of Arno Botha and Lappies Labuschagne being inserted at No 8 and No 6 respectively.
Trevor Nyakane will likely be at loosehead prop, with Dean Greyling paying for his indiscretions at the scrum this past weekend, while Serfontein will hopefully be back at inside centre.
The Springbok midfielder has been included in the team in the last 2 weeks, only to withdraw on both occasions, 1st with a hip flexor and then in Cape Town with a hamstring strain, but the Bulls are hopeful this week he will be fine.
“I’m confident he will make it this week. He has had a great 2 weeks, only to pull up on the final day and credit to him as well that he sacrificed the opportunity to play. He’s not a selfish player, he wants the best for the team and hopefully this weekend he will be fine,” Ludeke explained.
The Bulls coach says while Burger Odendaal has done a fine job standing in for Serfontein, the Springbok has always been 1st in the pecking order and it was an easy decision to choose him.
“I must say it’s an easy decision. We need all of them, it’s about good communication and backing Jan also – he has done a good job for us. And then it is about playing for the team – horses for courses – and who we are going to need going forward. This weekend it is vital for Jan to come in and do what he does. He has a huge workrate and is solid on defence, those are the things that we need him to do.”
The Bulls will announce their team on Thursday.
Scrums a grey area – Ludeke:
Scrums are increasingly becoming a grey area that must be sorted out, according to Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke.
Ludeke reacted after being asked about his side’s scrum issues, which again proved costly this past weekend in their Vodacom Super Rugby match against the DHL Stormers in Cape Town.
The Bulls lost a close game but gave away at least 9 points in the scrums, and even though they had rectified their issues by the 2nd half, they never received the reward from referee Jaco Peyper.
Ludeke was frustrated at this, but took responsibility for their failings in the 1st half, where prop Dean Greyling was repeatedly penalized for not keeping his bind.
Greyling is likely to pay the price this week and be dropped for the game against the Emirates Lions – a match the Bulls must win if they are to have any say in the playoffs of this year’s competition.
Ludeke said after watching the tape again, he could not fault Peyper’s decisions in the 1st half, but that the Bulls didn’t get the reward in the 2nd half for their scrum when the replacements were on.
Unfortunately it seemed that Peyper had already made up his mind in the 2nd half about who was infringing and allowed the Stormers to set incorrectly and scrum in, especially when Ollie Kebble came on.
Ludeke said the problem was that every scrum is a potential penalty, and players often don’t know which way a referee is going to rule when a scrum goes down.
“Obviously there are things that we need to take responsibility for, and we will definitely. Binding issues, keeping straight, keeping your weight up, those are issues we can sort out,” Ludeke said.
“It’s a battle, and that means it is a battle for referees as well. It is a little bit of a grey area to be honest, every scrum can go anywhere. It mustn’t be like that and it is a pity that the game is going in that direction.
“It is an area that we need to look at. We don’t want to lose a game because of a scrum, especially not a final or a semifinal, or a vital game like we had on the weekend. But first of all we need to sort out stuff out, and we need to be more accurate.”
There has been a lot of introspection from the Bulls since Saturday, and an acceptance that they were wrong in a large part of the contests. That they need to take responsibility for and realise that the problems they had weren’t ones that haven’t happened before.
Greyling has been pinned for not keeping his bind over the years and is a serial offender, and in terms of their selection for the game, the Bulls got it wrong.
It also means they need to keep a more consistent approach to Trevor Nyakane and keeping him on one side of the scrum, not moving him around between loosehead and tighthead week for week.
Nyakane is likely to start this weekend, and will be watched, especially as the Lions have a strong scrum and will be targeting the Bulls up front. But the Springbok has been more than impressive this year and is currently one of the standout players for the Bulls, so he should be able to hold his own.
Ludeke said he had respect for the refs, and wasn’t blaming Peyper, but called for more clarity about decisions.
“If you look at the game I thought it was a tough contest from both sides. We had 10 resets and he didn’t want to guess. That is fair enough. It’s definitely an area we want to sort out. We need to see what we can do to help them.”
The Bulls need to beat the Lions on Saturday, not only to give themselves a shot at the playoffs, but to keep in touch with the Stormers at the Top of the South African conference.
67 @ Nama:
Hi Nama sorry to read this hope all went well, sterkte
nortie wrote:
Hi nortie, this journalist must be lurking and reading around here. Last week GoBokkeandIreland mentioned an article of Alan Zondagh’s recommendations for changes to the game. In response I wrote that there are many existing laws that aren’t being applied properly and in particular regarding the maul that I feel the refs tend to blow it from a point of view of the defenders always being the ones at fault in a maul situation yet the attacking team got away with players joining from the side and not behind the last players (ball carrier most often) feet.
Eish, I forgot about a positive RSVP I gave to a Vodacom Media Function in Pretoria at 12:30… but I will have to go.
Wanted to do so many things today, now I must go and drink beer and party… life is hard!!
@ grootblousmile:
Hoe di3 blink kant bo.
@ nortie:
88
Little Jaco is a magician then, making the honest journo Tank Lanning to believe in all that drivel? 😉
Greyling’s much stronger scrummer than the Stormers’ TH but guess what: it was Greyling who got penalised time and again
😉
@ nortie: very bloody 😆 Nortie. Damn, you do invite trouble boet. Luckily Sharkie fans on here are scarcer than hen’s teeth. Aside from Charo that is, who WILL give you hell. Deservedly so. 😉
I’m just gonna dive out for a bite(because its past my supper time). But I’ll be back later to shoulder the wrath of Nortie’s response.
@ Tassies:
poor old nortie, always getting EMO about the sharks and their fan website.
@ Charo: speak of the devil(strictly in the figurative sense of course). You have your phone on red alert?
I was talking to my chaperone here today about the game of rugby. She had no clue what I was describing. Out of pure desperation I improvised a violent boxing match with a bit of kicking thrown in. Not sure if I got through tho. 🙄
well, I suppose some of you have got to do some work for a living. My glass of red blend’s now a part of history and I probably should hit the sack. cheers.
@ Charo:
Nortie is like sands through an hour glass
@ Nama: @ 67
Sterkte ou maat.
I sincerely hope things are ok?
@ MacroBull:
@ 90
Really haha
@ Hondo:
Really haha
MacroBull wrote:
No I agree with Tank, the purpose of a scrum is to reset the game and to have a fair contest to win the ball
Maybe fewer rules will restore it to its former glory
His suggestions might work
Remember how locks were penalized for being picked up in the lineout?
Now it’s standard lineout play
Only reset the scrum when it collapses while the ball has no way to get out, if the scrumhalf can get to it the game continues
The only way you should be able to get a scrum penalty is after repeated dangerous collapses, all other offences should be free kicks
And the scrumhalf should throw in straight and both hookers should try to hook the ball
A scrum should be a scrum, it’s a very important cornerstone of the game and it differentiate rugby from the boring-as-watching-paint-dry Rugby League.
As for the driving maul, I also maintain it’s obstruction
If you have a player between the ball carrier and the opposition anywhere else during the game it will be blown up as obstruction but during the driving maul it’s allowed?
I remember years ago when the driving maul started (1980’s ? 1990’s?) the opposition must have had access to the ball carrier otherwise it was blown up
Rather restore the scrum to it’s rightful position and do away with the driving maul in it’s current guise
nortie wrote:
Hy gebruik sy boeie nou vir sy Fifty Shades of Nortie aande 😛
Net boeie, latex, KY en baie sweet
@ Victoriabok:
You can’t disagree with what Tank wrote.
We all want the game speeded up – all scrums, scrum-re-sets are a lottery. Refs don’t have a clue. Ex front row commentators don’t have a clue eg Phil Kearns, Robbi Kempson
This area of the game needs to be addressed so that the game can be speeded up.
So that we see more of those scintillating Stormers backs in action. 🙄
@Nama 67
Hi Nama, sincerely sorry to read that.
I hope everything turns out alright.
IAAS wrote:
The scrum penalties originated with “the speeding up of the game”, probably suggested by the Aussies with their weak scrums and their love for the NRL
A team with a stronger scrum used to use it to dominate the other teams forwards by scrumming them hard and driving them backwards, and winning the throw in or trying to get a heel against the head and winning the ball.
Now winning a scrum results in a penalty (and not always for the team winning it) WTF?
Now teams resort to trying to collapse it to milk penalties
Free kicks instead would stop the penalty milking and speed up the game
IAAS wrote:
Like on Saturday?
Scoring all those tries?
I see the gnome tried his f@##$$ soccer shit again diving for a penalty?
Fortunately the ref ignored him
It should be an off the field yellow card offence
Stamp it out before it gets established in rugby
I’ve just returned from the Vodacom Media Function… was held at the Capital Craft Beer Academy at Greenlyn Village Centre in Menlo Park, Pretoria…
Wonderful selection of beer they have there… and their food is top drawer!
… and something happened which never, ever, ever happens to me… I won a Samsung Galaxy A3 phone… hehehe
As part of the afternoon’s fun we had to answer a rugby quizz worth 20 points… and I scored the highest, in fact was 100% correct, so I won the prize….
Genade toggie, what’s next, maybe I should go try my luck at Carnival City’s Casino… hahaha
Attachment:
@ grootblousmile:
Geluk GBS nou kan jy jou skelmpies op hom text
112 @ Victoriabok:
Eish, ek glo nie in sulke goed nie!
@ grootblousmile:
Jy lyk soos ‘n ou wat iets verkoop op die foto
“Viagra, nou in die groot blou boks”
grootblousmile wrote:
Ja, die vrouens is kwaai
Handbriekie sal jou GBS afsny
115 @ Victoriabok:
Sy sal dit afbind en omsoom, as ek so iets sou doen.
Ekl sal KBS word in plaas van GBS!
114 @ Victoriabok:
Ek sê mos, ek issie gewoond daaraan om goete te wen nie… ek was heel verbaas… hehehe
Ek sê nogal vir Koos (van die Rekord koerant in Pretoria) en vir Simon Riekert van (rugby15), “Kom laat ek my vraestelletjie gou aframmel en ingee, want hulle mors nou met my drinktyd”… hehehe
so we are now mixing it with champion rugby intellectuals?
@ grootblousmile:
#111 Congratulations GBS
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