“It says something that the player of the season so far in the South African Super Rugby conference is Argentina's Pablo Matera.” - JW Coetzee expressing himself on Twitter this past Saturday afternoon. Volume 19, Number 13 18 April 2019 Register to receive your own free weekly newsletter at www.leopardnewsletters.co.za

Fantastic Blitzbokke Win Second 2018/19 Title

To borrow from the oft-quoted American baseball South Africa ran out to an early 12-point lead before star, Yogi Berra, it was deja vu all over again in the USA pulled one back through an unconverted try. Singapore this weekend for the Blitzbokke. As in In the second half, the Blitzbokke struck twice again Hong Kong, they cruised through the pool rounds – once through Impi Visser and the second courtesy winning all three of their encounters: Scotland (36- of a penalty try. Final score 24-12. 10); Canada (36-0) and Fiji, yes, Fiji (17:7). Meanwhile the other side of the draw saw Fiji win That made it their second victory in a row over the through to the final by beating New Zealand and south sea islanders and set them up nicely for the Cup England both convincingly. And when they ran out to quarter-final against Samoa – a team that plays a a 19-0 half-time lead in the final it looked all over. similar brand of rugby. Fans were uneasy though, because they came unstuck in the last eight at last week’s Hong Kong round of the series.

And five minutes in, the worries seemed justified when the Blitzbokke found themselves 12-0 down. But they bounced back with a try by Impi Visser, which was converted by . After half time, two more converted tries sealed the place in the semi-finals where USA lay in wait. Indeed, a statistic was cited by the television crew – no team had come back from a half-time deficit to win a Cup final in the 2018/2019 season. In the second half the Blitzbokke did just that to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and take the Singapore title. The whole match took a little under 20 minutes; watch it (it starts about seven minutes in).

Neil Powell and his squad will be thrilled and are probably back in the country preparing for the final two rounds of the HSBC World Series, in London on the last weekend of May and in Paris the first weekend of June.

KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER

Business As Usual for Some; Upsets for Others PRO14: All Over Bar the Shouting Club Rugby Season Closes With a Bang SuperSport Rugby Challenge Begins Next Week Fantastic Varsity Cup Ends on Sour Note Magic or Another Reason

Page 1 Business As Usual for Some; Upsets for Others

As we mentioned in the covering email, there were Sadly, for our editor and many other Lions fans, the mixed feelings in the newsroom this week. Smiles visitors reproduced the utterly clueless rugby of last over the Blitzbokke but grumbles - mostly from the weekend half a world away. Final score 31-20. editor's corner - after the Lions suffered another unexpected defeat to what our editor calls a vastly inferior team. But we start this report thousands of kilometres away in Christchurch, New Zealand.

It was probably one of only two results this weekend that was NOT an upset, according to our editor, but it almost was. Last Friday, Crusaders were facing a 10- 0 deficit after just 11 minutes. And at half-time it was 10-7 but then the home side went up a gear and completely outclassed the Highlanders. Final score was 43-17, putting the south island team well out in front on the combined championship table.

Then came the first of a string of surprises delivered A glance around the interwebs suggests that the this weekend: a travelling Stormers team missing thrashing the received at the hands of the captain Siya Kolisi as well as Springboks Eben Argentinian Jaguares was an upset. Not according to Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit, utterly trounced our editor, who felt that the result was an accurate the Rebels in Melbourne, running out 24-41 winners reflection of the “quality” of the home side. The final in the end. score was 17-51.

The early game on Saturday saw a struggling Chiefs The chirp of the weekend has to be JW Coetzee’s side host the Blues from Auckland. The pundits effort on Twitter on Saturday: “It says something that mostly expected an away win because the Chiefs had the player of the season so far in the South African lost at the same venue to the Sunwolves earlier in the Super Rugby conference is Argentina's Pablo Matera.” season. But they were wrong: the final score was 33- 29 in favour of the hosts. Saturday’s final match was at Loftus in Pretoria where the Bulls entertained the Reds from Australia. It was Then came the third upset of the weekend with the only other match to go as generally expected when the Lions beginning their tour of the antipodes against a home team – playing in unfamiliar green and white lowly-placed Brumbies outfit in Canberra. colours – were too strong for the visitors.

Page 2 Page 3 Club Rugby Season Closes With a Bang Fantastic Varsity Cup Ends on Sour Note

The local non-universities club rugby season played itself out this past Sunday with a final in front of packed stands and grass banks at Impala Rugby Club in Rustenburg. Newrak Impala got off to a flier with an early penalty and try, but Durbanville-Bellville bounced back with a try of their own and a penalty to lead 8-10 after some 15 minutes.

Then the home team scored a second try, in the opposite corner to take the score to 13-10. The next ten minutes tested the defensive systems of both teams before Impala’s lock forward scored just to the left of the uprights and he was followed over shortly thereafter as his left wing crossed for his second try of The rugby in the first 60-odd minutes of the FNB the match, this time under the posts. Varsity Cup final between Maties and UP-Tuks in Stellenbosch was spectacular. From the kick-off, the At half-time the hosts were leading 27-10. The third home side was on the attack and they crossed for the quarter was a real arm-wrestle with the first points of first try inside of five minutes. the second half coming in the 65th minute as the home team goaled a penalty. But that seemed to wake up the For the next 25 minutes or so, the advantage swung Durbell side because they replied almost immediately from one side to the other. Eventually, Maties with a seven-pointer. crossed for a second try in the 32nd minute to stretch their lead to 12-0, which is how the first half ended. Five minutes later, after a succession of penalty As neutral spectators, we felt the Tuks game plan advantage calls by the referee, the visitors crossed seemed straight out of the 1970s SA rugby play-book again bring them to within six points of Impala’s lead – kicking away far too much quality possession. – with eight minutes to go. But Impala struck right back with a try of their own to give the home side a 13 It got worse in the 50th minute: when the home team point lead with some two minutes left on the clock. scored a seven point try, taking the score to 21-0 with the conversion. That score seemed to wake up Tuks. Once again, a series of advantage calls led to a final try Within 5 minutes, they had scored at the other end after the hooter by the team from Durbanville- after a sustained period of pressure during which the Bellville. It was a superb end to what has been a highly ball was not kicked a single time: 21-5. entertaining 2019 club rugby championship. Oh, yes, the final score was 37-31 to the 2019 SSG Gold Cup And then after the strategy break midway through the champions, Newrak Impala, the club’s third title in second half, Tuks scored a second time in the other five years. corner and successfully converted it this time: 21-12.

Just as Tuks were exploding back into the game with a series of attacking plays, their full back received a red card when the tackled player ducked into the tackle.

At 15 minutes to go, that ended the match as a contest. It was a disappointing way to end what has been, until now, a brilliant Varsity Cup season. Final score 34-12.

Page 4 Page 5 PRO14: All Over Bar the Shouting SuperSport Rugby Challenge Begins Next Week

There’s one more round to go in the 2018/2019 PRO14 competition – that will be next Saturday (27 April). But for the two local teams, it’s all over bar the shouting. The Southern Kings hosted Ospreys in Port Elizabeth on Friday night and were utterly woeful.

Nobody in the newsroom thought to watch the match and looking at the match timeline on our trusty Ultimate Rugby app, the home team let in six tries and had conceded 38 points before they were able to cross the whitewash in reply.

That was early in the last quarter and the match was already effectively over as a contest – if it ever was a There’s an old saying: as one door closes another contest in the first place. Final score 7-43. opens. And in the jam-packed rugby season of 2019, this is also true. Last Sunday and Monday saw the On Saturday evening, the Cheetahs faced off in close of the club rugby season (see page four) and next against the team many believe was the weekend will see the start of the SuperSport Rugby weakest link in the tournament this season: Dragons. Challenge (SRC) 2019. The first 60 odd minutes was an arm-wrestle with advantage swinging one way and then the other. The SRC this year has a new format that features 67 matches between the country’s 14 provincial unions But the Dragons were asked to make 146 tackles in the and Namibia’s Welwitschias. For those, like our match and that took it's toll in the last quarter when the editor, who’s memory isn’t what it once was, the local Cheetahs managed to put on some distance between teams are: Vodacom , Xerox , them and the opponents. Final score 38-13. Falcons, Steval Pumas, Toyota , Down Touch , Tafel Lager , Leopards, All that remains for the local teams contesting the Cell C Sharks, Boland Cavaliers, Border Bulldogs, EP PRO14 2018/2019 is the final derby next Saturday. Kings, SWD Eagles and DHL Western Province. Kings need to win in Bloemfontein to be sure of staying ahead of the Dragons but will hang on The tournament will be played over 13 weeks starting regardless if the Welsh team fails to pick up points next weekend. The competition will be divided into from the derby against Scarlets. three pools – North, South and Central. It will comprise six pool matches every weekend for 10 weeks, followed by seven knockout games.

The 15 teams will play on a home-and-away basis against the other four teams in their pool over the 10- week period. The top two teams from each pool, along with the two third-placed teams with the most log points, will qualify for the quarter-finals on Sunday 2 July, with the semifinals a week later and the final on Sunday 16 July.

The tournament will primarily be played on Sundays at well-known community rugby centres as televised rugby festivals. We’ll keep you posted each week but if you can’t wait, you can find the fixtures here.

Page 6 Neil Powell Magic or Another Reason?

We noted this earlier in the year after a string of bad results: no championship winning team of 12 members (including reserves) can expect to retain a title if it loses seven of those players before the defence really begins. And yes, barring a miracle, the Blitzbokke will not retain their HSBC World Rugby Sevens title this season.

But that said, in the last three rounds of the series, they have won two titles. But how? This is what Oom Rugby was wondering when he tweeted words to the effect of: “I do not know much about 7s or how it works, but one thing I do know is that after a team loses so many core players the "If positive results aren’t delivered, the coach is ‘rebuilding’ phase is usually longer." quickly ushered to a door marked ‘Exit’.

And he’d be right. Normally. So what’s different “There are common traits that the greatest sports about the Blitzbokke? Craig Ray reckons that it’s coaches share – single-mindedness, vision, the coach, Neil Powell. “No stars, no problem for organisation and a winning mentality – to get the job Powell,” he writes. done successfully. But few are allowed the chance to fully develop those traits, or impose them on their “Elite coaching seldom allows for growth because teams. winning is the currency that professional sports teams trade in. "Having those and many other skills won’t be enough if there isn’t support from above – whether it be an owner or a CEO. Coaches need to have people in high places that share their vision and who have the same stomach for the fight."

There’s more but we’ll leave you with this snippet: “He was given the latitude by SA Rugby to gradually build a team to become World Series winners. It took three years of finishing second before they claimed the title with a tournament to spare in 2017.”

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Page 7 For your weekend viewing pleasure Despite club rugby in South Africa reaching its annual climax last weekend, there is still a decent amount to occupy the rugby fan this weekend. Consulting our trusty Ultimate Rugby app reveals action in the European Champions Cup (semifinals), in Major League Rugby from the USA and in Super Rugby (alongside).

Perhaps most interesting is that the Champions Cup semifinals this year feature two teams from the Guinness PRO14 competition (Leinster and Munster), one from the Gallagher Premiership (Saracens) and one from the French Top 14 (Toulouse). You can check out the US MLR fixtures by clicking on the link above but, as usual, we’ll focus on Super Rugby.

After two really poor weekends, Lions are desperate to return to winning ways against the Chiefs on Friday morning. That afternoon, Sharks will want to bounce back from last week’s disaster against the Reds. On Saturday afternoon, Stormers will want more success against The Bulls have a bye and an ideal opportunity to Australian opposition when they play the Brumbies. recharge those batteries.

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