There's Not Much to Choose Between the Bulls
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“...there’s not much to choose between the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers. But the big question will only be answered in the coming weeks – can South Africa mount a serious challenge for the trophy?” - Mike Greenaway writing on AllOutRugby Volume 19, Number 3 07 February 2019 Register to receive your own free weekly newsletter at www.leopardnewsletters.co.za Super Rugby Preview: the Bulls Craig Lewis has penned a preview of the Bulls Super After finishing 12th in Super Rugby, it was Rugby season in which he says coach Pote Human’s confirmed that much-vaunted coach John Mitchell team hopes to be the surprise package of 2019. And would be leaving for England. Long-serving CEO based on the performance on Sunday, narrowly going Barend van Graan had already announced that he down to the Stormers in a pre-season “friendly”, that would be stepping down at the end of the year.” may well come to pass. Lewis then steps through the tale of woe in the However, it will depend on which Bulls team takes months since the end of Super Rugby 2018 and the field – the second half team at Cape Town finally gets to the bit where Human is appointed. He Stadium was far sharper and more hungry than the explains: “Largely thanks to the compensation first half team. And yes, you read that right: To all received from England to buy out Mitchell’s contract, intents and purposes, the Bulls fielded two different the Bulls ended 2018 with a reported profit. This teams in the two halves on Sunday. In fact, I'm told played a part in enabling the franchise to recruit that all four franchises followed a similar path. wisely...” Interesting tactics. Indeed, as mentioned last week, among the But we digress, Lewis writes of the Bulls woeful acquisitions are Duane Vermeulen, Schalk Brits, season in 2018: “Towards the end of 2018, the Blitzboks star Rosko Specman and former Springbok Vodacom Bulls looked to be a franchise in trouble. wing, Cornal Hendricks, who made a remarkable comeback from a career-threatening heart ailment. Lewis then picks out a couple of players to watch: Lood de Jager and Embrose Papier. The former showed what he could do in the first half team on Sunday while the latter strutted his stuff in the second half. How effective they were is an exercise for the reader to judge. One can only hope that Craig Lewis intends writing previews on the other three franchises taking part in Super Rugby 2019. We wait with bated breath. KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER Six Nations Upsets the Form Book And The Psychological Warfare Begins... Cheetahs Still in With a Sniff SANZAAR Reduces Super Rugby Referees Panel Dream of Retaining Title Now on Life-Support What Did We Learn from #SuperHeroSunday? Page 1 Six Nations Upsets the Form Book Cheetahs Still in With a Sniff Last week, in looking at the opening round fixtures of As with any derby, it was a match with plenty of the 2019 Six Nations, one could have been tempted to aggression as neither team wanted to lose. The cards, put money on wins for France, Scotland and Ireland. three yellow and one red, tells a tale of not just the The odds and the size of the bet notwithstanding, you match but also the ill-discipline that has characterised probably would have lost money as, of the three, only both teams in PRO14 rugby since the start. Scotland managed a win. The first surprise was Wales beating France in Paris on Friday night. At half-time, the Welsh were trailing by 16-0 but a Tomos Williams try just after half-time got them back in the game and a George North try double put them over the top, helping the Welsh to equal their longest winning sequence since 1999. The Cheetahs were perhaps a little less guilty (only one yellow) but the Kings really climbed in mercilessly, and paid the price for it. But it was the red card given, completely justifiably it Over in Edinburgh, Scotland handed Italy a thumping. must be said, to CJ Velleman in the 63rd minute that This was despite the fact that Italy scored first through was most concerning. It was for an utterly stupid dive a Tommaso Allan penalty. By the time they wiped out on Junior Pokomela after he had already scored a try their eyes at half-time, they were trailing 12-3. and was not only the right call by the referee but will probably also see the Kings player cited. It got considerably worse in the second half and the Scots were leading 33-3 before the visitors scored It was really interesting that the score was 33-15 to again. That said, the Italians did score three tries in the the Cheetahs when Velleman was sent off and the last 10 minutes to add some respectability to the final Cheetahs had stretched this out to 40-15 within five scoreline of 33-20. minutes. But then, almost unbelievably, the Kings lifted their game to such an extent that they managed It's a safe bet that the Scottish coach will have given to run in another three tries with only 14 men on the his team hell for that last ten minutes. Nevertheless, field. That meant that they took two bonus points the final result prompted Squidge Rugby to ask the from the game, one for four tries and one for perennial question that seems to come up every year at finishing within 7 points of the Cheetahs. around this time: Are Italy actually getting any better? For the Cheetahs, however, it was job done: the But the biggest surprise was the resul in Dublin, where bonus point victory required to keep them in the mix England ended Ireland’s hopes of back-to-back Six for a play-offs slot. The Kings, meanwhile have Nations Grand Slams with a 20-32 victory. This result given themselves a chance of avoiding the wooden would no doubt have had the bookies rubbing their spoon. After the demolition derby, both teams have a hands with glee. break before their next fixture. Page 2 Page 3 Dream of Retaining Title Now on Life-Support And the Psychological Warfare Begins... At the beginning of the present HSBC World Rugby Many coaches and sometimes players have waged Sevens Series, fans of the Blitzbokke were optimistic psychological warfare in the run-up to important that depth would prevail and they’d once again pull matches or series, seemingly in an attempt to distract together to retain the title – despite the massive exodus an opposition coach, captain or player – sometimes to 15s and injuries to some key players. But that dream all of them. That it sometimes works is evidenced by is now on life-support: while it’s still mathematically the fact that it’s still tried. possible, it’s highly improbable. And it looks like it’s already beginning ahead of the If the third round disaster in Hamilton was bad, then World Cup in Japan, still some seven months away. the fourth round in Sydney was an absolute disaster. In Witness the latest salvo from All Blacks coach, Steve it, the Blitzbokke revealed their true place in the Hansen, who mocked his Wallabies counterpart, pecking order of World Rugby Sevens: squabbling Michael Cheika, referring to him as "Mickey Mouse" among the also-rans for best of the rest behind the top and suggesting he needs to "control his emotions". three: New Zealand, USA and Fiji. The incident was reported by Phillip Rollo on Stuff After the New Zealand win in Sydney, the Blitzbokke New Zealand this week, after he attended a Circa will need a miracle – nay, six miracles – to lift the Theatre fundraiser [this past] Monday night, where series title for a third time running in 2019. Hansen was interviewed by former television presenter Ian Fraser. A glance at the series standings makes it clear that they would have to win every single one of the remaining Fraser brought up a quote from former Wallabies six tournaments this season and hope that the top three player Mark Ella, who said "Mickey Mouse could trip each other up squabbling for the silver medal in coach the All Blacks to victory" because of the each of thise six rounds. quality of the players at Hansen's disposal. However, Hansen responded by commenting: "they've got Mickey Mouse coaching Aussie." Hansen followed that up by admitting that he plays mind games with rival coaches in an attempt to get under their skin. He said the psychological warfare was particularly effective with Cheika. So there you have it folks, even the mighty All Blacks feel insecure enough to resort to psychological warfare. That’s not going to happen. The best we can hope for is to stay ahead of Australia and England – and even that seems unlikely based on the results in Sydney. There is nowhere to hide in world rugby when your administrators don’t seem to care about your code and clearly have no clue about the need for continuity. Page 4 Page 5 Varsity Cup Begins with Some Grinding Wins SANZAAR Reduces Super Rugby Referees Panel The opening week of the FNB Varsity Cup rugby got Some interesting news that emerged on PlanetRugby off to a cracking start on Monday night. Eight of the this week was that the organisation that allegedly nine teams were in action, with largely predictable manages Super Rugby, SANZAAR, has seen fit to results.