Mission accomplished for the Bulls
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:58
It wasn't the prettiest game of rugby, but the Blue Bulls moved to the top of the Currie Cup standings with a 26-10 win over the Boland Cavaliers in Wellington on Saturday.
The four-tries-to-one win saw the Bulls earn a full-house of five points and moved ahead of the Sharks on the standings ... even if it is just for a few hours.
There must be more to playing sport than winning. Oh, winning is important but surely sportsmen have greater ambitions than that - the desire to achieve excellence. The Blue Bulls won and got their bonus point but they fell a long way short of excellence in the desultory second half when the interest and entertainment came from the Boland Cavaliers
Unfortunately for those who love rugby, the Blue Bulls scored their bonus-point try after 47 minutes and there were still 33 minutes to play - a long, dreary 33 minutes, pointless minutes in more senses than one.
Boland, to their credit, kept on trying but they just do not have the firepower to blow away the men with so many big guns. Their greatest weakness was their midfield defence. Two of the Blue Bulls' tries were ridiculously easy.
Up front the Boland were surprisingly competitive, even taking tightheads off the mighty men from the north but their line-outs were appalling. Of 13 throws into the line-out, six were skew and three lost. That's no pattern to build on. They lost their first two throws and threw their next three in skew. One of the skew throws was five-metres from the Blue Bulls line.
Boland lost their captain just before the match and Henley du Plessis took over the captaincy in his first Currie Cup match this year and he was manful. Piet van Zyl's place at centre was taken by Deon Scholtz.
The Blue Bulls were close to scoring early on when they went on the pick-'n-drive and Wikus van Heerden was at the line. The referee asked the TMO for help and the result was inconclusive on the soft turf with thick grass to hide the white line. In the second half Van Heerden was again close and again the TMO thought the matter inconclusive.
From the first incident the Blue Bulls had a five-metre scrum. They battered and then Fourie du Preez passed a lovely pass to Marius Delport who forced his way over for a try. 7-0 after 6 minutes.
Boland had some time in Blue Bulls territory but their line-outs robbed them of an effective ness and when the Blue Bulls got into Boland land they scored again. From a line-out Wynand Olivier went between two hesitant tacklers to score. 14-0.
Then Boland got a splendid try. Outside centre Deon Scholtz forced a halfgap and slung a one-handed pass to Sevens Springbok Renfred Dazel who did a clever in-out that put Tiger Mangweni on his bum. The wing then strolled over for a try in the left corner. Justin Peach converted. 14-7 after 23 minutes.
The Blue Bulls won an attacking line-out. They bashed and then released the ball to Morné Steyn who went between two of the feeblest tacklers in the Currie Cup to score.
That made the half-time score 19-7.
Boland attacked first in the second half but were found guilty of a tiny knock-on and some great passing by the Blue Bulls sent Akona Ndungane racing for the left corner. Steyn converted from far out. 26-0 after 47 minutes.
There was just one score after this - when Peach kicked a penalty on 50 minutes.
By that time Du Plessis was in the sin bin for a high tackle on Fourie du Preez.
In the last half an hour on a sunny afternoon in Wellington with the mountains of the Cape etched clear against a blue sky, Van Heerden was close and Peach had a long run. A burst of penalties saw Bandise Maku sent to the sin bin and Boland batter at the Blue Bulls line, but really there was nothing to report.
The scorers:
For the Boland Cavaliers:
Try: Dazel
Con:
Peach
Pen: Peach
For the Blue Bulls:
Tries: Delport, Olivier, Steyn, Ndungane
Cons: Steyn 3
Yellow cards: Henley du Plessis (Boland Cavaliers, 57 - foul play, high tackle), Bandise Maku (Blue Bulls, 79 - repeated infringements, hands in ruck)
Teams:
Boland Cavaliers: 15 Justin Peach, 14 Stefan Basson, 13 Deon Scholtz, 12 Dewey Swartbooi, 11 Renfred Dazel, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Marnus Hugo, 8 Dries van Schalkwyk, 7 Henley du Plessis (captain), 6 Whalied Heyns, 5 Bradley Mockford, 4 Frikkie Spies, 3 WP Nel, 2 Pieter Wium, 1 Jean Botha.
Replacements: 16 Clemen Lewis, 17 Janro van Niekerk, 18 Andries Human, 19 Cecil Kemp, 20 Zolani Mofu, 21 Neil Papier, 22 Kobus Meintjes.
Blue Bulls: 15 Tiger Mangweni, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Marius Delport, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 John Mametsa, 10 Morné
Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Wikus van Heerden (captain), 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4 Francois van Schouwenburg, 3 Rayno Gerber, 2 Derick Kuün, 1 Jaco Engels.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Werner Kruger, 18 Juandré Kruger, 19 Jacques Burger, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Zane Kirchner.
Referee: Pro Legoete
Touch judges: Gareth Lloyd-Jones, Linston Manuels
TMO: Shaun Veldsman
