De Waal's boot wins Newlands thriller
Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:51
Crunch time: Conrad Jantjies is tackled by Zane Kirchner. (c) Gallo
Flyhalf Willem de Waal kicked five penalties as Western Province retained their unbeaten Currie Cup run with a thrilling 15-12 win over the Blue Bulls at Newlands on Saturday.
De Waal's five penalties edged the four kicked by Bulls flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter - a game that was a war of attrition in true tradition if these north-south derbies.
There is no doubt Newlands can still do it.
Newlands, the mother of all rugby grounds in South Africa still attracts crowds like nowhere else in South Africa - 48,000 to watch Western Province play the Blue Bulls on a warm Saturday afternoon.
And not one of them left early.
There were no tries and they stayed engrossed in this five-kicks-to four contest, this collision of strong men hellbent on stopping their opponents. It was 80 minutes of non-stop collision, big strong men without fear colliding with big strong men without mercy.
Western Province deserved to win. They did most of the attacking, but Prodigal Province nearly blew it in the first half - when they turned down penalty kicks at goal in search of the tries they did not find. Instead of kicking at goal with the score 6-3, they ignored one of the best goal-kickers in the rugby world and opted instead to take three five-metre line-outs and two five-metre scrums and ended the half leading 6-3.
Then early in the second half were drawing at 6-all.
From then on they kicked for goal.
The second half was more even but still Western Province had the better of it and still they could not score a try.
The lack of tries was certainly in part due to the tough defence of both sides as they made tackles into hits. It may well also have been due to poor attack on a day when charging was more important than passing. Oddly enough it was the Blue Bulls who were better able to produce the possibility of an overlap, but usually it was going left rather than towards Gerhard van den Heever's speedy, elusive wing.
Not even when the Blue Bulls were down to 14 men after Van den Heever was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle did Western Province score a try. In fact, during Van den Heever's absence not a point was scored. That was the second setback for the Blue Bulls after a knee injury forced captain Gary Botha from the field, replaced by bulky Bandise Maku.
The most precious ball in rugby was quick ball from a tackle/ruck. One of the reasons for the poor attacking may well have been a scrumhalf preference for slow ball - especially in the case of young Ruan Snyman of the Blue Bulls.
The Western Province scrumming was considerably better but there were few scrums in the match - just nine in all, only two in the second half.
Western Province won the penalty count 13-10 and made five of them points. The Blue Bulls, on the other hand, missed one which was in front of the posts.
But the Western Province line-out hamstrung them. They lost four in a row, including one five metres from the Blue Bulls line.
Western Province kicked off and attacked. Juandré Kruger was penalised at a tackle and Willem de Waal made it 3-0.
Nick Köster broke and gave to Duane Vermeulen. Western Province attacked again, but Köster lost the ball. But then Werner Kruger was penalised at a scrum. 6-0.
Conrad Jantjes had problems with the high wall, knocked one on and was penalised in front of his posts some 24 metres out. Boo as the crowd might, Jacques-Louis Potgieter could not miss - 6-3 after 24 minutes.
That that was still the score 16 minutes later seemed bizarre after all the earnest attacking Western Province had done and the chances they had had to advance their score, including three five-metre line-outs and two five-metre scrums, the second of which when Snyman under pressure passed back over Jacques-Louis Potgieter's head.
The Blue Bulls' only attempt to score was a wayward drop form a long way out by Jacques-Louis Potgieter.
When the Blue Bulls mauled a line-out in the second half it had more cohesion and purpose than early attempts by Western Province and when Paul Bosch was penalised at a tackle, Jacques-Louis Potgieter made the score 6-6.
Fabian Juries intercepted and ran a long way down the tight touchline. Zane Kirchner covered and Juries is no Gio Aplon. He kicked and the ball went feebly into touch.
Dean Greyling was off-side and from slap in front De Waal made it 9-6 after 47 minutes.
The Bulls tried a maul, but Western Province stopped them and broke out.
Juandré Kruger was penalised at a tackle and from a couple of metres inside the Blue Bulls half, De Waal goaled. 12-6 after 58 minutes.
The Blue Bulls went through many unprofitable phases till Jacques-Louis Potgieter made the score 12-9 with 10 minutes to play.
With five minutes to play Gerrit-Jan van Velze hurled Dewaldt Duvenage aside when the scrumhalf did not have the ball - 15-9 - and with three minutes to go Deon Fourie was penalised at a tackle and Jacques-Louis Potgieter ended the scoring.
The Blue Bulls did not threaten till the final whistle.
Man of the Match: There were several great performances amongst the forwards, especially Brok Harris and Anton van Zyl of Western Province and Dewald Potgieter of the Blue Bulls. The best of the backs were probably Dewaldt Duvenage and the two flyhalves, Willem de Waal and Jacques-Louis Potgieter. Our Man of the Match for a non-stop 80 minutes of effective contact is Duane Vermeulen, who tackled, won line-out ball, drove relentlessly at the opposition - a mountain of a man.
The scorers:
For Western Province:
Pens: De Waal 5
For the Blue Bulls:
Pens: Potgieter 4
Yellow card(s): Gerhard van den Heever (Blue Bulls, 22nd minute - foul play, high tackle)
The teams:
Western Province: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Fabian Juries, 13 Tim Whitehead, 12 Paul Bosch, 11 Frikkie Welsh, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Nick Köster, 6 Pieter Louw, 5 Anton van Zyl (captain), 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 JD Moller, 18 Buhle Mxunyelwa, 19 De Kock Steenkamp, 20 Pieter Myburgh, 21 Conrad Hoffmann, 22 Lionel Cronjé.
Blue Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 John Mametsa, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Ruan Snyman, 8 Gerrit-Jan van Velze, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Derick Kuün, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4 Juandré Kruger, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Gary Botha (captain), 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku,
17 Bees Roux, 18 Mthunzi 'Fudge' Mabeta, 19 CJ Stander, 20 Dustin Jinka, 21 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 22 Jaco Engels.
Referee: Marius Jonker
Assistant referees: Mlungiseli Mdashe, Marc van Zyl
TMO: Shaun Veldsman
By Paul Dobson
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