Volume 20, Number 528 February 2020

“I really thought he went down and the player ducked into the tackle. It was a great tackle. Nobody was injured or anything.” Blue Bulls coach Pote Human describing events which led to a yellow card for Burger Odendaal.

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Upsets Galore in Super Rugby Round Four

Readers will remember our dip into the predictions game a fortnight ago and we’re pleased to report that we only had one result wrong in that round: we picked the visiting Waratahs over Rebels but the home team did the job. Thankfully, due to load shedding, we were unable to crow about our achievement or to dabble in the game again because this past weekend was upset after upset.

It began last Friday with a typically belligerent performance by Crusaders in crushing Highlanders’ hopes (33-13) in Christchurch. That result put last season’s champions on top of the New Zealand conference – but the apparently smart money was saying it wouldn’t be for long. The smart money was wrong.

Saturday seemed to go from one upset to the next. It began in Melbourne, where the visiting Sharks won a match they had no right to win (24-36). That result speaks to one of two things: the abysmally poor standard of refereeing seen in the competition so far this year; and the poor standard of rugby in the South Pacific penitentiary these days.

 

Then came what was undoubtedly the upset of the day, when Brumbies visited Hamilton and knocked Chiefs off the top of the combined table with a stunning victory (14-26). 

Waratahs scored all the points in the first half, and continued with the first movement of the second half. Chiefs took their turn to score after that but fell well short of the mark. It was an unbelievable result helped by plenty of typically questionable officiating.

The match in Brisbane followed that and saw the home-town Reds entertain Sunwolves, leading to the third upset of the day – nobody expected the Japanese franchise to take such a hammering from such lowly opposition. The final score was a completely unbelievable 64-5.

But the upsets weren’t over, not by a long shot. Jaguares visited Cape Town and simply couldn’t overcome the home town Stormers (17-7). This was despite the best referee in the competition – if not the world right now – being in charge of the fixture.

The final match of the weekend saw a lacklustre Bulls outfit lose the plot and the match (albeit in the final minutes) against Blues from New Zealand (21-23).

As it was two weeks ago, Pote Human’s typical domkrag battle plan did the home team no favours whatsoever.

KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER

Two More Terrible Rounds of PRO14 RugbySix Nations: French Clean Sweep is PossibleRugby That Rocks Deserves to be on TV

 

Werner Kok Still Smiling As He Hits 50Is There Anything Cheslin Kolbe Can’t Do?Sarries Scandal Exposes Complex Problem

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Two More Terrible Rounds of PRO14 Rugby

Given that we missed reporting on PRO14 last week, we’re casting our eyes back a fortnight to assess the last two rounds on PRO14 rugby. But we’re not sure why we’re doing it because it was absolutely horrible: four matches played; four matches lost.

In round 11, a fortnight ago, the first match of significant local interest saw Southern Kings travel to Cork to face Munster. And it set a terrible precedent when the home side thrashed the visitors 68-3. To add salt to the wounds, a fellow South African and former Bulls player, Arno Botha, was destroyer-in-chief, scoring a hat-trick of tries for his new team on the night.

The next day saw six-time PRO14 champions, Leinster, absolutely eviscerate Cheetahs in Dublin. When the boys from Bloemfontein wiped out their eyes in the third quarter, they were trailing 36-0. To their credit, however, they fought back and managed to score twice before the final whistle to bring some respectability to the final score: 36-12.

Of the pair of South African franchises, it was Cheetahs who played first last weekend and the match took on a similar shape to that of the week before – Ulster scored all their points in the first sixty minutes while the visitors could only add a solitary penalty kick for three points. A Clayton Blommetjies try restored some pride but try as they might, Cheetahs could not secure even a losing bonus point. Final score: 20-10.

That brings us to the last of four forgettable matches, which saw Scarlets take on Kings in Llanelli. This one was at least competitive for sixty minutes, at which point the score was 19-17. But then Scarlets scored three tries for a final score of 36-17.

Six Nations: French Clean Sweep is Possible

As the only undefeated side in Six Nations 2020, France is still in with a shot at a clean sweep in the tournament. So far, the cockerels have defeated the despicable whingers (24-17), Italy (35-22) and Wales (27-23) and they have two matches left: Scotland at Murrayfield next weekend and Ireland at home on the outskirts of Paris a week later.

But looking back on the competition so far, round two took place a fortnight ago and we missed reporting on that due to load shedding and a subsequent outage (we had no power for over nine hours last Thursday from 12pm). But if you still want to go back and assess the results, one of the places you can go is ruck.co.uk.

It features extended video highlights of the fixtures that week: Wales vs England, France vs Scotland, Italy vs Ireland. We do admit to having been as bitterly disappointed in Wales two weeks ago as we were with Ireland this past weekend.

Both teams have recently appointed new coaches and it appears to have brought some uncertainty into the performances of their teams. Wayne Pivac is a New Zealander who replaced his compatriot Warren Gatland in Cardiff after last year’s World Cup while Andy Farrell took over as Ireland head coach after Joe Schmidt stepped down at more or less the same time. Both have very big shoes to fill.

Specialist website, sixnationsrugby.com, is featuring five key statistical insights from round three of the tournament and it's worth a read if you're so inclined. Florugby.com looks to establish what lessons can be taken from the third round while Gareth Mason recaps it in his inimitable style.

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Rugby That Rocks Deserves to be on TV

We have an admission to make: until this past Monday night, we have avoided watching FNB Varsity Cup rugby this year. The memory of the horrible noise in stadia during the matches last year was just too distressing. And before we took the plunge this week, we fully expected to have to mute the sound, again.

But we were pleasantly surprised: presumably as a result of the diminished crowds, there is now a far greater focus on the rugby being played. Hallelujah. If we can offer a word of advice to the sponsors, FNB, forget about trying to get crowds to the game. Rather capitalise on the hordes of television viewers who would love to see every game on television.

Play two matches on Sunday and the other two on Monday, staggered so that all can be broadcast. And get SABC involved: they’ll give greater coverage and be far more flexible than the sharks in Randburg. Here ends the lesson.

The match we saw on Monday was Tuks vs Shimlas where the visitors came out of the blocks fast and had the score at 0-14 inside the first ten minutes. Of course, the home team fought back and, in the end triumphed (43-33) but along the way, eleven tries were scored and some fantastic rugby was played. It really was rugby that rocks.

Meanwhile, three other matches were being played. In Johannesburg a last-gasp penalty proved the difference between Wits and NWU as the home side won it (27-24) and down in Bellville, Maties ran all over UWC to finish with a scoreline of 5-77. And in Bloemfontein, CUT ran out to a comfortable lead only to watch Ikeys claw it back and claim a draw (44-44).

Werner Kok Still Smiling As He Hits 50

Blitzbok and 2015 World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year, Werner Kok, will have a broad smile on his facewhen he joins a very illustrious group of Springbok Sevens players in Los Angeles this weekend. He will take the field in his 50th HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series tournament – the eighth Blitzbok to achieve the milestone.

For the popular Nelspruit native, it will be a special feeling that he will treasure and something he did not think of when he debuted as a Blitzbok for the very first time way back in London in 2013. “It was not something I ever thought would happen, so it is going to be a great feeling, no doubt,” said Kok.

“It will be pretty amazing I am sure. I still recall my very first match... I came off the bench against France in London and my first act was to defend, but the guy stepped me blind,” Kok recalls with a laugh.

But looking ahead to the tournament this weekend, there are some matches scheduled to be played at awkward times here in South Africa. Blitzboks are drawn against Kenya (21:35 Saturday night), Canada (00:53 Sunday morning) and Ireland (05:05, also Sunday morning).

The good news is that there are quarter-finals this weekend so one slip-up will not end Blitzboks chances of a tournament victory.

They will be very keen to reduce the nine-point deficit to New Zealand in the standings of this year’s tournament. A win in Los Angeles could do that – and more if the kiwis stumble along the way.

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Is There Anything Cheslin Kolbe Can’t Do?

There was a fascinating experiment in the Top 14 a couple of weeks back. The coaching staff at Toulouse decided to play World Cup-winning Springbok wing at flyhalf in a crunch match against Racing 92.

We’re not sure why the decision was taken but are very pleased that it was. He was brilliant in the unaccustomed role, scoring ten points – all of them with the boot and missing only one kick at poles. Sadly, Toulouse lost the match after the hooter, largely due to an 80 minute yellow card handed to Iosefa Tekori.

But that did not detract from Kolbe’s performance, which could be characterised as assured. There’s a package of highlights on YouTube of his performance, in which he had a couple of very good touches, a conversion from the touchline and a 48m penalty.

Kolbe’s statistics from the match were also pretty damn impressive, including six tackles, ten passes, seven carries and a try-assist. Indeed, RugbyPass.com has characterised the Kolbe experiment as an unqualified success.

Author, Josh Raisey, writes: “Rugby World Cup winner Cheslin Kolbe is fast becoming the most versatile player on the planet after his performance at fly-half at the weekend...his pass for Pita Ahki’s try was a glimpse of his vision as a half-back and a sign that he does not simply pose a threat as a runner, but as a distributor too.”

You can read the rest of the glowing praise here. There’s also an enthusiastic piece about the experimenton Keo.co.za.

Sarries Scandal Exposes Complex Problem

SA Rugby magazine is running a column by former Springbok Stefan Terblanche, in which he asserts that the Saracens salary-cap scandal has highlighted how maladministration is a global problem. And he has a point, well, quite a few actually. Among other things, he writes:

“It is easy to look in from the outside and give advice on how to handle situations on and off the rugby field. I find myself in that position when I look at Saracens, one of the biggest rugby clubs in England and Europe for the past few years.

“I have listened to podcasts, read many articles and followed this scandal closely on social media, and I am still gobsmacked that a First-World rugby-playing nation with millions of pounds in resources, and the biggest number of registered rugby players (by far), handled this debacle so amateurishly. But here’s my take on it.

“In a nutshell, Saracens bridged the salary cap for I don’t know how many years, got caught, were docked 35 league points (a further 70-point deduction followed in January), and were fined £5.36 million. Ultimately, they have been relegated from the Premiership without even firing a shot or taking the rugby authorities to court.

“It makes absolutely no sense at all to me. The thing that made me laugh out loud is that Saracens are allowed to keep the trophies they won during those years in question, as long as they are not openly displayed. Seriously, are they guilty? Have they actually cheated? Or am I the only one too stupid to work out what is going on?”

Indeed. Check out the whole article here.

Law Discussion: Two Yellow Cards Last Week

Watching Super Rugby matches last weekend, two moments stood out as very puzzling at the time. Both featured the presentation of a yellow card, which, while correct in terms of the letter of the law reminded us that the law is an ass – or, in South Africa, an arse.

Indeed, the coaches of both teams who received the yellow cardswere fuming as a result, according to Dylan Jack writing in SA Rugby magazine:

“Vodacom Bulls coach Pote Human and Stormers coach John Dobson both expressed their disappointment at having players sent to the sin bin in their respective matches on Saturday.”

Jack reports that Bulls coach, Pote Human, said he felt [Odendaal’s tackle] was a good tackle, given that the Blues player had also ducked into it. “‘I thought it was a really tough call,’ Human said. ‘I really thought he went down and the player ducked into the tackle. It was a great tackle. Nobody was injured or anything.

 

"'It was a tough one on us. It is difficult, the referee is the sole judge, so you have to respect that and play accordingly.’”

Meanwhile, at Newlands, Stormers lost tighthead prop Frans Malherbe to the sin bin for a tackle that was also deemed to be dangerous due to contact on the head. Jack writes that coach John Dobson was vocal about the decision and said that he would consider appealing it to get it taken off Malherbe’s record.

“‘We actually started laughing in the box,’ Dobson said. ‘Because we heard this jargon in the World Cup – “mitigating factor”. Frans has hit the bloke’s leg. I know there is contact on the head. And Frans’ arm is coming round.

“‘We certainly will look at that. It was more dangerous for Frans. I thought it was a tough one, but we handled it well.’”

But, as luck would have it, rugby laws guru, Paul Dobson [we’re not sure if he’s related to the Stormers’ coach or not – Ed], has addressed them in his column on Rugby365.com this week.

After extensive analysis, he reaches the conclusion that “the yellow card for Odendaal was right but not the yellow card for Malherbe.”

You can read his reasoning here but it’s far too detailed and long-winded for these pages.

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For Your Weekend Rugby Viewing Pleasure

It’s another weekend with plenty of rugby action. For local fans it begins early Friday morning in Super Rugby (see schedule alongside). Round five of HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series kicks off in Los Angeles Saturday night.

The FNB Varsity Cup continues on Monday with all games kicking off at 7pm. The televised match this week is Shimlas vs CUT from Bloemfontein. And in Europe, Pro D2and Top 14 continue to thrill French crowds while across the channel the Championship and Premiership get whingers screaming. And around UK, PRO14 has a round of fixtures in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Further afield, the MLR continues at locations around America, as does the Top League at venues around Japan. And every one of the leagues mentioned above features players from South Africa – or so we believe.

 

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With what promises to be a fantastic year of rugby before us, we look forward to engaging you, our readers, as well as our contributors, many of whom you'll find on our Twitter timeline.

The Rugby Team at Leopard Newsletters.

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