Bulle SA Conference favourites?

Ex Supersport

The way the South African conference is panning out in Vodacom Super Rugby, don’t bet against the last day of the league season producing the same sort of drama that Premier League followers experienced on Sunday.

The Bulls and Stormers have been almost inseparable at the top of the conference since the start of the season, and it remained that way at the weekend as both teams picked up four log points from close wins. The Bulls started the round with a one point advantage courtesy of the bonus points they have picked up along the way, and that is the way it remains.

With the Chiefs going down this weekend, the Stormers are the only team in the competition to have only lost once. If like in soccer there weren’t bonus points, and some forward a good argument as to why their shouldn’t be (a team getting a bonus point for scoring four tries when they lose 67-28 makes no sense!), the Stormers would be on top of the overall log now. (have aslo beaten the bulle so Stormers should top the log)

But that isn’t the case, so effectively the Stormers’ inability to pick up four try bonus points in any of their nine wins means they are wedged into the log-jam at the top of both the conference and the overall log. One point separates the Bulls, Stormers and Chiefs overall, but the Stormers wear the tag of fourth place at present because the leaders of the weak Australian conference are guaranteed third.

While the Bulls and Stormers have been nip and tuck for so long, up until this past weekend there was a feeling that the Stormers were controlling the conference. That was because while they were level on log points, the Stormers had already completed their four match overseas tour and the Bulls still had to travel.

The view that the Bulls might struggle overseas looked set to be vindicated in both of their matches in Australia. They didn’t win either of their games against the Waratahs or the Rebels as comfortably as the Stormers won their matches in Australia. Against the Waratahs a few days ago they were the inferior team for most of the way and for much of that game (PLEASE NOT DAVEOU!!!) you got the sense that the Sydney side just needed to add one more score and they would win comfortably.

But it didn’t happen, and what the Bulls showed again, as they did even in defeat against the Stormers in their massive Newlands derby at the end of March, is that they somehow still retain that champion ability of being able to hold nerve in tight situations and survive even when they are being outplayed.(But as we all should know you cant survive too many close calls - your luck simply doesn't last forever)

AWAY DERBIES

Waratahs captain Rocky Elsom summed it up afterwards – the Bulls played very well when they played their game towards the end of the match. And what was their game? Quite simply what was being referred to was the few minutes where the Bulls pinned the Waratahs into the corner, turning them over once with an excellent scrum effort before mauling over the line with the next move.

It was good, it was clinical, it was champion quality, and as a result of that the Stormers, who almost did the opposite to the Bulls by nearly losing to the Cheetahs at Newlands when they dominated the initial stages, are no longer controlling the conference. Indeed, you might even say they are now 6 conference favourites, although much will depend on how both teams are impacted by injury in the coming weeks.(injuries, you wouldn' t beleive, are to some hatters on a baord I know not a factor!! Hahahahhahahahaha)

Fortunately for the Bulls they never seem to be hit by the one injury that many feel would lead to their implosion, that being to Morne Steyn, but they have lost Jacques Potgieter and possibly Deon Stegmann too. The Stormers though are far worse off at loose-forward than the Bulls are, as in addition to the players they have lost already, they lost No 8 Nizaam Carr to a season ending injury against the Cheetahs.

That forced newcomer Jebb Sinclair, the Canadian, to play most of the game, and he will start against the Waratahs this weekend. It is not an ideal situation for the Stormers as Sinclair has only been in the country for a few days and still has to get used to the Stormers systems.

Their problems at loose-forward could well bite them in the tough two weeks they go into after the Waratahs game, when they go into a difficult away derby sequence against the resurgent Sharks and then the Bulls.

The Bulls go to New Zealand now and many will be expecting them to lose to the Highlanders and the Chiefs. But the same people who expect that also expected them to lose to the Waratahs this last weekend, as probably did the Stormers. One win in the two games in New Zealand may just be enough for the Bulls to return to South Africa confident they can go into the break for the June internationals with some daylight between themselves and the Stormers.

But that will still depend on them beating the Stormers in Pretoria on 2 June, and they will also rely on the Sharks to do the trick against the Cape team in Durban on 26 May. And the problem with that scenario is that it could well bring the Sharks back into the frame. The Bulls travel to Durban in July during a closing sequence of three matches that looks more difficult for them than it will be for either of the two coastal teams.

So an intriguing finish to the season is in prospect, and the watching the Bulls, Stormers and even the Sharks over the next few weeks is going to be a bit like watching two tennis players battle it out in a tie-break, or soccer teams involved in a penalty shoot-out. In other words, the first team to make a mistake will find themselves chasing.

Its last man standing stuff. Frankly nobody knows what will happen.

Its a pity we cant see sides at full strenght battling it out with decent officiation.

It is going down to the wire on this one. Although, the Bulls are also starting suffer a little with injuries, yet more proof that the Super Rugby season is now too long, but that is another argument all together. Anyway, back to the topic at hand, the Bulls still have to finish the NZ part of their tour, and they haven't looked overly convincing on tour so far. The chances of them beating both the Highlanders and the Chiefs at home are pretty slim, so after two weeks it'll no doubt be the Stormers that top the SA conference, but then it is the Stormers that have tough games to come against the Bulls and Sharks at home, and I am almost sure the Bulls vs Stormers game is going to be the decider. Injuries to the Stormers loosies, may prove to big a hurdle to get over, and that may well put them out of contention prematurely. We shall see.

This article could only have been written by Gavin Rich or Brenden Nel, if you take into account the whining about the try-scoring bonus points system, which has been in rugby competitions for ages. A lot of people are making a lot of noise about the Stormers' inability to score tries, and attacking the system, is not going to do anything to resolve that. No matter what amount of crap Rob Howuling sometimes come up with, this is an interesting read:

www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Super15/Stormers-need-mindset-change-20120514

It is a long piece and I would not port the entire article. These are a few paragraphs from it:

"Cape Town – Is the Stormers’ unquestionably top-notch defensive game becoming just a little too dangerously like an obsession that impedes other areas of their battle-plan?

Perhaps the time has come for some honest reflection within their camp, on that very theme.

Those disinclined to want to fiddle with what looks, on paper at the very least, like a notably “winning formula” – nine wins from 10 Super Rugby games is exactly that, statistically – could argue that the Stormers are right up among the front-runners and there is thus no reason to tweak their approach."

"At least two of their columns on the overall log – tries for, and bonus points – stayed glaringly poorly-stocked following their 16-14 outcome against the Cheetahs in a frankly hideous, inept, embarrassingly sterile game of rugby by both sides on Saturday night."

"It left the Stormers with 17 tries after 10 matches, and it doesn’t require a calculator to work out that that means an average of 1.7 to their favour per match."

"But for how much longer, especially as the cabinet for major trophies remains bare, will the Newlands faithful tolerate what seems either a dwindling commitment to attacking pizzazz or, more worryingly perhaps, creeping bankruptcy in it?" (Note, the Heineken Beer Pump is not a major trophy, it is a concellation prise at best)

"Their lone bonus point, which came for running the Crusaders suitably close in their only loss thus far, sticks out like a sore thumb among the teams presently occupying the six-strong playoffs spots."

"Let’s not forget also that defending desperately for long periods, however yeoman and organised it may be, takes a significant physical toll – a toll that probably accumulates almost unknowingly to some extent as a season drags on.

One shaft of light after Saturday’s yawn-inducing slop was captain Jean de Villiers’s refreshingly candid confession immediately afterwards that things would have to improve dramatically – and he singled out the “attack” aspect – if the Stormers were to stay in the race."

Even the Stormers' Cappy knows that. Now if only the rest of the Stormers and their supporters would realise that, and accept that the Mighty Stormers are not so mighty after all.

Ou windpomp resorts to an old old argument. Please windpomp you have to understand that winning the SA Conference decides who is the best SA province - NOT the Currie Cup.S owe have  amajor trophy in our cabinet right now.

When will this oak get it.

But for Joubert we would have 1 Super comp win as well. Just like sharks would have had one Super comp win but fo ref blunder.

So enough chest beating windpomp its all hot air as usual.

As for our backs I have long long since acknowledged the problem. I have also long long since acknowledged ou Alisatir and Fleckie have little clue regarding  backline play and have long admitted our poor management etc. I ahve lamaneted the loss of rasssie and roasated WP managment.

You see windpom that what makes me a realist and you a recycler of hot air! Hahahahhahaha.

Spot the difference between the  the all denying, head in sand bulle and the realist Beeno!  Everyone bulle a legend or legend in the making!! Bwahahahahahahahaha

Could have.................. would have........................ should have. The term Mighty can only apply to a mighty team.

How can a team be called a mighty team if they:

1. Have problems with their backs;
2. Coaches with little clue regarding backline play;
3. Poor management?

Seems to me as though you should drop the "Mighty" title for a while, untill they have actually have won a real title in a real final, and not have received some concellation by virtue of ending top of the log. Have you paused for a moment and spared a thought for the fact that the Brumbies are at this stage set to "win" the exact same title that the Stormers have "won" in 2011?

How about the team that spanked the bulle  last time round.

How about the team that is second on the log on points to the side they beat.

Bwahahahahahahaha hope that answers all your doubts. Yes and dispite the shortcomings of coaches and managment and vital injuries.. Mighty is the only term that comes to mind windpomp

As for the Brumbies they will, if they their conference,  be the best in OZ. Just like last year in SA the MIGHTY Stormers were the best having won the SA Conference.  

Hope this helps you windpomp you seem all at sea once more!