It was well worth....

the effort of getting up at 3.00am in the morning to watch the Bulls. Still not the real deal and I don't expect they'll win the competition but they played with enough authority to suggest there's reason to be optimistic about their future.

In one single game they passed the ball more times than all of their years under the clueless coaching of Ludecke and Marais. One has to wonder how much potential was destroyed in those years and how many careers were decimated.

Well done John Mitchell....what a difference a coach makes. 

Exactly Denny!

What about off-loading - like the one leading to the Kotze try.   I don't think that Ludeke and Marais knows about off-loading - probably as much as Meyer which was lacking in his repertoire as well.

I am sure that Mitchell will up the ante of the Bulls and they will do much better than they did for years.   It would be interesting to see what happens in their match against the Lions in Round 3.   I do not think the Bulls will win - but it  may just be a much tighter affair than it was in recent years.    

Ludecke and Marais know nothing, the same as every other SAFFA coach.....I daresay it includes coaches from the Apartheid era as well. I get the feeling back in the old days our teams played a kicking and physical game, the technical side was largely ignored. One major difference between then and now is that the players were a lot more passionate about the Springbok. Jake White was by far the most successful since re-admission simply because he cut his cloth to the material in hand and also because he employed outside help in Eddie Jones. We can only guess  as to how successful that style of play would be today.

I've always believed that the measure of a good coach is the ability to turn a group of plodders into a respectable outfit.....Mitchell is achieving that much. Deon Davids did the same with the Kings last year.

There are no excuses for last stop saloon Rassie.

Ou dense talking some sense at last!! 

Mitchell has shown the Bulle how to pass/offload and run some good lines.

Gelant and Ulengo need to be in the backline. The replacement scrummie looked good and should be starting.

The bulle are a scratch side but showed promise and one wishes them well.

Hats off to Mitchell who showed that, as I have said for decades now, we are loosing because of a lack of what goes on in the head. How about the running and passing of the two giant locks.Man that was a sight to behold. Both played well but to me it was Snyman who looked the best.

Those knockng Kriel were left with EGG on their faces

Beeno 

Unlike the musings of Mozart about coaching  the fact is that coaches plays a leading role in cultivating aspects outside the physical in players,   Modern coaches of which there are a very few in SA - and I include Fleck in that category - is clueless as to that approach in rugby.   

They further restrict player development by having game plans based on really poor ideas about the game.   That story started when the so-called traditional Springbok Rugby - consisting of forward dominance and total neglect of the backline came into being in the 1980's.  It concludes that backlines are only there to defend and the balls rarely goes to them,.   It precludes the loosies and other forwards from playing constructive rugby by linking up with the backlines in attack and  there was no real interest in ball skills and reading of the game.

Mitchell, Ackerman, Swys and Du Preez has a more modern  approach to the game and emphasizes ball skills and a comprehensive game plan.   You find with them the players produces more than the crashballing and kicking approach instilled by most other SA coaches.   

The Stormers made a critical mistake when Wafefield veto the appointment of Mitchell by them ad they suffer under the clueless Fleck.   I think they should try asap to get a coach with a broader understanding of rugby as a game.     There may be some other NZ coaches prepared to rather come to than go to Europe to coach teams and that is the way for the Stormers to go.