The Cheetahs - Bulls game last night

After a very poor start to the CC season this year the question arises as to where the Cheetahs were heading after their poor show in the Super series this year and the departure of Droske and Os.   The problem with the Cheetahs has always been that they start of with new players and when they become better known and develop as players - they are pilfered by other franchises or foreign clubs.  They just did not have the financial resources to prevent it from happening.
So in come a new coach and he just had to start afresh with very little in resources and he had to turn somewhere to find players - so he turned to the Shimlas as a prime resource.  The Shimlas won the Varsity Cup this year and Franco was forced to use the Shimlas team to draw in new players.   Initially this did not look good at all.   They lost the initial two matches - but then won two in a row.  The rookies annihilated Western Province and looked very threatening last night - they were competitive up to the very end.
Rainy/wet weather does not seem to favour some players in the Bulls team - the most evident example being Hougaard.   He was last night comprehensively outplayed by the relatively unknown Shaun Venter of the Cheetahs.   That being said the question mark was how would Serfontein fit into the dazzling new Bulls backline and the answer was provided by the try scored by Swanepoel.  Serfontein made the initial break that let to the try - passed the ball to Gelant who passed it back to Serfontein who then passed the ball to Swanepoel who was in the clear and scored a very good backline try.
The Bulls deserved their victory - although not a bonus point one this time around - but the fighting spirit shown by the Cheetahs is a promising sign that they are showing improvement and that the new coach is getting the best out of the limited player resources available to him.
On the other hand the two tries scored by the Bulls backline was classical fast-moving backline tries and in general it was refreshing to see how they still maintain their high standard of backline play under another new coach - Nollis Marais.   They should have fired Ludeke three years ago and never appointed Matfield as their attack coach.   The younger players are evidently more satisfied with Matfield not being around and they are showing class in what they are doing with the ball in hand.   They finally found out that the Ludeke and Meyer brand of "stampkar" rugby is not the answer in the game anymore.
                   

Fouche made the initial break in the Swanepoel try. He then popped it to Serfontein, who did well to offload out of a double tackle to Gelant, who then passed to Swanepoel for the try.

The handling sequence in the try scoring play was Van Zyl -> Fouche ->  Serfontein -> Gelant -> Swanepoel.

 
Some promising youngster showing us their magic.

I noticed Venter last week. Will be keeping my eye on him.

The Bulls back three have made a massif difference. So has Odendaal and Swanepoel.

I'm not a Bulls fan ... in fact I hate the bastards ... but these guys have had me look forward to watching them play.

HouGat isn't a scrummie. Why they insist on playing him there is beyond me. 


 

 Pakie
Thanks for the correction - but I also based my comments on the following from News 24:-
"While Serfontein made the initial break it was Gelant who danced his way through the Cheetahs defence before Dries Swanepoel scored with Fouche coverting."
I thought Gelant passed the ball back to Serfontein and he passed it to Swanepoel - with the latter scoring the try.  Will have a look again at the sequence.

Don't trust rugby journalists. Fouche actually broke the line, Serfontein just carried.

 Tell that to some other members of this site - who blindly quote rugby journalists and if it fits their book swear that it is correct.  As I said I will have a look at that move again and will gladly change my comments thereafter.