There were two shock results from the SA Super 15 derbies this weekend and one has to really start wondering what went wrong. The problem relates to why this happened and one has to look at individual performances in both thee winning and losing teams - essentially in respect of what went wrong:-
The Bulls
Against the mainly young and inexperienced Stormers Tight 5 - the Bulls tight 5 as a unit looked pathetic. Although Willemse tried hard - he was let down badly by the rest of the tight 5.
The line outs were in a way acceptable - statistically speaking - but in fact anything but. The ball that went to the backline was poor and inaccurate - even when their was a line out steal. In one such case the ball was won in a line out by Willemse and gathered by Matfield - who stood dead still and allowed Rhiodes to take the ball out of his hands - leading to a Stiormers attack.
The backline got scraps to play with. The main roll was to defend against Stormers attacks - between Pollard, Serfontein and JJ they had to make 31 tackles and together missed 7 tackles. Not an acceptable missed tackle ratio of 18,4%.
The real problem was however - as stated - was the Vulls forwards - who were pathetic. The worst three players were Matfield, Greyling and Kruger - with matfield in particular showing that he cannot compete physically against the determined Stormers.
The Stormers
Although no stars among the Tight 5 - the Stormers forwards led by their loosies - were all over the Bulls and played a major role in allowing the Bulls to make no headway. One has to mention especially Vermeulen and Carr - but Burger also played very well.
Theri backline received a battering from the Bulls backline - but with the exception of Jun de Jongh their defense held up well. The latter missed 3 of his 7 tackle attempts and other players had to cover so as to stop potential threats stemming from the defensive hole left by De Jongh. On attack - all of Coleman, Aplon and Taute did well.
The false note in the Stromers team was Juan de Jongh - a player whose defense was very poor during the whole of Super 15 and bad again on
Saturday.
The Sharks
The Sharks should largely blame themselves fr their demise. There were some brighter moments in that game that made a favourable impression.
Swiel's distribution was excellent and laid the foundation for the good performances of the Sharks outside backs.
The disappointment was Alberts who came on at minute 44 and produced nothing. He came on as a lock and was completely outplayed by the Cheetahds locks. His missed tackle ratio was 40%. The better subs were the Du Plessis brothers.
The other disappointment was Francois Steyn - who was invisible and produced nothing of note particularly not in attacking play. In defense there were cases where Sadie and the outside backs ran past the Sharks defenses like they were not there.
On balance the two players that really let the Sharks down were Alberts among the forwards and Steyn amongst the backs.
The Cheetahs
The Cheetahs forwards - and especially their Tight 5 ruled the roost in the forward battle - and players like De Jager, Van der Walt, Strauss and Oosthuizen laid a wonderful foundation for their win.
De Jager especially continued with his outstanding performances in the tests he played in. He was outstanding in the tight 5 exchanegs and his ball carries and defense were outstanding.
Gioosen with excellent distirbutiona on attack on the gain line - but of even more importance - his strategic kicking game - but the Sharks on the back foot continuously. It happened countless times that the Sharks were near the Cheetahs 22 and ended up having to go back to their own 22 for line outs - where they were put under pressure by the Cheetah forwards.
On the whole the team of the Cheetahs made up a very good unit with top class defense being the key - no real weak links in that team.
