I missed this game, in part because it hardly seemed a contest. Hold that thought.....the write ups suggest a few aberrant events. I'm surprised, but in a way I'm not surprised. The Bools have a weak front row, and some pretty ordinary centres, I never really thought this was going to be a great Bools team.
Very true, the Bull's scrum is weakened significantly by Greyling; but the Bulls were robbed throughout that seconf half by a ref that was defiantly not going to allow them annoy continuity at the breakdown. I lost count of the times a Blues player transgressed at the breakdown but a Bulls player was penalised. It was disgusting.
...see dogs still barking up same tree...Ref in bulls backline drops ball in first minutes and allow Blue player score try ? Ref misses many kicks at goal too.. LMAO ... What Happened to Bulls ? Big Chief fan Sitting Bull tell you...no charge...haha...
Gareth Anscombe happened to Bulls...happened to score all points when Hobbs called away to fathers deathbed... so rising star Gareth Anscombe standin and standout replacement not even supposed to play
.. strange magic and by the light of the blood moon Blues stun bulls with first attack and then Bulls on backfoot everafter amen,, let us pray they recover ok ...Bulls fall spellbound by blues magic, miss many kicks ....Blues written off by many so Blues brothers on a mission from god haha.. but Blues show who's hungriest ..
You can take the warriors out of the Hurricanes ..but you can't take the Hurricane out of the Nonu and Wepu, therein lies the key to their success Anscombe supported inside and outside by formentioned ABs with wealth of experience ..just as well as Kaino and Wulf injured... Blues found their mojo beating top notch rugby tribe so Blues now very dangerous rugby tribe...
Moz how can you say the Bulls have weak centres - do you actually know anything about Frans Venter the Bulls 20 year old inside centre - my guess is absolutely nothing. For if you had watched his performances for the Bok U20 side last year you would not be saying he is a weak centre.
We all know Olivier is not a weak centre, he is anything but. The Bulls centres were far superior to the Blues centres. The weak link was useless Morne Steyn, he was pathetic.
As for your take on the Bulls frontrow - ouch - the Bulls pack completely dominated the Blue's one
Morne the solitary weak link? Venter got schooled Dave, and Greyling was useless in the scrum.
Report I read said Werner Kruger got penalized 3 times....a dominant front row usually doesn't concede penalties.
What you fail to note Moz is that the Bulls were completely haulted at the breakdown by the ref. If they could string one phase together it was something of a miracle! Absolutely disgusting display. What I will say is that the Bulls scrum is struggling and Venter was outclassed by Nonu.
Well I can't comment on a ref I haven't seen. Aristo....but I did note he carded Williams, not totally one eyed then?
Dave you can read this Morne thing two ways. You can say he had his first bad game since the TN last year. Or you can say when Morne doesn't fire, the Bools are lost. That's the view to which I subscribe.
Mozart
I watched the game and was utterly disgruntled by the weak performances of the key Bull players. Morne never was a fly half - he just do not know how to play the key link between the forwards and the back line.. He was weak and he failed with a number of goal kicks as well. That being the only point in his favour - but he failed miserably.
By the way much was said about the Bulls centers - believe me Venter was miles better than the man of the mirror - Olivier. The latter thinks looks are more important than performance and there was a remarkable lack of it in evidence.
I wrote earlier that the referee in the Cheetah game was clueless and made sure that the Brumbies won the game. The referee in this case did take some funny decisions - but that did not turn the game around like was the case in the Brumby-Cheetahs game. The referee here in some cases had no option but to award penalties when the Bull scrum was weak or when the players were clearly off side. In other cases he did allow the Blues forwards to scrum illegally.
In essence - I believe there was no way that the Bulls could have won. There were just too many weak links.
Moz Kruger dominated as did Greyling as the Bulls pack dominated the scrums, no questions asked. Penalties are not only conceded by props being beaten. It was no contest - the Bulls were all over their scrum.
The Bulls dominated possession, territory and won the try count 3 to 2. Good old Morne let them down with his boot - that I can live with, it was his general play that was below its average usual standard. The guy is a damn ordinary rugby player with a good boot on him. What you lot see in him is beyond me
Venter got schooled - der ???? that is a complete lie, he was far better than his opposite number - no contest
Dave, the stats don't lie.
Venter
Kick/Pass/Run: 0-1-3
Metres Gained: 0
Clean Breaks: 1
Defenders Beaten: 0
Offloads: 0
Tackles: 3/0
Nonu
Kick/Pass/Run: 1-10-7
Metres Gained: 23
Clean Breaks: 0
Defenders Beaten: 2
Offloads: 1
Tackles: 8/2
Olivier
Kick/Pass/Run: 0-5-5
Metres Gained: 12
Clean Breaks: 0
Defenders Beaten: 3
Offloads: 1
Tackles: 5/2
It was no contest. The only positive for the Bulls was that Olivier had another very strong game at 13, something which very much surprised me. But having only one good centre is a big, big problem. Venter is not stepping-up to the plate and the sooner they can bring Olivier back at 12 the better. It will lift them in a big way. The other positive was that the Bulls lineout was extremely dominant yet again; they pinched 5 lineouts yesterday. It's very sad that the Bulls actually dominate this game, but lost. A better ref would have not shut them out of the game. I will credit the Blues for displaying a much better side to their game, but the fact is that the Bulls were robbed of the chance to compete for this one.
Now on to those lambasting Morne yet again. He was no problem at all. Yes he missed two conversions, he is a phenomenal kicker, but not literally a machine. Even Naas and Porta had their off days or made mistakes. His all round game was very good. I think that the Bulls simply missed Hougaard more than I had realised. Vermaak is a good 9, but not in the same class and it showed.
Morne
Kick/Pass/Run: 7-20-3
Metres Gained: 16
Clean Breaks: 1
Defenders Beaten: 1
Offloads: 0
Tackles: 11/0
I'm struggling to understand how some come to these conclusions. No matter which way you look at it, Venter was not a factor, Olivier was the better of the two centres, Morne was solid (notably kicking very little), and the Bull's scrum was not very good at all. Greyling needs to have a long hard look at himself; the same mistakes week in and week out. If only Steenkamp hung around a little longer, it would have made all the difference in my opinion.
Morne did miss alot of kickable penalties a few right in front of the post!
My Team won so no point in kicking the opposition when they are down!
For starters the Blues matched them in the muscle battle, it's always the key to beating the Bulls, we know this from past experiences. Secondly Morne had an unusually off day with the boot and thirdly this is an inexperienced Bulls side who are on a learning curve. However, in their favour they did come back in the later stages of the game and they've only lost one out of three games played. It would be silly to write off the Bulls just yet until we see how they fare on their away leg. All honours to the Blues who took the game to the Bulls with some clever interplay passing and running.
Ah so Venter made one clean break and gained 0 metres all match - I take it the stats man was on the giggle twig - oh boy!!!
The bulle dominated most of the game and should have won but once again for a biased ref. The bulle front row were fine. Kruger got pinged in every fifty fifty call. I am not a Kruger fan but on this form he could change my mind. The 120 kg Greyking had a very good game. Chilli boy again showed he is not in the class of either Bismark or Strauss/Liebenberg. He preferred anchoring the rolling maul! Not a bad performance but not in the league of the others.
Outside the scrum both Greyling and Kruger actually had very good games worhing hard and effectively. Juandre showed he is a bit of a lightweight at lock and he looks an excellent 7 prospect to me. 110 kg lock! I like the look of Potgieter nice rugged in your face player. Stander was also reasonably good. Good forward effort by the bulle. Flip also had a good game.
Morne lost the game with missed kicks - unusual for him. Olivier was fairlyy ordinanary and Venter looked more dangerous. Kirchner had a good game but oh if h ecoul donly learn t olink with hi spoter backline players he would b ea much improved player. Vermaak made a couple of good breaks showing he can be dangerous. Hougarrdshoul dstart at scrummie then move to wing when Vermaak comes on.
Spiesies had a better game as well and generally speaking the bulle went well. They completely dominated the first half and yet were down on the score at half time!!!
No it was a game they should really have won - as bulle were wihtout question the better side. When the bulle really pulled finger in the lasrt 15 minutes they looked very good. Altitude factor?
As noted the Cheetahs were also robbed so here we go again! What disgusting refs these downunder types make.
Of the flyhlaves this weekend Lambie and Goosen looked the best. Is Morne feeling the heat. I don't think so - his lack of form with the boot was just an off day which, along with the ref, cost the bulle what should have been a comfortable win.
Neverthe less Lambie stakes rose with a compelling display and Goosen looks to be a great in the making. Instead of getting all defensive with favourite players welcome the competition which will bring out the best in the players.
Provided the bulle tour well they CANNOT be written off.
Credit to a superb display from Anscombe the young Blues flyhalf. A real talent.
What a pity these contests have to be fouled up repeatedly by biased refs that leave a bad taste in ones mouth. Time we really started to protest - when will enough be enough?
Seems there is no real consensus about the game. I continue to believe Kirchner, Olivier, Greyling, Kruger and Spies are as useless as .....on a Bool. And I will say this, when I computer modelled the TN, I ended with a seven point advantage if you were playing a team that had just flown from Oz/NZ.....all other things being equal. Given the Blues record to date, plus their travel, this amounts to a poor result for the men from Pamplona.
The scribes all seem to think the bulle should have won this one. Morne's boot let them down and a dicey ref certainly made matters worse.
Bulle were defintely the better side. No need fo rconsensus Moz just ask Beeno!!!
