By Lucky Vince Pienaar
➤ Good teams, they say, still win even when they play badly.
That’s what the Bulls managed in their match against Benetton at Loftus Versveld, even if it was probably their worst match in their last six appearances.
They scored in the first minute when Willie le Roux chipped for Kurt-Lee Arendse to collect and score a beautiful try. Arendse scored his second after 20 minutes, but then the Bulls mysteriously lost their way.
Over-confidence was the Bulls’ biggest enemy as they struggled to get going. Even Jake White looked anxious as he shuffled around in his seat.
Onisi Ratave’s try before halftime was as much because of the Benetton team effort as it was through the half-hearted defence of both David Kriel and Johan Goosen.
Tomas Albornoz scored, compliments of bad defence from Harold Vorster, Elrich Louw and Johan Goosen, which left Benetton one point away from a miraculous upset.
The Bulls then sprung to life long enough to work a beautiful try through David Kriel, but then they let Malakai Fekitoa in through a gap as big as a barn door.
But this is the knock-out stage of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship. The points don’t matter. The only question is, who won? The answer is the Bulls won, but they better wake up when they play Leinster in their semi-final in Pretoria this coming weekend.
Bulls 30-23 Bentton
Bulls tries: Kurt-Lee Arendse (2), David Kriel
Benetton tries: Onisi Ratave, Tomas Albornoz, Malakai Fekitoa
➤ The Stormers (and the Springboks) have not solved their kicking problems.
Everybody agrees that Manie Libbok is a valuable player, but is he so valuable that he can leave 10 points on the table from four missed kicks as he did against the Glasgow Warriors?
First he had a shot at the posts that would have given the Stormers an early lead, but he missed badly. Why they decided he should try for the three-pointer from the side into a fierce wind in driving rain instead of going for the lineout is a mystery. Minutes later he had another shot from a sharp angle and he missed again.
To make it worse, it seemed as if he was a little unnerved by the belligerent Scottish crowd – something that an international flyhalf can’t afford.
He also missed two conversions, giving him a net contribution of -10 points.
On the plus side, there were some gutsy performances from a number of Stormers players such as Warrick Gelant and Suleiman Hartzenberg with Sacha Mngomezulu trying to be creative in tough conditions.
But the truth is, the brave Stormers were never in the match. The rain, the cold, the wind, the angry crowd, and the 10 points left on the table, were just too much for them to struggle against.
Glasgow Warriors 27-10 Stormers
Warriors tries: Sebastian Cancelliere, Henco Venter, Ross Thompson
Stormers tries: Ben Loader, Paul De Wet
Image: A bad day with the boot for Manie Libbok.
Source: X
