By Lucky Vince Pienaar
Is it any surprise that the Vodacom United Rugby Championship (VURC) log leaders Leinster have conceded 86 points in two matches?
Not at all. Leinster coach Leo Cullen was at both matches, looking less than worried about his team conceding tries and penalties hand over fist. Jacques Nienaber, a man who has very quickly become a kingpin in Leinster Rugby, wasn’t at the match.
He was in Europe preparing the team for their European Championship match against Northampton Saints, obviously, the match they are more interested in winning.
Jake White was criticised for sending a “B” team to England to play Saints, preferring to keep his “A” team in Pretoria. They conceded 59 points in their match and, sadly for the Bulls, the trick didn’t work because they lost to Munster at home the next week.
On Saturday the Bulls crushed the Ospreys, scoring eight tries with brilliant performances by David Kriel among others. Willie le Roux, “the old man” as his fellow players call him, scored one of the best tries of his career, running 80 metres to score under the posts.
But still, it is no surprise that there were no more than about 8,000 spectators at Loftus Versveld and at Emirates Airline Park it looked like about 100 but certainly less than 1,000 spectators.
Coaches have reached a stage where they have to surrender some games to win others. The pressure to win week after week for months on end is simply too much. It leads to matches that only the true fans love when their side crushes the opposition, but the average Joe, who is already unsure, will lose interest in matches where the outcome is decided before the match has started.
Rugby around the world will have to find a way to convince players and administrators alike that they don’t all have to have a Range Rover Sport and find a way to cut back on the never-ending cycle of one match after another. While the money is nothing like soccer, all the participants are doing very well financially.
Television is feeding the massive machine that is eating more and more money – but beware the day the advertisers decide to get off the treadmill. There will be blood on the tracks.
Scarlets 27-32 Hollywoodbets Sharks
Vodacom Bulls 64-24 Ospreys
Emirates Lions 13-33 Munster
Stormers 42-12 Leinster
Pictured above: Blue Bulls.
Image source: Blue Bulls/X
