The Vodacom Bulls won their historic Vodacom Super Rugby match against the Sunwolves in the Singapore National Stadium by 30-27 on Saturday.
The visitors had a 16-10 lead at the break.
As expected the visitors kept play mostly amongst the forwards and both sides crossed for three tries, with two of the Vodacom Bulls' five-pointers coming from line-out drives inside their opponents' 22, reports sanzarrugby.com.
The Vodacom Bulls dominated the territorial and possession stakes and although the Sunwolves were competitive throughout, a combination of unforced errors and poor defending led to their downfall.
They didn't leave empty-handed though, as a late Yuki Yatomi try secured them a bonus-point for losing by less than seven points.
But just like their previous matches, the tournament newbies faded badly as the match progressed - especially in the second half - and they are still winless after playing four matches.
The victory is the Vodacom Bulls' second one of the season and the result means they are second in the Africa 1 Conference standings, with 10 points from four matches, while the Sunwolves are still languishing at the bottom in the same group with two points from the same number of matches.
The Sunwolves made a terrific start and opened the scoring as early as the second minute. This after Burger Odendaal failed to gather the ball deep inside his 22 and Riaan Viljoen gathered before offloading to the on-rushing Andrew Durutalo who barged over from close quarters.
Tian Schoeman then added a penalty for the Bulls shortly afterwards before Tusi Pisi added a three-pointer from the kicking tee to restore his side's seven-point lead.
Schoeman slotted another penalty, after Hitoshi Ono was punished for an indiscretion at a ruck but the Sunwolves then suffered a setback midway into the half when Tomas Leonardi was sent to the sin bin for playing the ball on the ground close to his try-line.
Schoeman made him pay for his indiscretion by slotting the resulting penalty and the visitors soon took the lead, in trademark fashion, when Adriaan Strauss barged over from a line-out drive in side the Sunwolves' 22.
And the Bulls soon madetheir numerical advantage count when Adriaan Strauss dotted down, from a trademark line-out drive close to the Sunwolves' try-line.
Schoeman converted, which meant the Bulls led 16-10 at half-time and seven minutes after the restart it was more of the same when Roelof Smit barged over after another maul at the set-piece.
Pisi replied with another penalty in the 51st minute before Akihito Yamada crossed for the home side's second try after Pisi put him space with a wel-timed pass in the build-up.
With the score now at 23-20 to the Bulls, after Pisi's conversion, the visitors needed another try to seal victory. Jamba Ulengo provided the crucial score after dotting down against the base of an upright in the 65th minute and the Sunwolves were dealt another blow when Ed Quirk was yellow carded for a professional foul shortly afterwards.
The Bulls had the game in the bag but the Sunwolves didn't surrender and were rewarded when Yamada dotted down shortly before full-time from a well-worked lineout set piece.
Scorers:
Vodacom Bulls 30 (16). Tries: Adriaan Strauss, Roelof Smit, Jamba Ulengo. Conversions: Tian Schoeman (3). Penalties: Schoeman (3).
Sunwolves 27 (10). Try: Andrew Durutalo, Akihito Yamada, Yuki Yatomi. Conversion: Tusi Pisi (3). Penalties: Pisi (2).
Kirsten het beter gelyk die eerste halfte. De Jager goed gelyk toe hy op kom. Die ding is dit was maar net die wolves gewees.
Ons agterlyn is pateties behalwe vir Ulengo. Serfontein moet maar terug gaan vodacom cup toe saam met Kriel. Odendaal was swak.
Om teen 14 man te speel vir 20min en wen met 3 wys jou net die span vorder eintlik nie so baie vorentoe nie.
Ons skop nog te veel balle weg.
Ons word week in en week uit oor dink. Is ons coaches of ons spelers maar net onosel?
Gebruik die agterlyn so min as moontlik en as hulle gebruik word lyk dit of word n drie wil druk by die kant lyn.
Wanneer gaan Nollis aka Ludeke2.0 begin wakker skrik?
Goeie punte: skrums,lynstane en lostrio was goed, veral Smit was weer pure Bok. Ulengo ook goed.
(Groot) probleme: nog steeds die Ludeke patetiese wedstrydplan, skop die bal weg, spelers wat bal onder die arm doef doef rugby speel, agterlyn totaal verbeeldingloos, ons het nie 'n skakelpaar wat die game kan lees nie, geen verskil tussen Tian en Brummer nie, ons moet maar vir Libbok in die diepkant ingooi, dit kan seker nie slegter nie. Ons senters en vleuels mors hul tyd op die veld weens ons patetiese gameplan.
BBRU moet FDP so gou as moontlik betrek, nie om die manne te leer skop nie, maar om die manne die game te leer lees.
Swak besluite ook. Na 20 minute kry hul geelkaart op hul doellyn, ons het hul dood geskrum en gedryf, maar besluit om pale toe te skop. So ook met strafskop voor halftyd, moes gegaan het vir die drie.
Sunwolves het al die mooi rugby probeer speel, baie beter driee ook gedruk. Ons het dalk net een agterlyn beweging gehad.
Strauss het die Schalk Burger van die Bulle geword, staan heeltyd in die agterlyn in die agterspelers se pad, en as hy die bal kry gaan hy nerens heen nie.
Regtig gehoop Nollis gaan iets nuuts bring, maar na 4 rondtes lyk ons al slegter, nie beter nie.
Dink die talent is daar, kort net 'n nuwe wedstrydplan en afrigters wat nuut kan dink en weer rugby 'n plesier maak om te speel en te kyk.
Dit help nie ons het die bal 3xkeer meer maar gebruik dit nie.
Vandag was maar amateur rugby op sy beste. Die Wolves se driee was baie beter en slimmer spel.
Maar ons bou mos ons bou nou sedert 2011 maar niks gebeur nie
Dit was die ideale geleentheid om 'n paar dinge te probeer, so bietjie die bal lug te gee, die bal wyd te speel.
Maar daar was absoluut niks daarvan, dit was 'n totale terugkeer na die tipe rugby wat ons trofeekas leeg hou die afgelope 6 jaar. Wanneer gaan ons die nuwe gameplan sien, die manne probeer nie eers iets nuuts nie, is dit 'n spelersprobleem of afrigting probleem ?
Ons ondersteuners is NIE onrealisties nie, ons weet dit gaan nog 'n paar jaar nie die finaal haal nie, maar wragtig, ons kan begin 'n tipe game speel wat wys daar is verandering, VERAL as dit teen swakker spanne is.
Bring Ivan van Zyl in op skrummie, Paige het 'n skilpad geword, en Kriel op heelagter, met Galant op die bank.
Maar jy slaan die spyker op die kop
Doelose dom rugby hier om te bly glo my
sies bulle ek skaam my
Our pack of forwards are still improving week after week. Very happy for Schoeman to get his chance today. Well done to Anton Leonard, Gary Botha and Balie Swart for the massive improvements at the Bulls scrummaging. Roelof Smit is starting to develop into a fine and intellgent nr. 6. He won a few penalties today and the Bulls started to play off him more in the second halve.
Nr. 9 and 10 is our biggest headaches. We struggle without a quality flyhalf. They give us no consistent performance. But the real culpret is nr. 9 who's service is very slow. Sometimes he's just nowhere. And his backup is not on par either, which means that Page's place is in no danger in the team. Schoeman's ball distribution was not good.
Otherwise, I just think the Bulls poor handling let us down in good attacking positions.
But our young forwards, are playing good rugby, I just wish that their hard work will be rewarded with a back line who can put a movement together.
Dink ook gelant op vluel en Kriel op 15. Ons het gesukkel met hoe balle teen ons. Dink ook Piet op 9 met Paige op bank kan dalk verskil bring. Ons voorries begin al amper soos 'n bul pak lyk. Goed in skrums, goed in lynstane, en goeie verdeding. Kort dalk bietjie agresiewe skoonmaak rondop die losgemale.
Vaardighede en balhantering kan nog baie verbeter
I missed the game, but I think the victory alone is another positive step taken. With Bothma coming in, the pack should get a bit of 'mongrel' which we've missed for a long time...
I think the backs are going to click soon... The longer they play together as a combination, the better they'll become.
My team vs Cheetahs
Nyakane
Strauss
M vd Mere
Jen kins
RG
Smit
Kirsten
Botha
Paige
Schoeman
Basson
Odendaal
Jan
Ulengo
Jesse
Lizo
Maku
Schoeman
Hattingh
Bothma
Piet
Brummer
Gallant
Die vraag is beweeg ons vorentoe in vergelyking met die top spanne in die super rugby reeks die jaar? En dis eenvoudig nee. Ons sal nie naby n qf kom nie.
So dit help om te se dis n verbetering teenoor 2013 ens se span nie.
Ek het maar begin Franse rugby meer intens volg, Montpellier se loatrio was die naweek Spies, Du Plessis en Liebenberg sr- baie baie beter as die Bulle s'n.
Kom ons kyk maar wat gebeur verder die seisoen, maar my hoop is ongelukkig min!
Ek moet sê die hudige moderne rugby patrone maak rugby oor die algemeen maar meesal 'n saaierige affêre. Ek twyfel of die Carel du Plessis en Deon Oosthuysens so na hartelus sou driee druk teen vandag se verdedigingspatrone. Verdediging is vandag belangriker as aanval en ten spyte van wat die media en ondersteuners wil sien gebeur, is dit verdediging wat eintlik meer spelpatroon van 'n span se strategie bepaal as sy aanval.
Aanval kan 'n paar ingewerkte bewegings insluit wat i geoefen word, maar dis meesal die besluitneming van splers wat dit bepaal, maw wat spelers op daardie oomblik voor hul sien gebeur. Dit is wat die groot rugbyspelers skei van goeies. Dit sal glad nie help om oor Fourie du Preez te huil nie, maar ek is bevrees ons kort so ' speler wat as generaal die game kan lees.
So, ek wil begin deur te sê dat dit vir my opvallend is dat ons supposed to be generaal, Handre Pollard geweldig baie gemis word op nr. 10. Ek dink dit moet 'n afrigter geweldig frustreer as jy jou losskakel vertrou en die man korrel skeef reg voor die pale, of hy skop direk uit of hy maak net skielik foute wat die momentum van 'n game teen jou ipv vir jou kan swaai. So bv. was die ervare Tusi Pisi se direkte opponent se beter helfde, sy opsies was goed en hy het die agterlyn beter weggekry.
Dit was maar 'n hotter en stotter tipe wedstryd want ons het feitlik geen beweging kon uitvoer waarons fases kon bou en gate id verdediging kon kry nie. Ek het gevoel ons was suksesvol met die baldraers naby aan die losgemale en moes daaarop voortgebou het. Die Japanese het geweet ons gaan die bal wyd speel en hul een op een verdediging was baie goed. Maar dit was wanneer ons Jenkins en Marcel en Smit laat baldra het dat ons meters begin wen het. My punt is dat ons die game moet speel wat voor osn is, en nie 'n duit moet omgee wat die media verwag ons moet speel nie.
Galant, skitterende spelers wat hy is, se besering kan dalk die deur oopmaak vir Jesse Kriel op heelagter, waar hy baie meer na die span toe bring as op buitesenter. Jesse kan net effektief wees op buitesenter as sy binnesenter, vleuel of losskakel hom in die regte plek gaan laat speel en hy van díe gaan af speel. Maar om hom in te dwing in crash ball situasies waar hy net moet stormram speel, is ek bevrees is soos om 'n by te wees en jouself met jou eie angel te steek.
Ek persoonlik dink dus die Bulle se menere op nr. 10 en 9 sukkel en komplementeer nie die harde werk wat die voorspelers insit nie.
Welgedaan aan die pak voorspelers, die twee jong slotte lyk geweldig goed. RG Sny,an het sover vanjaar baie skaflik gespeel. Die lostrio met Smit op 6 lyk ook meer aanvullend en fisiek blyk te wees. Ons voorry het weereens puik gedoen en ek dink hierdie is area in Bulle se game wat opmerklik die beste in jare is.
Al wat my gepla het na rustyd was dat die Japannese ons gebrek aan vinnige ondersteuning by afbreekpunte uitgebuit het deur counterrucks waar ons by 4 geleenthede turnovers afgestaan het. Ons turnovers is nog veels te veel.
Ons hanteerwerk lol steeds, en dit briek die hele span. Ons het egetrr nodig om die kill te maak in 'n game wanneer ons voorloop. Ons het weereens begin sukkel na 55 minute.
Behou die 3 slotte wat teen Wolves gespeel het. Van rens is volgende Matfield. Jenkins het verskil gemaak skrums en skoonmaak. Hattingh is NIE blou bul standaard slot nie!
Botha, kirsten envSmit baie goed - Steenkamp, bothma en Hattingh as backup.
Laat Trevor spesialiseer op 3 roteer met marcel. Lyk of T regkom op 3. Losi en Schoeman cover 1.
Los Tiaan eers 10. Met paige op 9 gaan geen 10 goedspeel nie. 9 wat vinnig en goed skoonmaak, soos houhaardt en Faf de Klerk. Groot rede hoekom. LIONS goed doen.
Jan serfontein op 12 kry net weer sy selfvertroue trug. Dries Swanepoel is beste 13. Odendaal backup.
Galant 11, Ulengo 14 en Kriel 15 - lekr man
Waarom weer die banggat ludeke rugby? Waar is die een rugby toe jy oorgevat het.
Waarom is Adriaan Stauss die primere besluit nemer in agterlyn?
Paige maak dit onmoontlik om Bulls te kyk. Veral daai common treetjies wat hy gee na n bokskick
Voorspelers kom mooi reg, en baie bly Nollis roteer Marcel en Trevor op vaskop. Hou ook van die 3 jong slotte, en ons lostrio diepte lyk goed. Sal graag vir Hanro wil sien om Arno af te los, met Lappies op die bank.
Good in for Tuks. They play with a lot more oemf.
Jason Jenkins het die afgelope naweek gewys hy hoort in begin 15. Hy is 'n yster en gaan nog groot dinge vermag - goeie lynstaan tegniek en uitstekende baldraer.
Hanro Liebenberg moet speelkans kry, hy het homself alreeds op die vlak bewys - is 'n kragtige baldraer, goeie verdediger en weet hoe om aansluiting by agterlyn te vind.
Such a pity, and here I agree with Thinus from Oranjemund, that there is so much destructive criticism posted by so-called supporters/"experts" on this website. Your negativity is arguably no better, for other followers of Bulls news, than the posts of the Vis fellow, and if I were a young Bulls player this would probably be the main reason I would move to another province.
I have noticed how individual players get targeted on these blogs, mostly that they should be sent to the scrapheap, by these "supporters/experts". Hattingh. who has delivered in every game, and de Jager, who was imo the best ball-carrier on Saturday (at number 8, and not 6 I must add)', are some examples. Then, if a player does well (e.g. again de Jager per Nitronic) their is generally a back-handed compliment that "it was against weak opponents"!!!
Well done to those supporters, Bluebull, KznBull, Kabous and all the others that post their views in a respectful and graceful manner, and please keep doing so in future. Support is integral to the success of any team - without support we go nowhere.
The two major problems as I see them currently is at scrumhalf and support for the ball carrier. I often see the ball carrier running with support players running either side of him. But when contact is made the supporting players run past the off-load opportunity or resulting ruck. I feel that the basic diamond supporting structure should be drilled into the guys and they need to be encouraged to off-load.
Unfortunately, Rudi Paige is not Super Rugby quality. Having said that, neither is Van Zyl. We made a major mistake letting Hougaard go. Every time Paige clears the ball from a ruck, there seems to be hesitation on his part and the opportunity to attack is missed.
I hope that the team management addresses these issues because against the "better" teams we might not see as much ball as against the Sunwolves and Rebels. We need to use every opportunity to its fullest and play without fear.
Some encouraging signs are the set pieces and general field kicking. Even though there might still be too much kicking for my taste, at least we can challenge most of the kicks.
Good luck to my Bulls against the Cheetahs. Let's hope things go even better this week and that we see something that resembles a semi-complete performance.
Wat presies doen hy met hulle gedurende die week behalwe crash ball en verdediging?
http://www.vodacomrugby.co.za/rate-the-player/compare-the-players/?team=1
Hier is 'n geval waar afrigters( Frans / Meyer) n speler wou dwing om weg te speel van sy strek punte , maar kyk wat gebeur as jy dit verstaan en bemoedig.
Ek sal Burger op 13 speel met Jan op 12 , Burger pass nooit en tackle swak,
Gelant het ons drieê gekos teen Sharks en Wolwe , hy is bang vir tackle en was baie uit posisie.
Maak asb Paige se veters aan mekaar vas sodat hy nie kan skop nie
Kies Lappies in kirsten se plek met Arno op sy skouers en hou asb Strafskop stegman af
Problem with Jesse is he last played in the 15 jersey in June 2015. By that time he still had some work to do on his defense and tactical kicking.
SP Marais is a left footed kicker that brings more headaches fir your opponents, as tactical kicking is normally directed at your players' weak points.
But Marais hardly played last year.
Bjorn Basson has played in the 15 jersey in Japan.
That means the scrums and rucks will.be.blown heavily. Joubert doesn't tolerate holding on to the ball. Rudy Paige will have to lift his game at.the rucks.if.we want to be competitive.
Cheetahs have a strong scrum.