2014 Super Rugby: Highlanders vs. Bulls (Round 9) 11/04/2014

[TRF_heineken]

Forsyth Barr, Dunedin

09:35 CAT

Teams:

Highlanders:
15 Ben Smith, 14 Richard Buckman, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Shaun Treeby, 11 Patrick Osborne, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Elliot Dixon, 7 Shane Christie, 6 Gareth Evans, 5 Joe Wheeler, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Chris King, 2 Liam Coltman, 1 Kane Hames.
Replacements: 16 Ged Robinson, 17 Craig Millar, 18 Ma'afu Fia, 19 Jarrad Hoeata, 20 John Hardie, 21 Fumiaki Tanaka, 22 Trent Renata, 23 Nasi Manu.

Bulls:
15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 J J Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Grant Hattingh, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Jono Ross, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Flip van der Merwe (Captain), 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Dean Greyling
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Marcel vd Merwe, 18 Paul Willemse, 19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 Ulrich Beyers, 21 Handré Pollard, 22 William Small-Smith, 23 Morné Mellet​

 

[Gena_ZA]

Welcome back married Hein May God be with you going forward

Bulls are making a mistake by selecting Hattingh at 8 and Ross at 6. This is back to the same unbalanced trio they struggled with a few rounds ago.

"The Vodacom Bulls have made known, through their official Facebook Page, the names of the team to take on the Highlanders on Friday 11 April 2014. As expected after the injuries to Dewald Potgieter and Deon Stegmann, who both have had to return to South Africa as a result of longer term injuries, Grant Hattingh gets the nod at No 8, with Jono Ross selected at openside flank (No 6) and with Jacques du Plessis at blindside flank (No 7).
Jacques “Vleis” Engelbrecht reverts to the bench.
As we’ve seen in the opening rounds of this year’s competition, Jono Ross struggles to fullfill the role of openside flanker and it might have been far more prudent to include either Wiaan Liebenberg or Wimpie van der Walt in this crucial position, to give the Bulls looseforward combination the vital balance required in the loosies.
Victor Matfield also returns to the starting lineup at No 5 lock, despite initial indications that he is on tour only as lock injury backup. Flip van der Merwe moves to No 4 lock and retains the captaincy, whilst Paul Willemse is relegated to the bench.
Good news for a lot of Bulls supporters is that William Small-Smith is included on the bench as utility back.

Vodacom Bulls: 15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 J J Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Grant Hattingh, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Jono Ross, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Flip van der Merwe (Captain), 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Dean Greyling
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Marcel vd Merwe, 18 Paul Willemse, 19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Handré Pollard, 22 William Small-Smith, 23 Morné Mellet."

Source - http://www.rugby-talk.com/2014/04/s...o-re-shuffle-loosies-big-vic-returns-at-no-5/

 

[TRF_heineken]

Welcome back married Hein May God be with you going forward

Bulls are making a mistake by selecting Hattingh at 8 and Ross at 6. This is back to the same unbalanced trio they struggled with a few rounds ago.

"The Vodacom Bulls have made known, through their official Facebook Page, the names of the team to take on the Highlanders on Friday 11 April 2014. As expected after the injuries to Dewald Potgieter and Deon Stegmann, who both have had to return to South Africa as a result of longer term injuries, Grant Hattingh gets the nod at No 8, with Jono Ross selected at openside flank (No 6) and with Jacques du Plessis at blindside flank (No 7).
Jacques “Vleis” Engelbrecht reverts to the bench.
As we’ve seen in the opening rounds of this year’s competition, Jono Ross struggles to fullfill the role of openside flanker and it might have been far more prudent to include either Wiaan Liebenberg or Wimpie van der Walt in this crucial position, to give the Bulls looseforward combination the vital balance required in the loosies.
Victor Matfield also returns to the starting lineup at No 5 lock, despite initial indications that he is on tour only as lock injury backup. Flip van der Merwe moves to No 4 lock and retains the captaincy, whilst Paul Willemse is relegated to the bench.
Good news for a lot of Bulls supporters is that William Small-Smith is included on the bench as utility back.

Vodacom Bulls: 15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 J J Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Grant Hattingh, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Jono Ross, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Flip van der Merwe (Captain), 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Dean Greyling
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Marcel vd Merwe, 18 Paul Willemse, 19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Handré Pollard, 22 William Small-Smith, 23 Morné Mellet."

Source - http://www.rugby-talk.com/2014/04/s...o-re-shuffle-loosies-big-vic-returns-at-no-5/

Thanx Gena!! Good to be back!!

we were dealt a double blow with Steggies and Dewald getting injured. And while I don't like the back row combination, I have to ask, who else?? out of everyone available, that is our best bet. Victor who was supposed to be just in a coaching role for the tour now has to change his suit for a jersey again, as we are now entering a crisis point with regards to forwards injuries.

 

[Gena_ZA]

Yes they are a bit thin on loosies at present, I would have selected Vleis at 8 thou, give them some more meat upfront.
What happened to that promising ex-Kings loosie that was rumored to link up with the Bulls?

 

[TRF_heineken]

Yes they are a bit thin on loosies at present, I would have selected Vleis at 8 thou, give them some more meat upfront.
What happened to that promising ex-Kings loosie that was rumored to link up with the Bulls?

Vleis hasn't impressed me as much as I thought he would. and he's only good when the game is loose. Whereas Hattingh has a more varied game. The ex-loosie is on his his way to the Bulls camp, but he will not feature this weekend, most probably next weekend in Oz.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Highlanders: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Richard Buckman, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Shaun Treeby, 11 Patrick Osborne, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Elliot Dixon, 7 Shane Christie, 6 Gareth Evans, 5 Joe Wheeler, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Chris King, 2 Liam Coltman, 1 Kane Hames.
Replacements: 16 Ged Robinson, 17 Craig Millar, 18 Ma'afu Fia, 19 Jarrad Hoeata, 20 John Hardie, 21 Fumiaki Tanaka, 22 Trent Renata, 23 Nasi Manu.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

A bit gutted about baker...but it's his own fault

I think that combo more or less did we'll against the rebels so fingers crossed!

Glad to see hoeata on the bench, Joseph plays favourites way to much with certain people, hoeata being one and buckman seems to be his new one, everyone else in the team has been rotated

 

[TRF_heineken]

Akona Ndungane has been ruled out after he got a hamstring injury during the captain's run on Thursday. Francois Hougaard moves to the wing, with Piet van Zyl slotting in at scrumhalf. Ulrich Beyers has been added to the bench.

 

[Darwin]

Akona Ndungane has been ruled out after he got a hamstring injury during the captain's run on Thursday. Francois Hougaard moves to the wing, with Piet van Zyl slotting in at scrumhalf. Ulrich Beyers has been added to the bench.

Unfortunately that makes the Bulls side look stronger to me....

 

[TRF_heineken]

Unfortunately that makes the Bulls side look stronger to me....

Oddly, for me too! And Piet is the right guy to keep Aaron Smith in check. they are the same type of scrumhalves.

AKona has had a bit of a tough time, first with the passing of his father and now this. I feel very sorry for the guy.

I hope now our backline can be more potent than before. It's time we show a bit of flair, which we certainly have. I need some entertainment, Oscar Pistorius' trial has been a real damper on my mood this week after coming back from honeymoon.

 

[Darwin]

Don't mind the look of the Highlanders side this week. Good to see Thorn back from his rest, and Hames back from suspension, and Manu getting a rest isn't a bad thing either (even if it may be slightly injury enforced). I would actually be more happy if they decide to give him the week off properly and replace him in the reserves with a back (maybe Emery....). I hate to say it but I'm actually slightly disappointed that TJ Ioane is injured so we don't have him on the bench, as he's been quite handy for us off the bench this season. He has had a big work-rate, and been very accurate (both in attack and with ball in hand), and hasn't spent the whole time at first-receiver on attack.

I'm still not 100% convinced with the backline, but I can't see it changing much. Good to have Osborne back (why wasn't he playing last week) as he adds another dimension to our attack. The backline defense is still by far the biggest issue for me. Treeby and Fekitoa are individually strong defenders but as the combination they were woeful last week. They (and other members of the backline) didn't seem to understand the concept of coming up in a line - if the Rebels had been slightly competent they could have put 50 on us. I feel Ben Smith has been a bit quiet this season (apart from the Blues match), and we really need him to spark us on the counter-attack if we are going to win this (though this will be difficult for him if he is defending up in the line again....). Buckman needs to stop tackling players in the air as he is going to get himself sent off sooner rather than later....

Overall I just hope we play a lot smarter than we did last week. The Bulls looks like they should have a good lineout (with Matfield and two loose-forwards over 2m tall!) and I expect we will see a lot of lineout drives. I'm not overly confident of out ability to counter these drives - our best defense will not be kicking the ball out (though our kick chase needs to be good). I'm actually slightly more about Serfontein, Engelbrecht, Hougaard, Basson etc carving up op our backline defense - hopefully the Bulls inside backs don't pass them the ball

 

[Darwin]

Sopoaga's tackling is embarrassing....

Bulls looking quite expansive so far..

And we are getting hammered at scrum time. Not looking good for us at the moment!

 

[TRF_heineken]

What a good blindside move from the scrum for the first try... Bjorn Basson under poles!

 

[austingtir]

HL will be pretty happy to g oto HT at a draw. At stages earlier on they were getting pasted.

 

[Darwin]

What a good blindside move from the scrum for the first try... Bjorn Basson under poles!

It was a very well executed move... as was our lineout move!

 

[nzlizard]

HL will be pretty happy to g oto HT at a draw. At stages earlier on they were getting pasted.

yeah but that is a half of 2 halves, seen so many times.

Highlanders finished strong and looking dangerous with ball in hand at the end.

Both tries were well worked, just need to see more of them.

 

[Darwin]

Fantastic try by Evans! Great work in the lead-up by Osbourne and Fekitoa.

 

[Sam Owen]

Fekitoas so good. Osbourne should always fake the kick and then go

 

[Darwin]

The ref is an idiot. Last time I checked you are allowed to compete for the ball in the air...

EDIT: The Bulls seem to have a case of the dropsies....as does Sopoaga...

 

[Darwin]

Fekitoa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

EDIT: Bulls keep dropping the ball

EDIT 2: Stupid ref thinks you are allowed to roll with the ball on the ground... gifts the Bulls a bonus point. Damn he was incompetent.