[2018 Super Rugby] Round 13: Bulls vs. Sharks (12/05/2018)

[TRF_heineken]

Venue: Loftus Versfeld
Time: 17:15 CAT (SA, GMT+2)
​

Teams

Bulls: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal (captain), 11 Johnny Kotze, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Marco van Staden, 7 Jason Jenkins, 6 Roelof Smit, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Lizo Gqoboka

Substitutes: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Frans van Wyk/Nqoba Mxoli, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Thembelani Bholi, 20 Nic de Jager, 21 Andre Warner, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Divan Rossouw

Sharks: 15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Cameron Wright, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Ruan Botha (captain), 4 Tyler Paul, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Ross Geldenhuys, 19 Stephan Lewies, 20 Wian Vosloo, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Lwazi Mvovo

 

[unrated]

O would say that this game determines who will be the main challenger to the Lions for top spot in the SA conference. Of course the Jags also come into the reckoning but as far as the SA sides go this is an important game.

The matter of revenge also lingers... The Bulls beat the Sharks in Durban and im sure the Sharks would want to return the favour.
I have lost most of my credibility on this forum over the past weeks with multiple wrong predictions regarding the Sharks. I wholeheartedly supported them in the first few weeks to win every time so they lost most of those, then when the Australian tour came i still had hopes but they lost again. When the NZ tour came i predicted losses and then they won one and came super close against the Hurricanes. So with that context in mind i am very hesitant to make a call on this one.

The Sharks will win this one. Why? They know the Bulls are a really good high pressure team. We play better against NZ teams and teams that we are underdogs against.
We are surely underdogs at Loftus and the Bulls are playing in a NZ style under Mitchell. Weather is getting colder and colder in South Africa as we are approaching Winter so the ball handling should improve.
The bulls supporters will argue that they are the team that favours a more ball in hand approach when compared to the Sharks and this might be true but the Sharks play a more risky all out offload game.

This is where i feel each team has the upper hand:
15: Gelant (Bulls) by a whisker over Bosch

14: Nkosi (Sharks)

13: Kriel (Bulls) I like Am more but Kriel is a proven Springbok on good form this year. Maybe this is the game for AM to show why he deserves to start ahead of Kriel. Until then it has to be Kriel

12: Esterhuizen (Sharks)

11: Mapimpi (Sharks) Future top try scorer, this guy is on fire

10: Pollard (Bulls) Incumbent Springbok flyhalf and SA rugby prodigy, du Preez comes very close on current form. going to be a great matchup with two flyhalf attacking the line.

9: Wright (Sharks) he looks like a South African Perenara, feisty.

8: D du Preez (Sharks)

7: J du Preez (Sharks)

6: Smit (Bulls) If van der Walt was fit then the Sharks would have had a clean sweep on the Bulls in the Loosies, Keeping up the tradition of having the best loosies in SA in modern SA rugby history.

5: de Jager (Bulls), Botha from the Sharks is playing very well and i was tempted to include him over de Jager but he is also on good form.

4: Botha (Sharks) I know, he is a 5 but for reasons i felt he needed to be on this list. Rg has been playing well and a Springbok spot has been mentioned but i feel he is some way of Botha at the moment. Tyler Paul is not even in the ball park yet.

3: du Toit (Sharks)

2: Strauss (Bulls)

1:Mtawarira (Sharks) I think we will dominate the scrums on saturday.

Bench: Sharks (21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Lwazi Mvovo, 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle) These guys should help quite a bit in the second half.


9 Sharks
6 Bulls
in the head to head although i was being generous to the Bulls with some of the picks.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Being a bit generous to the Sharkies? Seems like you forgot what happened when these 2 played each other not so long ago at Kings Park...

 

[SomeOke]

I'll do mine just for fun.

15) Tie - Gelant is a better attacking threat, but Bosch ain't no slouch and has the boot. Honestly if territory is more important I'd be tempted to give this to Bosch.
14) Trav-dawg - Nkosi has been disappointing, I honestly think Travis has the better attacking game AND is the more complete player. Nkosi not really in my conversation.
13) Am - Kriel has been good this year but I feel like Am has the more complete game, better on defense, and he's a hard worker as well as an attacking threat.
12) Esterhuizen - Pity Burger is such a bum because this lad would probably beat most 12's in the comp.
11) Mampimpi - Kotze is the more complete player but he's just average. Mampimpi is a game winner.
10) Pollard - by a whisker, this is EXTREMELY close but Pollards tactical kicking wins in the end.
9) Tie - They both kind of suck like every 9 in SA.
8) Tie - Maybe a surprising tie to some but Dan just isn't that special, typical SA brick, good at what he does but what he does isn't special. Marco IS special but it might be too early to tell if he's the real deal. Dan is a Bok...
7) JLDP - Possibly the best 7 in the comp, no-one competes here I'm not even scrolling up to see who's starting here for the Bulls.
6) Smit - Fetcher and a decent one Vermulen is just fine.
5) Lood - Botha is a perfectly decent lock in a country with 5 or 6 world class ones. Better hope for some injuries mate.
4) RG - Tyler Paul not really in the same class, I'd have RG over Botha as well for the record but that's closer.
3) Thomas - By a whisker
2) Strauss - By a whisker
1) Beast - by a little more than a whisker.

Final score:
Bulls - 6
Sharks - 6

I might give the Sharks a slight edge, but the Bulls are at home.
Excited for the match, may the best team win!

 

[Gena_ZA]

Nice what you guys did above, always a good read.

2 weeks ago I would have said Bulls ll the way as the Sharks were nowhere
Last week I would have said completely the opposite

A lot changes in a week in SA Rugby.
The winner here determines who I will back going into the final stages of the competition.
Bulls at home, Sharks on form (yeah it was a full week ago), going to be a great game.

Who would do the best in my opinion when it comes to playoffs and travelling - Sharks I reckon
So from a neutral point of view and looking at the bigger SA picture, I hope the Sharks to take this one, by a whisker

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

I can't understand how some of you would rate gelant above bosch. Unless something goes incredibly wrong he will become the springboks fb and will remain there for quite a while.

 

[Gena_ZA]

Gents, rate them again, based on this game
Bulls were better as a team, deserved the win

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

I fancy our chances against the bulls, not so much against the sharks.
In mma there's this phrase "styles make fights". I think we can counter what the bulls bring to the table, style wise. Not sure we can do that if the sharks' back 3 are having a good day.

 

[AM_Bokke]

I can't understand how some of you would rate gelant above bosch. Unless something goes incredibly wrong he will become the springboks fb and will remain there for quite a while.

Narrow minded old school types think that Bosch is a scaredy-cat. He's not.

Gelant might be more electric but I do think that Bosch is the better rugby player. I also think that Gelant is a year older which matters a lot at the age they are.

 

[unrated]

I can't understand how some of you would rate gelant above bosch. Unless something goes incredibly wrong he will become the springboks fb and will remain there for quite a while.

Bosch is an elusive runner, very fast and has a great boot on him. Gelant brings many of the same qualities except he does not have the kicking abilities of Bosch. Where Gelant will get favour and ultimately earn himself a Springbok spot over Bosch is that he has the size. South Africans and the coaches have identified the lack of size in our back three as one of the reasons that we have been underperforming. While i really rate Bosch and he is my teams player so would take him any day over a rivals team, the thing is though that the Springbok coach certainly won't look at it that way. Expect Gelant to start vs England.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Maybe i am biased (played fb for quite some time) but some of the conditions i value the most for fbs are decision making, cool headedness and performance under pressure. Bosch is, imo, much better at all of those. He has made some game deciding monster kicks at rugby's top competition when he was 19. He's got character in spades.

I do acknowledge he is not big, but to be fair, neither is Gelant. Personally i think size is way more critical as a winger than as a full back. And he's 20 years old. He's not without flaws or areas of improvement but he's shown me he is is phenomenal already.

 

[SomeOke]

Tough call, but ultimately Bosch is 20 and Gelant is 22, the cream will rise in time.
I can see Bosch covering 10 and 15 from the bench if we need the extra space though.

I'd like Bosch to put on a bit of beef though but maybe that will lose him his pace.
As to his size even the All Blacks were reluctant to play an outrageous talent at 15 when he was seen to be too small (D-mac).

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Was Pat Lambie's size an issue when he played as full back for the springboks?

 

[SomeOke]

Was Pat Lambie's size an issue when he played as full back for the springboks?

Lambie's much stockier than Bosch but even so in this man's opinion Lambie was just an alright fullback he did the basics well but offered nothing extraordinary.
I'm not saying it can't work Jason Robertson was short as was Christian Cullen, but both from a different era, and I just don't think a South African coach would select someone they considered a physical liability, whether that decision is right or wrong.

 

[Gena_ZA]

I would play Galant and have Bosch on the bench to cover 10 and 15
Bosch still needs to improve his defence, he is pure class, just needs some time

 

[User1245]

It is tough to choose between them. I agree with Gelant starting and Bosch on the bench, for now.
I'm just glad that we able to speak about our fullback options for the Boks favourably for once! Rather than sticking a retreaded flyhalf in there or anyone who is less crap than Kirchner.

 

[TRF_heineken]

What a game!! Nice to get the double against the Sharkies, and they have certainly improved since the thrashing they got from us earlier in the tournament.

Just a few things:

Andre Esterhuizen is starting to show me more and more that he's just like Wynand Olivier.
Du Preez twins are beasts!
Akker v/d Merwe just showed that he shouldn't be overlooked for the Boks, especially now that Marx is out.
Gelant has now IMHO safely overtaken Andries Coetzee as the first pick for fullback for the Bokke.
Bosch's boot shouldn't be used to overlook his other frailties. And that yellow card he got is what cost the Sharks the game. Just stupid.
Marco "Eskom" van Staden is quality! Man that guy has heart.
Lood and RG should along with PSDT be the first choice picks for the bokke.
and Pollard, what a way to show your counterpart who the better general is on the field.

 

[unrated]

Have to congratulate the Bulls. They were the better team on the day.
Sharks needed to get the win no matter the quality of the opposition. The Bulls looks like a very strong unit. Their Backline is their biggest strength IMO especially the Pollard-Kriel-Gelant combination.
Sharks left it too late, and they knew the Bulls have now started fast against the Sharks in consecutive games.
Almost feel as if we were tactically outsmarted on Saturday.

There is still hope for the Sharks team. We can still make it to the playoffs and i'm sure they can pull of an upset or two. The problem is this: Its a classic Sharks scenario where if we play well enough to make the playoffs then we will always be on the back foot as we would have to be the away side and carry the burden of traveling. While the Sharks has made it to the final by only playing their finals fixtures away from home, they were caught out by the Chiefs in the Final that year. So its basically a matter of gaining respectability. Make it as far as possible so that the coaches can claim a relatively successful season knowing we are currently in a position where the odds are stacked against us.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Have to congratulate the Bulls. They were the better team on the day.
Sharks needed to get the win no matter the quality of the opposition. The Bulls looks like a very strong unit. Their Backline is their biggest strength IMO especially the Pollard-Kriel-Gelant combination.
Sharks left it too late, and they knew the Bulls have now started fast against the Sharks in consecutive games.
Almost feel as if we were tactically outsmarted on Saturday.

There is still hope for the Sharks team. We can still make it to the playoffs and i'm sure they can pull of an upset or two. The problem is this: Its a classic Sharks scenario where if we play well enough to make the playoffs then we will always be on the back foot as we would have to be the away side and carry the burden of traveling. While the Sharks has made it to the final by only playing their finals fixtures away from home, they were caught out by the Chiefs in the Final that year. So its basically a matter of gaining respectability. Make it as far as possible so that the coaches can claim a relatively successful season knowing we are currently in a position where the odds are stacked against us.

You've had a home final before

 

[unrated]

You've had a home final before

I did not say that the Sharks have not had a home final, I just pointed out that we have actually made the final by playing the finals/playoffs fixtures away from home in the past.