[2018 Super Rugby] Round 2: Bulls vs. Hurricanes (24/02/2018)

[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 Andre Warner, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Roelof Smit, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Frans van Wyk, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Pierre Schoeman

Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Nic de Jager, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Marnitz Boshoff, 23 Divan Rossouw

Hurricanes: 15 Matt Proctor, 14 Julian Savea, 13 Vince Aso, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Wes Goosen, 10 Ihaia West, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Gareth Evans, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Brad Shields (captain), 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Vaea Fifita, 3 Ben May, 2 Ricky Ricctelli, 1 Toby Smith

Substitutes: 16 James O'Reilly, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Alex Fidow, 19 Murray Douglas, 20 Blade Thomson, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Ben Lam

 

[SomeOke]

Nice easy fixture for the Bulls to start off the year.

I'll really be cheering for the Bulls this year, have a massive soft spot for a few of their players (Gelant/Pollard/Ismaiel in particular), but it's going to be a huge ask, apart from a couple of decent locks I'd say their pack lacks quality.
Would love to see them be competitive against the Canes but it's a long shot against one of the strongest teams in the competition (if not the strongest). I think keeping the scoreline down would be a good result.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Both teams have now been named and added to the OP.

Interested to see the Bulls pack performing, with a bunch of guys making their Super Rugby debuts.

 

[SomeOke]

Hurricanes Barretless, first game of the year, hostile ground, altitude.
Dare I say the Bulls have a chance?

 

[Gena_ZA]

Very few even dreamed of the Bulls upsetting the Canes, well done Bulls.
Playing with ball in hand, good handling, putting people into space - this is a new side
Have a cold one, you deserve it

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Agreed.
Impressive.
Congrats bulls

 

[Penne Rara]

Hurricanes Barretless, first game of the year, hostile ground, altitude.
Dare I say the Bulls have a chance?

You called it! Congrats Bulls

 

[Zero]

Great to see SA is going to be a real tough place for NZ teams to travel to again, the competition is looking very good so far.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Fair to say Mitchell is a big upgrade at coach then? From losing to the Sunwolves to beating the Canes in one year.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Just watching the game now - can't believe Perenara's try wasn't awarded. I have very little faith in referees to make the right decision now, after the farcical decisions made by TMO's over the weekend. I can understand in real time making errors, but when everything is slowed down and referees are making errors it's very concerning.

 

[Penne Rara]

I think Rasta made the right decisions most of the time, but that TMO desperately needed a pair of glasses

 

[Zero]

Just watching the game now - can't believe Perenara's try wasn't awarded. I have very little faith in referees to make the right decision now, after the farcical decisions made by TMO's over the weekend. I can understand in real time making errors, but when everything is slowed down and referees are making errors it's very concerning.

From memory, this happened a number of times the last few seasons.

 

[mania]

Great to see SA is going to be a real tough place for NZ teams to travel to again,

hope so. SA teams is a rite of passage into rugby manhood. hardest country to tour imo
thanks bulls for giving the canes a good boot up the a55. cant afford to be off the pace in SA

 

[mania]

Just watching the game now - can't believe Perenara's try wasn't awarded. I have very little faith in referees to make the right decision now

i was always against the TMO. rugby should be the same at club level as it is at test level. TMO is just another level of errors being introduced. main ref needs to be empowered to make the hard decisions. even if they're wrong because of watching it at real time in the long run it'll make the refs better.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Just watching the game now - can't believe Perenara's try wasn't awarded. I have very little faith in referees to make the right decision now, after the farcical decisions made by TMO's over the weekend. I can understand in real time making errors, but when everything is slowed down and referees are making errors it's very concerning.

So no comment on the disallowed try of the Bulls in the first half?

I understand why Perenara's try wasn't allowed, and the way it was questioned by the referee, but here I think the AR should take most of the blame as he told the ref that it seemed like Perenara lost the ball when going over. The TMO only used 2 of the cameras available to make a call, and from that one angle it looked clear cut that he lost it, but from the other side it seemed like he had enough control for downward pressure...

But nonetheless, I'm very happy we got the win and hopefully this is just the start we needed to have a good campaign. The forwards impressed me, and that try by Lood De Jager was the highlight of the game for me.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

So no comment on the disallowed try of the Bulls in the first half?

I understand why Perenara's try wasn't allowed, and the way it was questioned by the referee, but here I think the AR should take most of the blame as he told the ref that it seemed like Perenara lost the ball when going over. The TMO only used 2 of the cameras available to make a call, and from that one angle it looked clear cut that he lost it, but from the other side it seemed like he had enough control for downward pressure...

But nonetheless, I'm very happy we got the win and hopefully this is just the start we needed to have a good campaign. The forwards impressed me, and that try by Lood De Jager was the highlight of the game for me.

To be honest I was doing a few chores at the same time so I completely missed the Bulls disallowed try! I'm not suggesting the Hurricanes would have won (they scored shortly afterwards), just lamenting the general issue.

 

[Icemn]

bummer...

 

[SomeOke]

The most promising thing is the style of rugby the Bulls were playing, I won't get ahead of myself but would be great if Mitchell does make a success out of them.
They played with a lot of flair and character despite it not being a perfect performance, and while the Canes had a weaker than usual side, Gelant and Ulengo for Kotze and Rousouw (who?) is also quite a bad loss.
Snyman has always been a beast but Kriel looked promising again as well which is nice.

Here's hoping they have a good season, I'll be rooting for them!

 

[Gena_ZA]

This sums it all up, well written

https://www.supersport.com/rugby/super-rugby/news/180227/This_two_shall_pass