[2018 Super Rugby] Round 5: Chiefs vs. Bulls (16/03/2018)

[TRF_heineken]

Venue: FMG Stadium Waikato
Time: 08:35 CAT (SA, GMT+2)
​

Teams

Chiefs: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Sean Wainui, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Johnny Fa'auli, 11 Solomon Alaimalo, 10 Tiaan Falcon, 9 Brad Weber, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Sam Cane (captain), 6 Lachlan Boshier, 5 Mitchell Brown, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Angus Ta'avao, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Aidan Ross

Substitutes: 16 Liam Polwart, 17 Karl Tu'inukuafe, 18 Jeff Thwaites, 19 Michael Allardice, 20 Luke Jacobson, 21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Declan O'Donnell

Bulls: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal (captain), 11 Divan Rossouw, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Roelof Smit, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Pierre Schoeman

Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Jason Jenkins/Tim Agaba, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Johnny Kotze

 

[TRF_heineken]

Bulls have named their team.

Interesting calls by Mitchell. He certainly looked at the areas where we were vulnerable against the Reds:
3. Nyakane - Made a massive difference in the scrums when he came on against a very clever prop in James Slipper.
11. Divan Rossouw - Mathews was manhandled by the Reds and looked a bit out of place on defence. Rossouw certainly showed the previous weeks that he an able player at this level.

Lastly I'm very interested to see what Libbok will do when he comes onto the field and if he will slot in at fly half or fullback?

 

[Gena_ZA]

Would have been good if they had another game in Aus.
But that not the case, I think the speed and intensity will be to much for them, this early in their "remake"

 

[unrated]

I thought Kotze did well last weekend especially since they played him out of position. He got smashed a couple of times though.
I hope the Bulls can take it but highly doubt it. We have again seen the value of home games this year (Blues vs Lions was an aberration).

 

[TRF_heineken]

Would have been good if they had another game in Aus.
But that not the case, I think the speed and intensity will be to much for them, this early in their "remake"

True. But one the other hand, it's a relatively short tour. With only the 2 games in NZ left and then they are back home. So it's just a 3 game tour...

 

[Dan54]

Looking forward to this one, Bulls looked real good against Canes, and just didn't seem to get act together against Reds. Mind you Reds will upset more teams this year.

 

[SomeOke]

Fully expect the Chiefs to win, they're such a good side that seems to be able to perform regardless of injuries.

That said they look to be up for grabs if the Bulls can put together a performance, second choice front row, a few other injuries in the pack, a new fly-half inside a use-impaired 12.

D-Mac and LMNOP are still incredible though, you'd imagine the Chiefs will still score a few tries so the Bulls will have to put points on the board and lots of them.

Hope the bulls can pull it off but my head says a 10 point victory to the Chiefs.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Fully expect the Chiefs to win, they're such a good side that seems to be able to perform regardless of injuries.

That said they look to be up for grabs if the Bulls can put together a performance, second choice front row, a few other injuries in the pack, a new fly-half inside a use-impaired 12.

D-Mac and LMNOP are still incredible though, you'd imagine the Chiefs will still score a few tries so the Bulls will have to put points on the board and lots of them.

Hope the bulls can pull it off but my head says a 10 point victory to the Chiefs.

Yeah, it pains me to say this, but I picked the Chiefs to win by 7 on Superbru. I do however think that Nyakane will bring a bit more stability to the scrum which was our downfall against the Lions and the Reds

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

DMac back at fullback should help the Chiefs.

 

[Larksea]

DMac anywhere in the backline will help the chiefs he's the best player and one of the best players in the competition. The reason we need him at fullback is that without Ngatai or Stephenson we dont really have an experienced fullback. Infact the squad overall really doesn't have a specialist fullback. It seems like the idea was to move dmac to 10 and Ngatai was going to make a fulltime move to 15 but with him injured the chiefs don't have adequate cover. Considering that TNW has also been ruled out for the season, he would have probably been considered fullback cover in this situation.
What has enabled dmac to move back was how relaxed and competent falcon looked on debut against the Blues. That in itself is a huge boost for the Chiefs. I thought he had a remarkable game in a difficult situation.
I fully expect dmac to appear at both first five and fullback during the game. Cover fullback but also come in as fist receiver a lot. That should allow him to be in the game a LOT and that will only be good news if the forwards hold their own.

The chiefs stood up in the face of an injury crisis against the blues but one thing is for sure. It's not sustainable to keep doing that week in week out.
Heck against the blues they had a long injury list to start with then Retalick got injured in training in the week leading up, Stephenson got injured in warmup and Brown was off injured in the opening minutes of the game and later on we lost Laulala as well... It was an insane effort to hold on and win. And it was a physically brutal encounter too.

Aiden Ross has been very impressive, one of the finds of the season and so far he really looks like All Black material. But I am a bit concerned in the front row with Laulala injured now, Moli is gone for the season too! Sosefo Kautai is injured as well. And yes... Mitchell Graham is injured! Angus is an experienced guy, I still think its a big ask for him to be the starting tight-head against a Bull scrum/pack. he really needs to step up. To me he has been a very big tall prop who is very good around the field but hasn't been considered truly top level because he has been inconsistent in the scrum. He does have good performances in him though, hopefully this opportunity inspires him. Laulala leaves big shoes to fill, you could argue that Laulala has become NZ's premier tighthead prop. I honestly think he has taken that mantel from franks in recent times.

The next concern is the loosies, Seu has been looking very good but he has been injured and it leaves a bit of a gap. Messam starts at 8 his experience will be critical but its a shame because he looked very good at 6 with Seu at 8. Bochier starts at 6, i believe he is mostly considered a 7 but is quite tall. his height and athleticism could be quite important in the lineouts. Hes been a good bench performer for a few seasons now this is a but chance for him he hasn't had a lot of starts. Brown moves from 6 to lock and covers for the injured Bird.

 

[mania]

didnt watch the bulls play reds, but in the canes game they showed composure.
hope they bring it and give the chiefs a massive work out. a loss for the chiefs wouldnt go astray and could invigorate their season. chiefs going thru a lot of adversity at the moment with all their injuries.
looking forward to the scrum battle

 

[WaterboySA]

14-7 to the Bulls after 16 minutes.At least they're trying.

 

[WaterboySA]

Third try to the Bulls after 24 minutes. 21-7......

Don't go to sleep now Bulls........

 

[SomeOke]

Bulls really came to play, maybe they are the real deal this year.
What happened vs the Reds last weekend??

Kriel looks so much better in a team that plays flat, allows him to run lines instead of crab-walking.
Pollard looking sharp again as does Nyakane who looks hungry.

 

[WaterboySA]

28-14 at the break. Can they keep it up though? Don't want to jinx my team but they have the habit of playing only for 40 minutes......think the coach are making a HUGE difference.

 

[TRF_heineken]

28-14 at the break. Can they keep it up though? Don't want to jinx my team but they have the habit of playing only for 40 minutes......think the coach are making a HUGE difference.

Massive difference. Just look at Jesse Kriel, seems like a completely different player to last year, the lines he's running is just brilliant!

Papier and Rossouw are really putting their hands up to be regular starters.

 

[WaterboySA]

Here comes the Chiefs.....

And the Chiefs take the lead with a penalty, 29-28...I call a drop goal by Pollard in the final seconds of the game to take it.....

 

[SomeOke]

Feel for the Bulls and their fans but it was an admirable performance.

 

[WaterboySA]

Oh well....better game by Bulls.

 

[nero]

The Bulls looked great in the first half. I do think the Chiefs were lucky to get away with not having a man sent off.

I hope they keep playing like this.