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

[Cruz_del_Sur]

What an unfair ending to a brilliant effort by the Chiefs.

 

[Gena_ZA]

As I thought, Chiefs intensity in 2nd half did it.
Bulls did well, better than most expected, Galant pushing hard for a Bok place

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Big holes in that chiefs backline in the first half, 14 and 15 for the bulls really shone!

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I could only see the highlights but that's the sort of intercontinental contest this competition needs more of.

 

[NDC89]

Found the game on youtube. Good game, but that Bulls kit is very Brazilian national football team.

 

[Radsy]

For the Bulls...

- Fantastic change of style from seasons past. Once the ambitious ball in hand play becomes second nature, South African rugby will be very scary again. I believe they will whip England this June. I don't know much about Erasmus, but if he combines the athletes available to him and the Lions/Bulls gameplanning, they'll be neck and neck with the ABs.

- The Bulls backline ran circles around the young Chiefs. Kriel especially looks fantastic and to be enjoying his rugby. Smooth with a lot of vision. Gelant has some strange habits like running across the field and awkward spin passes, but my God he can burn. Runs with great balance and acceleration. The young winger Russouw who scored the two early tries looked the goods as well, but disappeared after getting his head taped up. Losing Ismaeil (or was that the Brazilian Ronaldo out there!?) hurt the backline as well. Pollard looks awesome again, and will be the SA flyhalf moving forward. It always takes a full two years to get the same level back after an ACL (I guess his shoulder didn't help either). He is the lynchpin of Bok rugby IMO. Embrose Papier is one to watch!

- Bulls forwards are huge, but the mobility is much better than last year. Nyakane and Schoeman were rock solid. Visagie had some nice touches out the back door for Pollard. Snyman and deJager are lineout monsters and gave the Chiefs fits. The Chiefs didn't contest the Bulls lineout for the most part out of fear of the maul. Good to see a traditional strength was kept. I was impressed in my first look at Bholi, good work rate and power out there.

- I do feel the Bulls were unfortunate to have not seen the Chiefs pick up a yellow in the first half. I don't think they can complain about the tried disallowed for obstruction or the yellow card to Van Vuuren. de Jager knew exactly what he was doing and reached his arm out to be certain Retallick was impeded, and Gelant shot the gap hoping it would work. Van Vuuren should have received a red.

For the Chiefs....

- Ta'avau was excellent all around, and he and Aidan Ross played into the 70th minute and didn't lose a scrum.
- Harris is looking nice to start the season, especially because he has always been a slow starter.
- Retallick is back! Wow, he really took the Chiefs on his back, and his usage in the midfield is a great way to take advantage of his surprising skills and speed. ABs should free him up more as well. Mitch Brown was steady, but needs to take better care of his head. I much prefer him at blindside, but there's little option with the depleted roster.
- Sam Cane is a savage and an incredible leader. Pure rugby player. Lachlan Boshier was excellent, and made a handful of crucial turnovers. He looks to have filled out more now, and really can't be held back much longer.
- Messam wasn't himself, but was dinged up pretty good.
- Weber was underwhelming in my opinion. He looked hesitant and had some shocking decisions (the chip kick from inside his 22, not playing the ball quickly when the scrum is pressured). He's capable of much more, and just had an off night. Can't have too many of those if he wants to be the 3rd string AB and keep Te Tuhiororangi on the bench with the Chiefs.
- Falcon was okay, but showed his age much more than v the Blues. He has a great clearance boot and had some nice touches, but generally struggled to steer the ship away from the Bulls line speed.
- Fa'auli had his best game as a pro. He has always been tough, but he eliminated the errors and had some great passes and a beauty cross kick.
- Wainui had an awful start, but redeemed himself enough. Alaimalo needs to toughen up, but always finds a way to get free a few times.
-Dmack was much better this week, though his kicking seems to be a little off at the moment.
- O'Donnell shouldn't see a Chiefs jersey again, and its time to make way for Bailyn Sullivan now. Wait until you see this kid.
- Marty is useless.
- Jacobsen had some closing minutes, but I want to see him get a longer run.
- Hard fought win, the leaders really stepped up, and an easy W v the Sunwolves hopefully buys time to get a few guys back. I don't like the sound of the Stevenson knee injury, seems like its a meniscus tear that they aren't sure how to work with. Ngatai is desperately missed, the backline is just too young. Big Bird is missed too.

 

[Big_Grumper]

It was a good game and I, too, am pleased that the Bulls are competing this year. The competition needs the Saffer teams to step up and be strong on their travels, challenging the advantage the home teams typically have.

A strong SA conference will push the Kiwi teams and make the tournament more competitive.

 

[Larksea]

- Ta'avau was excellent all around, ...

- Yeah Sam Cane may be at his best ever right now. I dont think there is any question right now who the best 7 in NZ is. Even hardened crusaders supporters should see that
- yeah Ta'avau was good, I picked it before the game he was a guy that needed a big game for the chiefs to win. Chiefs have lost a lot of props and his experience has become critical. The chiefs scrum struggled but mostly did enough. and around the field he put in a good effort.
- yip harris is looking much better.
- Messam made like 3 linebreak assists and a try assist just from what I saw - threw some awesome passes and was clearly used as a link man/playmaker. had one good run and a critical turnover and was in everything despite being elbowed in the face by Bulls players two times. He had a massive effort.
- starting to see some potential from Fa'auli but also some frailties as well. Hopefully this game time will see him mature a bit. Probably just need to accept that he is a very young guy in a position that requires a lot of experience. It did take a few years for ALB to mature... Its most important that he is making progress.
- Alaimalo looked dangerous for most of the game and eventually broke the game open for the chiefs. It did seem really obvious that he needed space to be made for him and most of the game it wasn't happening. I would have liked to have seen him look for more work.
- Webber needs a bit of patients. He's mixed some really good stuff with some costly mistakes. but he has basically been out for a year so it will take a bit of time to get back to his best.

Was a really interesting game. The bulls were very clinical and structured and their trys were basically all from set plays. They found some big holes down the left and it looked to me like Kriel was the man exploiting it? going to watch the game again to have a look at it. No doubt the chiefs will have to have a close look at that as well, I think it basically boiled down to Kriel finding forwards to run around.

In contrast the chiefs trys were through determination and desperation, just giving it a go. They battled very hard against a much bigger pack. I think with just 1 lock against that massive bulls pack they were always going to concede some lineouts but they did enough to win battles in other areas and wear the bulls down.

As with the last blues game this was one of the great wins for the chiefs given the circumstances. I've been skeptical about how the chiefs were going to go under cooper but credit where credit is due the chiefs would not have won these last two games without some good coaching and team culture.

Sunwolves next then a big test against the Highlanders who maybe arguably best team in the comp so far...