[2017 Super Rugby] Round 9: Bulls vs. Cheetahs (22/04/2017)

[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, 11 Jamba Ulengo, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Nic de Jager, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Pierre Schoeman

Substitutes: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Martin Dreyer, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Marnus Schoeman/Jacques Potgieter, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Francois Brummer, 23 Franco Naude

Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 William Small-Smith, 13 Francois Venter (captain), 12 Nico Lee, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Niel Marais, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Henco Venter, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Carl Wegner, 4 Armandt Koster, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Charles Marais

Substitutes: 16 Elandre Huggett, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Francois Uys, 20 Niell Jordaan, 21 Uzair Cassiem, 22 Tian Meyer, 23 Fred Zeilinga

 

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So no Nyakane or Jan Serfontein for the bulls due to the agreement with SARU.

There is also still uncertainty on whether Jacques Potgietes will be fit in time for this match. If it was up to me, I'd give Schoeman another chance. He did concede a few penalties last week against the Jaguares, but I think he'll do better against local opposition.

Glad to see Gelant getting a start.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Handre Pollard is out injured again! Dammit!

He needs surgery on his ankle, and will be out until end of June.

 

[unrated]

Our best flyhalves break too easily. Lambie, Pollard, Goosen. The next best like F. Steyn doesn't want to play for us. We are then stuck with either a fourth string guy or the yearly young SA talented fly halve that everyone will pin their hopes on for a year until he too either gets injured or leaves SA. To the fore Curwin Bosch!

 

[TRF_heineken]

Damn! We snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat in this one. Can't believe we got the win.

It has definitely not been a good weekend for SA Rugby. Yes, we only had the Stormers and Cheetahs losing, but the showcase that was displayed was just awful.

I think Joel Stransky said it best during this game: "There is a major problem with the Bulls, they don't know how to attack when they have the ball. Their Coaches need some introspection". If it wasn't for Warwick Gelant and Jesse Kriel, straightening the line, we would have lost this game by a big margin.