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Super 15: Bulls - Cheetahs in Pretoria (28-05-2011)

Cassie

Cassie

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Super 15: Bulls â€" Cheetahs in Pretoria (28-05-2011)

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Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria (28-05-2011 18:10 GMT)
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Having won 4 in a row, the Cheetahs will look to make it 5. More interesting is their try scoring record, they have scored a total of 35 tries so far this season, including 21 in their last 5 matches (against the Hurricanes, Brumbies, Lions, Crusaders and Rebels) and their big man is Sarel Pretorius. The scrum-half, having scored 8 tries this season, is likely to move to France at the end of the season with only a couple of months left on his contract. It might be an idea for the other South African teams to see what they can offer because with du Preez out, he might be the best scrum-half at the moment for the Springboks together with Ruan Pienaar.

The Bulls have a young talent who can play in that position. Francois Hougaard. He is a winger but last year, with du Preez out, he moved to the nr. 9 position and did well. He played in the Tri-Nations and the EOYT for the Springboks. In a competition that needs quick ball-recycling, the matches between these 2, will be amazing to watch.

Who will win it? Oddly enough, the Cheetahs have actually beaten the Bulls in Pretoria once in Super Rugby. Besides them only being active since 2006 (after expanding it from 12 to 14 together with the Western Force), they did play 1 season, back in 1997, when SARU had a promotion/relegation system for the South African teams. The Western Province (Stormers nowadays) ended last in 1996 of the SA teams, and was replaced by Free State (now Cheetahs). They won on 16 May 1997, at Loftus, with 23-35! It was a team which included big names like Os du Randt, current coach Naka Drotské, Andre Venter, Rassie Erasmus, Jannie de Beer and Brendan Venter.

Since their inclusion in 2006, they have yet to record a win over the Northen Transvaal franchise. In all their matches they only got a losing bonus point twice. Earlier this year, the 2 teams met in round 2 where the Bulls won 23-25 in Bloemfontein.






<TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%; mso-cellspacing: 0cm; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm" class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM-COLOR: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 3.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; BORDER-TOP-COLOR: #f0f0f0; PADDING-LEFT: 7.5pt; WIDTH: 50.22%; PADDING-RIGHT: 3.75pt; BORDER-LEFT-COLOR: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: white 1.5pt solid; PADDING-TOP: 3.75pt" width="50%">Team: <O:p</O:p
15. Zane Kirchner, 14. Akona Ndungane, <O:p</O:p
13. Jaco Pretorius, 12. Wynand Olivier,
11. Bjorn Basson, 10. Morné Steyn,
9. Francois Hougaard, 8. Pierre Spies,
7. Dewald Potgieter, 6. Deon Stegmann,
5. Victor Matfield (Captain), 4. Bakkies Botha,
3. Werner Kruger, 2. Chiliboy Ralepelle,
1. Dean Greyling

Replacements: 16. Gary Botha, 17. Rossouw De Klerk,
18. Flip van der Merwe, 19. Danie Rossouw, 20. Dustin Jinka,
21. Francois Brummer, 22. Gerhard van den Heever<O:p</O:p

</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM-COLOR: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 3.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; BORDER-TOP-COLOR: #f0f0f0; PADDING-LEFT: 7.5pt; WIDTH: 49.78%; PADDING-RIGHT: 3.75pt; BORDER-LEFT-COLOR: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: white 1.5pt solid; PADDING-TOP: 3.75pt" width="49%">Team: <O:p</O:p
15. Riaan Viljoen, 14. Philip Snyman, <O:p</O:p
13. Robert Ebersohn, 12. Corné Uys,
11. Riaan Smit, 10. Sias Ebersohn,
9. Sarel Pretorius, 8. Davon Raubenheimer,
7. Ashley Johnson, 6. Kabamba Floors,
5. Martin Muller, 4. Francois (FS) Uys,
3. WP Nel, 2. Adriaan Strauss (Captain),
1. Coenie Oosthuizen

Replacements: 16. Ryno Barnes, 17. Lourens Adriaanse,
18. Izak van der Westhuizen, 19. Johan Wessels,
20. Tewis de Bruyn, 21. Naas Olivier, 22. Hennie Daniller<O:p</O:p

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<O:p</O:p
I have said it once and I will say it again this is going to be a hard game to call as anything can happen on the day.
<O:p</O:p
The Bulls are looking to get back to that well oiled blue machine we have come to know in the last couple of years. Slowly but surely they have gathered momentum in the last couple of games to try and regain their form and try and defend their ***le. The road ahead does look steep and will be very tough as a loss in their remaining four games will take their destiny out of their hands and probably bring an end to their ***le defence.<O:p</O:p

The cheetahs on the other hand have showed fellow SA conference teams how to win and win as a team. They are really playing some wonderful rugby at the moment. There are some weaknesses that they have shown in the last couple of games that the Bulls will try to exploit. But they can make it difficult for any team to beat them no matter where they play and they do love playing at Loftus. When looking at the stats and the times the Bulls have won against the Cheetahs that will count for nothing thing this coming Saturday as this is a different Cheetahs team.

I can't wait to see these two rugby styles meet for the 7<SUP>th</SUP> time in Super Rugby and see who will come out on top.<O:p</O:p
 
Hierdie gaan 'n klipharde wedstryd wees en dis die twee SA spanne wat op vorm is wat mekaar hier gaan pak. Bulls teen Cheetahs was nog altyd 'n fisieke en hoog tempo wedstryd en met alby wat lyk of hulle hul beste rugby nou speel en nog 'n kans staan om in die finale in te kom (skraal, maar dit is daar) is ek bly ek het ten minste 4 van hierdie 30 manne in my fantasie rugbyspan! Kan nie wag nie!
 
Good to see some Afrikaans in the topic, an advantage by having Flemish as a mother tongue :)
Hope the boys can pull this one.
 
Ja dit gaan n goeie wedstryd wees om te kyk ek hoop net sekere spelers bly beserings vry. Die skraal kans wat albei spanne het maak hulle baie gevaarlik om teen te speel so die wedstryd is een wat ek nie gaan misloop nie.

Ek het al so baie talent gesien in die paar weke van super rugby met jong spelers van die stormers en cheetahs wat deurkom en baie goeie rugby speel. Ek dink die toekoms is blink as jy daarop let.
 
Cheetahs support play just gets better and better, they really highlight just how boring and dull the Bulls are on attack with their kak box kick/bomb approach. But they got smoked at the breakdowns and setpeice, not gonna win without parity at the least.
 
Aight, Cheetahs hadn't that much luck in the first half but they played a stunning second half. pity they lost but they can go with their heads up.
Better luck next week.
 
Adizero29196, Snoopy Snoopy Dog Dog and ME were all winners with the vBookie.
 
Amobokoboko said:
Hopefully he Cheetahs can keep Pretorius in their team.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately for the Cheetahs, they do not have a say in the matter. He is contracted to the Griquas and his contract ends at the end of the year. He has mentioned he wants to move to France. The only connection with the Cheetahs is the fact the Griquas are part of their franchise. It's the same with Basson, who moved to the Bulls. The Cheetahs had no involvement in that either.
 
The problem for lesser unions like the Cheetahs and the Griquas is money. The Griquas accepted a huge transfer fee from the Bulls for Basson because they need the money for the stadium the players and whatever other reason. They have pretty descent players in Kimberley with two big schools that produces rugby players and in time get to play for Griquas. The union lets them go when money deals comes from bigger unions because quite frankly they can’t afford them. Most of the Griqua players end up playing for the Cheetahs but as soon as they get noticed by other unions the deals is made. I do feel that unions like the Cheetahs and Griquas are responsible for some really big name players and don’t really get the credit they deserve.
<O:p</O:p
The Cheetahs did play with that spunk I thought they will come with to Loftus and did really well at a stage they were looking like they are going to win a come from behind win. What was interesting to note is the one player everyone was not happy with in the Bulls team that occasionally did not seem up for it. Zane blew a certain try by not passing and instead decided to try and run over his opposition which won’t work against a team like the Cheetahs. <O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p

I am glad the Bulls are looking better when they decide not to kick away their position and opt for running with the ball as shown in the first try. Danie made a huge impact on the game scoring two tries and Ashley Johnston you just can’t keep him out of it he also doted down twice. All in all it was a hard win for the Bulls and the scorecard doesn’t really show how physical and draining the game might have been. It took some real courage for the Bulls opting to go for the bonus point try so easily it could have backfired and led to the Cheetahs wining it at the end. In the end it worked out for them resulting in the five point bonus. <O:p</O:p
 
Sker said:
Op vorm? Sies anglisisme! hehe
Click to expand...

T_T

Wel die woord 'anglisisme' is ook 'n anglisisme LOL. Of moet ek eerder tik LUVB (lag uit volle bors)?


As for the Cheetahs, I expect the same old routine from them (at least until the management changes) with up-and-coming players getting bigger contracts elsewhere. Though the Ebersohn brothers have stated that they plan on staying on at least. As for Pretorius and Riaan Viljoen, they are Qriquas players so that probably means that the Cheetahs will have little to no say and will have to bow to financial realities when one of the other bigger franchizes or a French one inevitably comes calling. Hell, even my Stormers lose players on a regular basis to the overseas market and we are the richest club in SA I believe or at least close to it.


PS @ Lordhope; Basson is now the highest try scorer at this stage; at least alphabetically the highest of the 3 tied for the top spot LOL.
 
Last edited:
True. I think it's even more amazing for Sarel, given the fact he is a scrum half
 
TRF_Ezequiel said:
True. I think it's even more amazing for Sarel, given the fact he is a scrum half
Click to expand...


True. A couple of those he did score covering the wing but still a great effort on attack. He has been a bit silent in the try scoring dept recently but has brought his defense up a bit though not enough to have him play at 9 in the RWC IMO. Still creates a lot of opportunities for others and I think defenses have an eye on him after his heroics in the middle of the season.
 
Well, FdP might miss the World Cup with his injuries lately and besides Pienaar and Hougaard, we do not have any quality scrum halfs to take with us to NZ. Maybe Sarel will be 3rd choice when FdP is out
 

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