Siya Kolisi has that look of a future Bok captain about him
Powell: We did very well, considering the inexperience we had in our squad
1. The Kiwis can be “beaten by scoring tries” If there was ever any doubt regarding that, then I hope the Stormers’ smashing 34-26 victory over the Chiefs will be a shining lesson. In the build-up to the Stormers’ clash against the Kiwis, coach Robbie Fleck said that they wanted to “win the game by scoring tries”, and they did just that as they scored four tries to the Chiefs’ three in front of a pumping Newlands crowd. The biggest positive was how the Stormers went about the game – they stuck to their 15-man game and I don’t think I need to go into detail with all the moments of brilliance the game was overloaded with (Dillyn Leyds’ out-of-this-world offload was of course the most memorable one). That win was a big moment, not only for the Stormers, but for the whole of South African rugby. Hopefully the Stormers sent out a resounding message to the rest of country. And while it’s very true that you can’t easily beat the New Zealanders with penalties, it’s also very possible to beat the Kiwis at their own game. 2. Beauden Barrett is unstoppable It’s actually sickening how good this guy is. In the Hurricanes’ 38-28 win over the Waratahs in Wellington, the flyhalf had a hand in five of the Canes six tries and scored one himself to down the Tahs. In the build-up to the first five-pointer, Barrett ran a beautiful line and cut through defenders before sending a perfectly-timed pass that dissected the Waratahs’ defence to No 8 Reed Prinsep, who went to ground before Ngani Laumape rounded off to score. Barrett ran in his side’s second try himself, before delivering a superb skip pass to younger brother Jordie to add another. Not even two yellow cards could break his flow, and as soon as he came back on after the first one he produced another spectacular wide pass to put South African-born wing Wes Goosen away on the outside. For the last Hurricanes try, he made an amazing break in midfield and covered huge ground, before sending the ball to Laumape on the far outside to score. Nothing more can be said about Beauden Barrett, his actions speak loudly enough. Siya Kolisi has become a serious contender for the Springbok captaincy. I mean, look at his performances for the Stormers so far. He’s been massive in terms of his in-field contributions with non-stop tackling, great work at the breakdowns, and carries and passes that make him a standout forward. And good things can also be said about his leadership. Yes, we can’t always tell what he says or does on the field or in the changeroom at half time, but it can’t be argued that he should definitely get some credit for steering the Stormers to where they are now. The season’s far from over, but it’s been a great one by the Cape side so far. Kolisi is certainly young in terms of international experience, but he has all the traits that make him a fit for the Bok captaincy. He’s in unquestionable form, he leads from the front (to use a cliche), and it seems like he’s doing something right in how he leads his side, to say the least. Those few points alone account for far more checks than what the last Bok skipper could tick off his what-you-need-to-lead-the-Boks list. Just saying. To say the Bulls are in all kinds of trouble is an understatement. The fact that they lost to the Sunwolves after yet another sorry performance was next-level bad. Yes, they were without a number of their stalwarts heading into the match, but that was a match that a team like the Bulls shouldn’t have lost. They just look like a deeply confused team on attack and the way Adriaan Strauss missed that tackle in the first Sunwolves try is symptomatic of their problems on defence. 5. Learn from the Kings It’s not often that one can say something like that about the Kings, but I do think they deserve it. They suffered a 46-41 loss to the Force in Perth, but the kind of rugby South Africa’s least-favourite rugby child put on show deserved heavy praise. In a hugely entertaining game, the Kings back three and flyhalf Lionel Cronje let loose as they cut through the Force’s defence, while Cronje also did well to create try-scoring opportunities for his outside backs. It was all about the thrill in Perth, and although the Aussies mixed up their entertaining play with less-exciting stages in between, it was still a good game of exciting rugby to watch and the Kings surely deserve a thumbs up for their losing bonuspoint efforts. THE GHOSTS of Hong Kong past continued to haunt the Springbok Sevens team as they were denied a maiden title in the Asian city when they were convincingly beaten 22-0 by Fiji in the final at the Hong Kong National Stadium yesterday.
The Blitzboks have never won in Hong Kong and they came agonisingly close to shaking that monkey off their backs, but fell at the final hurdle after winning all of their pool matches against France, Kenya and Canada, and also successfully negotiated their way through the knockout stages by beating New Zealand in the quarter-finals, before Ruhan Nel scored an extra-time try against the US in an entertaining semi-final.
But Neil Powell’s men were put to the sword by Fiji in the final, conceding four tries as the island nation secured their third consecutive Hong Kong title to jump up to second spot on the overall series standings.
While Fiji controlled play and were the better side, the South Africans will be disappointed with the many handling errors they committed and the lack of spark in their performance.
Fiji scored two tries in the first half to lead 10-0 at the halftime interval, and struck early in the second half through a sublime try by Kalione Nasoko from a scrum before Nasoko sealed the trophy with his second try of the game a few minutes later.
“We did very well, considering the inexperience we had in our squad and the fact that we were without a number of star players,” Powell said.
“We did well over the three days and managed to play five good games, but unfortunately we were just not good enough in the final. Well done to Fiji, who deserved the win. I was a bit nervous as the pool stage could easily derailed us and the cross-over was tricky. Looking back now, we did excellent and I am content with what we achieved.”
The Blitzboks, though, maintain a healthy lead at the top of the standings with 145 points, 23 points ahead of Fiji with three tournaments remaining in Singapore, Paris and London.
England are in third spot, while New Zealand are languishing in an unfamiliar fourth place with 97 points. The US, Australia, Argentina, Scotland, Canada and Wales complete the top 10 places on the standings. As disappointed as the Blitzboks would have been with the final result, they celebrated personal milestones with Cecil Afrika, playing in his 50th tournament and extending his career points record to 1 227.