Teams in blue make strides
THE Blue Bulls and Western Province made significant strides towards securing themselves places in the Currie Cup semifinals with hard-fought wins over the Golden Lions and the Sharks respectively at the weekend.
Playing in derbies steeped with emotion and sentiment, it was the lesser-fancied hosts in both derbies who emerged victorious, as the Bulls sunk the Lions to their second defeat of the season while Western Province ended the Sharks’ four-match unbeaten run.
The Bulls’ 31-17 win at Loftus Versfeld on Friday elevated them to third place on the log and, with three fixtures remaining against the Pumas, Griquas and Boland Cavaliers, Nollis Marais’ team have a lot to be confident about, with their road towards the semifinals firmly in their hands.
They really took ownership of their performance against the Lions as they dominated all facets of play from the scrums and lineouts to the uncertain breakdowns and making the best of the opportunities created.
It was always going to be important for the remainder of their campaign that the Bulls bounced back quickly from their defeat against the Sharks in Durban the week before, but more significantly, the men in blue needed the points to stay among the leading pack and not have their fate decided by other teams.
In their performance against the defending champions, Marais’ team played with a lot of maturity and showed glimpses of a team that could challenge for top honours and go one better than their semi-final finish last year.
“I’m happy with the win. We’ve been battling for four games trying to put the things together. I think on Friday we had a good performance, even though we still made a few mistakes, but it was a great team effort getting a win against the Currie Cup champions. The four points are important for us,” said Marais.
While the Bulls have climbed up to third place on the log, Lions coach Johan Ackermann is a wor- ried man going into their next three fixtures, which will all but determine if the Lions will be able to defend their title.
Even though the Lions have stayed fixed on fifth spot on the log, they have been surpassed by Griquas and are on the same number of points as Western Province, whom they host on Friday night at Ellis Park.
“It wasn’t a good enough performance, starting with the kick-off where we conceded three points and from there we never played. The game was filled with too many mistakes, handling errors, turnover lineouts and we lacked accuracy.
“We’ve got a lot of hard work if we want to turn the tables. Western Province would have taken a lot of confidence out of our loss and say ‘anything is possible’. So we haven’t made it easy for ourselves and we will need to step up,” Ackermann said.
John Dobson’s men will take a lot of confidence from drowning the Sharks and, even though they were dealt a big blow with injuries to Scarra Ntobeni and Sikhumbuzo Notshe in the game, they will look to exploit some of the Lions vulnerabilities as they go in search of another win.
“Hopefully, there is a lot of doubt because it is a tough place to win. Our biggest issue has been confidence, it had been a horrendous week and the pressure was enormous. We knew we had the talent, but the guys became used to losing. It was all about getting confidence and now it is a very happy changeroom, so I think that will help turn it around,” Dobson said of his side’s performance.
The Cheetahs quietly went about their business in keeping their place in the top two with a 57-25 demolition of the Kings in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The Cheetahs find themselves one point behind the table-topping Sharks, whom they play against this coming Saturday in Durban.
The Pumas continued to bleed points as they suffered yet another close defeat, 25-22 this time against the Boland Cavaliers in Wellington on Friday.