What a joy to see Bulls catching up

It seems like it has become the norm that taking the Lions Super Rugby prospects lightly is at your own peril. The Lions have been the pinnacle of South African Super Rugby but most of our pundits were proved heavily wrong that they would suffer the travel consequences against the Waratahs because of a late departure for Down Under.

It’s a time when most of us loved to be proved wrong as they defied the late arrival in Sydney to secure a rare record – in 118 appearances by any SA side it was the Lions who held the hosting side scoreless for the first time ever while on tour in Australasia.

Not that this euphoria is getting to the Lions, like coach Swys de Bruin stressed, they have a new challenge this weekend against the Reds in Brisbane and while they celebrated the Tahs record 29-0 win, it’s a new challenge this week.

But what should be concerning to SA director of rugby and new Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus is that there is currently a gulf developing between the two Highveld franchises – the Lions and the Bulls on the one side and the two coastal sides, the Sharks and the Stormers.

It is clear from the Sharks versus Stormers contest in Durban last weekend that they are currently lagging behind the Lions and the Bulls as far as creating space in the wider channels and moving the point of contact.

Make no mistake there were some sporadic moments of brilliance like when Stormers wing Raymond Rhule scored after a deft offload from flank Siya Kolisi and the brilliant try from Sharks flank Jean-Luc du Preez after brother and flyhalf Robert gave a great off-load in contact.

But unfortunately those brief moments happened few and far between and in the interim there were too many incidents where taking contact remained option number one which led to too much brawn and too little brain.

What the Lions have managed very well – and credit to the Bulls for following suit – is that they have adopted a Kiwi style where they have identified open space as a way to break down the rush defence which has become modus operandi of all teams nowadays. Gone are the days of kicking into noman’s land which has been the SA way for way too long as a means to get rid of pressure.