Volume 19, Number 1211 April 2019

“Some bad luck with the close calls, and yellow hurt them big time, but high error and turnover rate again cost the Stormers.” @FrontRowGrunt

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Death of the Triple Title Dream

This past weekend saw the seventh round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series take place in Hong Kong. And as we mentioned, going in last week the Blitzbokke still had a sniff of a chance of retaining the series title for the second time on the trot.

But the dream of a series hat-trick was shattered in the Cup quarter-finals by the team that looks most likely to win the series this year, USA. That said, Fiji took the Hong Kong title for a fifth successive year this past weekend and if the Americans don’t catch a wake-up, their slender seven-point lead over the Pacific islanders may evaporate like Neil Powell’s dream of a series triple.

But the bad news doesn’t end there. To compound matters further, the Blitzbokke lost to Argentina playing for the right to contest fifth place. A disappointing weekend of Sevens rugby if you are a South African supporter.

This weekend, the circus moves across to Singapore for round eight in the series. On the personnel front it looks to be the same team that was out-thought and out-played by Fiji and Argentina in Hong Kong this past weekend.

But stand-in captain Siviwe Soyizwapi is in a positive frame of mind: “We can fix it,” he said. “The individual mistakes we made, only we can fix them. We made the errors, it is our responsibility to make sure we don't repeat them this weekend,” he added.

Soyizwapi said taking responsibility and fixing the inaccuracies is a given this week. It does feel a little bit like post-Las Vegas as well, he admitted. “Like that weekend, we are not down and out,” said Soyizwapi.

The action starts early Saturday morning. It’s a two day tournament this time and day one will see the Blitzbokke take on Scotland (06:14), Canada (09:40) and Fiji (13:28). As usual, those results will determine who they play on day two, and when.

KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER

Another Kak Weekend in Super RugbyVarsity Cup Dishes Up Clinical RugbySSG Gold Cup Final this Sunday

 

Rugby Championship Schedule ConfirmedSA Gloucester Fan Gets LuckyWhich is the Better Type of Flyhalf?

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Another Kak Weekend in Super Rugby

For South African fans, it was another disastrous weekend in Super Rugby when three of our teams lost matches they should have been good enough to win. But more about that later.

The first match this past Friday was a real arm-wrestle in Dunedin between the Highlanders and the Hurricanes. The difference in the end, was a Beauden Barrett penalty: 28-31 to the visiting Hurricanes.

The second game on Friday saw the Reds host the Stormers in Brisbane. @FrontRowGrunt summed it up quite accurately on Twitter: “Some bad luck with the close calls, and yellow hurt them big time, but high error and turnover rate again cost the Stormers.” Final score: 24-12.

Then was the upset of the week when the Lions simply failed to turn up to play in a match that they were odds-on favourites to win. It was their match to lose and boy, did they oblige. Pathetic, according to our editor. But despite that, the bookies still reckon the team from Johannesburg is South Africa’s best bet in Super Rugby 2019.

The early game on Saturday saw the Crusaders thump the Brumbies in Christchurch and, shortly thereafter the Blues won a tough encounter in Auckland against the visiting Waratahs. That was followed by the Rebels’ overwhelming win over the Sunwolves in Melbourne.

Finally, in probably the third unexpected result of the weekend, the Bulls squandered a decent lead to loseto the Jaguares at Loftus, thanks mainly to two tries in the last ten minutes.

PRO14 Season is All Over Bar the Shouting

The PRO14 weekend was more of what we’ve seen all season with the two local teams struggling to justify their continued participation in the predominately north hemisphere competition. With both the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings playing at home this weekend, a decent showing was expected.

Sadly, it started badly, very badly. The visiting Ospreys dominated the first half in Bloemfontein, going in at the break leading their hosts 0-14. Cheetahs scored early in the second half but Ospreys countered almost immediately to restore the 14-point advantage. It was all downhill from there for the home supporters. Final score 14-31.

Down in Port Elizabeth, the Kings were entertaining the only side below them – by a single point – on the PRO14 table, the Dragons. And the home side looked odds-on for the win for most of the match but let their opponents back into the match with poor defence.

Four yellow cards (two for each team) in the space of four minutes disrupted the flow of the match for a time but neither team was able to take advantage of the space that created. Eventually, the Dragons snatched a draw with literally a last minute penalty kick.

The results mean that the Cheetahs are now totally out of contention for the knock-out rounds. And the Kings’ goal of staying above the Dragons on the table is under threat – they needed the win.

The two visiting teams switch cities this weekend with the Ospreys travelling to Port Elizabeth to face the Kings on Friday night (19:35) and the Dragons taking on Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday (also 19:35).

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Varsity Cup Dishes Up Clinical Rugby

As noted in last week’s issue, it was semifinal week of the FNB Varsity Cup this past Monday and the early game featured UP-Tuks and NWU-Pukke. The two teams finished the regular season a single point apart on the competition table but when they played earlier in the season in Pochefstroom, Tuks dominated, winning 28-0.

After 20-odd minutes of the semifinal, a feeling of deja vu set in as the home team ran out to a 15-0 lead. Just into the second quarter, Pukke rallied and began to pressure the Tuks line but once again they couldn’t breach it.

A sustained period on attack eventually resulted in the visiting team getting onto the scoreboard through a kickable penalty.

In the second half, Pukke came out with a vengeance and really took it to the home team getting to with three points of snatching the win. Even in the last few minutes they attacked the Tuks red zone but the home team held them off, taking the match 24-18.

Down in Stellenbosch, Maties ran out into the Danie Craven stadium to take on a Shimlas. Going into the match, few people gave the visiting Bloemfontein side a chance and so it seemed in the first half as Maties built up a seemingly unassailable 19-0 lead. The home team simply didn't let Shimlas into the match. Final score 47-5.

That set up the final everybody has expected since virtually the first round of the 2019 FNB Varsity Cup: Maties versus Tuks. Kick off is at 7pm on Monday.

SSG Gold Cup Final is this Sunday

Super Rugby and the Blitzbokke may have disappointed this past week but club rugby in South Africa is looking good. The semifinals last Saturday turned out to be convincing wins for the home teams.

In Rustenburg, Newrak Impala defeated Northam Platinum Rhinos 36-20 while down in Bellville, Durbanville-Bellville administered a thrashing of Border champions, Hollywoodbets Swallows. The results mean that Newrak Impala and Durbanville-Bellville will resume their rivalry on Sunday in the biggest match of the season in South African amateur club rugby.

The two teams have, between them, lifted the Gold Cup three times in the past five seasons so the results were not a complete surprise. Newrak Impala — champions in 2014 and 2016 — will host 2015 winners Durbanville-Bellville on Sunday in Rustenburg. The final will be televised live on Sunday at 14:30 on SuperSport 1 and 10 (DStv channels 201 and 210).

“The SSG Gold Cup has been a great success and I’ve got no doubt the final will be the cherry on top,” said former Springbok, John Smit, the acting CEO of title sponsors SSG Holdings. “This tournament has had everything: huge crowds, great rugby and wonderful community involvement wherever the matches were held.

“We saw fans arriving at matches on horseback, supporters camping overnight at grounds to make sure they got a spot, and diehards travelling 2,500km in a bus to watch their team play. Players and fans from all backgrounds have come together in a real celebration of community rugby and that will be this tournament’s lasting legacy,” Smit added.

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Rugby Championship Schedule Confirmed

Sanzaar has confirmed the abbreviated six-match schedule for this year’s Rugby Championship, which will see the Springboks play just one match at home.

As it is a World Cup year, the tournament is shortened to a three-round, six-match format from the traditional six-round, 12-match programme. Each team will play each other either home or away this year.

With Super Rugby now playing unbroken for 21 weeks, without the previous June break for inbound Test matches, the Championship kicks off earlier, on Saturday 20 July.

The Springboks will start their campaign against Australia in Johannesburg before facing the All Blacks in Wellington and Argentina in Salta to end the tournament.

An additional round of matches will be played on the weekend of 17 August to allow a further home match for New Zealand and South Africa as preparation for the World Cup. Rugby Championship fixtures:

Saturday 20 July:South Africa vs Australia (Johannesburg, 5:05pm)

Sunday 21 July:Argentina vs New Zealand (Buenos Aires, 12:40am)

Saturday 27 July:New Zealand vs South Africa (Wellington, 9:35am)Australia vs Argentina (Brisbane, 12pm)

Saturday 10 August:Australia vs New Zealand (Perth, 12pm)Argentina vs South Africa (Salta, 9:40pm)

SA Gloucester Fan Gets Lucky

Technology has made the world a much smaller place and that, together with the inherent generosity of rugby fans, means that a local Gloucester supporter is getting the opportunity to watch the side run out against Bath on Saturday. Like many other Lions fans, Anton Momberg started following the Cherry and Whites when Johan Ackermann moved from the Johannesburg outfit to take charge of the team.

Ackermann also took several players with him, including son Ruan, lock Franco Mostert and flanker Jaco Kriel, and has helped the team get into contention for the Gallagher Premiership play-offs this year. While not giving up on the Lions, Momberg quickly became a fan favourite on a Facebook group dedicated to the English rugby club.

As a result, a crowdfunding page was set up in November in order to get the 48-year-old to England to watch a match in the flesh. Anton and sister, Linda, arrived at Heathrow Airport earlier this week and are scheduled to participate in a number of club-related activities – including the match on Saturday when Gloucester take on fierce rivals, Bath.

Supporter John Fowler, 45, who was one of those instrumental in bringing the Mombergs to England, said: “He is loving it so far. We’ve got them a private flat in Knightsbridge for a couple of nights and we’ve done St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London so far.

“We’re doing a tour of Twickenham, then on Thursday it’s back to shire. Anton’s a big birdwatcher so we’re hopefully going to Slimbridge. On Friday, there’s an event at the club for him but it’s top secret.”

Which is the Better Type of Flyhalf?

First up, full disclosure: nobody in this newsroom claims to know everything there is to know about rugby. In compiling this newsletter we lean on the wisdom and knowledge of commentators and pundits in our ambit.

Among those is a somewhat anonymous chap (or chapette) who calls himself (or herself) Province Fan on Twitter. He (or she) posted a thread of tweets the other day in which he (or she) posited that there are essentially two types of flyhalf.

How our pundit sees it is that you can classify flyhalves by their carrying style. For example, Handré Pollard carries the ball with a primarily forward upper body position, which means that he can only pass off the planted leg.

The advantage is that he tends to carry the ball hard into contact and can get his hands and nose through, making offloads possible.

 

The disadvantage, in the modern defensive era, is that he can only pass about 25% the time and the defence can read it and modify the rush on it.

By comparison, our Province Fan reckons that players like Elton Jantjies and Beauden Barrett carry with a more upright body position and only dip when they realise contact is unavoidable. By being upright it frees up the pass and allows them to pass much closer to the defensive line.

This, apparently, creates opportunities that don't exist with a runner that carries almost falling forward. They also tend to be charged down a lot less when kicking. This is mainly because when kicking your upper body is up anyway.

Pollard will transition up when he decides to kick, whereas they start up. That’s our synopsis. Read it al as a full thread on Twitter or as a single unified article.

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For your weekend viewing pleasure

In the body of this issue we have already covered details of SA’s club rugby finals this week: both Varsity Cup on Monday and SSG Gold Cup on Sunday. Other than that, my Ultimate Rugby app reveals plenty of other action around the planet.

First and foremost, there’s Super Rugby (schedule alongside) with six fixtures on the cards in Australia, New Zealand and here in South Africa on Friday and Saturday. Then we have PRO14 with home games for Southern Kings (Ospreys) and Cheetahs (Dragons), on Friday and Saturday respectively. Also of local interest is the Singapore Sevens running over Saturday and Sunday.

Moving across to Europe the English Premiershipcontinues on also Friday through Sunday, and the French Top 14 has matches scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. Across in America there’re MLR fixtures on Saturday and Sunday too. And that, seems to be that. You can check out the schedules on various websites linked to competition names above.

Thanks for reading our newsletter. We need feedback to improve it – and only you can give us that feedback. Please take the time to send us an email. We want to hear from you – good, bad or ugly, a pat on the back or a kick in the butt. Remember to look us up on Twitter, where you'll find many of our contributors on our timeline.

The Rugby Team at Leopard Newsletters.

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