Bulls primed for shock upset
2006-05-18 11:11
JJ Harmse
I am running with the Bulls in Christchurch this weekend and what a great feeling it is!
The way the team sneaked into the semi-finals is nothing short of remarkable.
You have to feel for the Sharks, who will reflect on the season with ifs and buts.
Be that as it may, the Bulls have certainly silenced those critics who believed they didn't possess the game to make the final four.
They have beaten all the other South African sides this year, scoring at least four tries against all of them and had a good dig at the other three semi-finalists.
They beat the Waratahs and could have done the same against the Hurricanes if a certain Linston Manuels did not intervene.
Their defeat against the Crusaders two weeks ago was unexpected in that the Crusaders were coming off a draw against the Western Force and a loss to the Stormers.
Nobody on New Zealand's South Island is giving them much of a chance and they will therefore have no pressure on them.
Local radio shows are discussing the Wendell Sailor issue and it's posing an interesting question.
Should the Waratahs be docked points for having a player who tested positive for a banned substance?
There is merit in the argument, but no one from Sanzar has indicated that anything is likely to happen.
Just like athletes and teams having to give back medals won because of positive doping results, Sailor's team should be penalised for him playing with 'bad' blood.
One can argue that he has not performed well even on drugs, so there was no reward, but rules are rules.
But we have seen in the past when it comes to doping in Australian sport, that rules are not applied consistently across the various sporting codes.
It was also very interesting to see the Springbok squad named by Jake White and in what way performance in the Super 14 counted towards the squad that was selected.
Well, to put it bluntly, it counted for nothing.
White clearly believes in his core group and stuck to some players despite their poor form.
The Cape Town media directed their anger following the pathetic performance of their Stormers team towards White on Saturday night when he announced the team.
They were very unhappy about the exclusion of Luke Watson and Schalk Brits. Watson, in particular, enjoys massive support in certain circles and White had to explain at length why he did not pick him. A perceived personal vendetta against Watson was not one of them, White had to explain.
I have no problem with Watson not being there. The likes of Juan Smith, Pedrie Wannenburg and Schalk Burger are well established and had good seasons.
I felt for Tim Dlulane. He certainly was outstanding in the last couple of games and outplayed Burger and Watson on Saturday.
White and his selectors failed in not testing Dlulane. He is good enough to start a Test match, something Solly Tyibilika cannot claim.
White and his selectors blew a chance to pick the best African player in the country. I wonder why the 'liberal' Cape media has said nothing about that.
The likes of Wayne Julies and De Wet Barry can count themselves very lucky as well. Julies is clearly only a numbers player and should have been replaced by Akona Ndungane.
Julies can only play inside centre and White already has Barry, Jean de Villiers and now Wynand Olivier in that position.
We know already what we have in Julies. White has never picked him to play against the All Blacks, so clearly does not believe in the player. Why have him in the squad then?
With Ndungane we don't know yet how good he can be. He certainly had two good seasons of 'Super' rugby. So how will he do at the next level? No one will know before he is picked.
I also believe that the inclusion of Danie Coetzee was to spite Brits.
When the Bulls asked SA Rugby to give Coetzee a Springbok contract last year in order for him to stay in the country, they indicated that White was not interested in the player anymore. Coetzee has also not even played a starting role for London Irish.
Brits is a special player with the X-factor. I don't think he is better than John Smit or Gary Botha at the moment, but certainly will outplay Shimange and Coetzee every time.
I suppose White can pick whoever he wants, but he's not making many friends with some of his selections and the notion that he has his favourites based on personal and not rugby reasons has only being strengthened by the team he's picked.
The proof will be in the pudding though and White's players will have to produce the goods for their coach in the Test matches against Scotland and France.
The real test will be in the extended Tri-Nations however.
We are lucky this year because we play the All Blacks at home twice and with both matches scheduled for the Highveld.
If we can secure victory in those two fixtures and beat the Aussies in one of the Tests abroad, we will certainly come close to being crowned Tri-Nations champions again.
But for that to happen, White will have to work very hard in the next couple of weeks as too many of his first choice players are playing poor rugby at the moment.
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