Super Rugby Team of the Week 2

Week two of Super Rugby saw all the South African sides pick up positive results – all except for our good old mates, the Blue Bulls. There seems to be a nice buzz around our franchises this season and to explain how each match went, we asked the new boy on our Super Rugby Team of the Week panel, @Justus_Beets, to give us a little run-down on how things went down.

Brumbies v Sharks

After a close loss against the “new”-look Reds in their opening game, the Sharks faced a tougher task this past weekend going up against a Brumbies team who held their own against the Crusaders in New Zealand a week earlier. Surely the Brumbies felt the more positive of the two sides heading into the fixture. And at 15 – 3 late in the first half, the Brumbies must have felt they were the favourites and who would be able to argue that point?

But the Sharks didn’t stop playing. They found themselves 7 points ahead and looked set for a win only to see the Brumbies even things out very late. At 22 – 22,  Bosch pushed a grubber, which we now call a Moment of Brilliance but could just as easily be called a Moment of Madness if it failed, through the Brumbies defenders and the ever present Lukhanyo Am was there to do something South African’s don’t often experience: a win at the death.

All this, because the Sharks never stopped playing. Well done, Sharks!

Sunwolves v Kings

A “battle” between two sides who most feel shouldn’t even be in the competition. The Sunwolves back three came into the game with 3 Super Rugby caps shared among them. Willie Brits and a few others tried to drag the train-wreck that is the Sunwolves through the game, hoping for what seemed to be their best chance at a victory this season, but in the end the Kings made light work of the toothless dodo-like creature that calls itself the Sunwolves. Well done, Kings!

Lions v Waratahs

Defence? What is that,a city in France? A high scoring affair at the Lions home (That averaged more than a point a minute) saw a tit for tat exchange between the two teams who both scored almost at will, but the Lions started to put some distance between them and the visitors with their more supreme try scoring fitness, with the Tahs only outscoring the Lions in yellow cards. What must have been a very tough day/week for the very talented Lions no. 12, Rohan van Rensburg, he showed up for work, shined with two tries for his team,after losing his mother days earlier.

Young man, you are one tough human being. Well done,Lions!

Stormers v Jaguares

After a great win against their old rivals, the Bulls, in week 1, most of the positive talk in the Western Cape slowly started to turn into a question. Can the Stormers keep up their intensity from that game? The Jaguares was the perfect team to face. A team who played a dirty version of french rugby and ran every time they got ball in hand. When the Jaguares captain, Augustine Creevy, burst over the Stormers line early on, the entire team realised this is not Week 1. The solid scrum was still there from the previous week. So was SP Marais, Jano Vermaak and most of the other players’ form. The Stormers’ intensity flared up and died down,with the Jaguares never giving up and throwing everything at the Stormers, even scoring a try while they were down to 13 men, after two of the Argentine players suffered a serious case of yellow (card) fever.

But like the cliché goes “A win is a win.” and every SA team needs all the points they can get. But the question will return down the line and hopefully the Stormers can answer it with a big muscular “Yes” every time. Well done, Stormers!

Cheetahs v Bulls

After both teams lost their opening game, it was the Cheetahs who showed more intent than the Bulls in their follow-up game. They played rugby like their lives depended on it and the Bulls struggled to keep the punches out. They handled themselves well and a Bulls team still full of holes from week 1 clearly had very little to throw back apart from a late surge that showed why people expect more from them.

The men in orange leaving the field of play the deserving victors, the 6 point margin flattering the Bulls a bit. A tired-looking Handre Pollard just couldn’t compete with his Cheetahs counterpart and the latter looked more like someone the Springboks could build a game plan around than Pollard. That being said, it is a lot to ask of someone who last played rugby 88 482 301 Vodacom ads ago. Standard procedure for players who have been out for that many Vodacom ads is usually to have them start on the bench and ease them into the game again.

Raymond Rhule has improved so much over the last year and he finally worked on his defence, a real option for the Boks if injuries start to show up out wide. Ox Nche’s scrum issues seem to have improved as well, what a raw talent that guy is, hopefully the Cheetahs can keep him in Bloem for another season or two before another franchise buys him and plays him out of position and ruins him.

I couldn’t believe my eyes at one point. “Was that Ryno Benjamin in the line out?” Yes, replays showing the winger making an appearance in the orange line out in what seemed to be a well-planned move and it actually led to a great try. That single moment gave me hope that there is plans being put in place by Franco Smith and co. Well done, Cheetahs.

Anyway… Enough of all the talking and into this week Super Rugby Team of the Week!