It hurts me to see a South Africa team beat an New Zealand team but you just have to take your hat off to what the Bulls did to the Chiefs at Loftus on Saturday. Going into the game, I was pretty sure that the Bulls were going to win this game but I did not expect them to win by the margin they did. I honestly do no think that anyone predicted this win margin. Usually finals are close affairs with very few tries and the winner usually coming from the team with the most kicks on goal. But on Saturday we were treated to a feast of tries.
A final score of 61-17 to the Bulls was massive. That is almost a 50 point win! The Chiefs just did not pitch up for this game. They may have started well with an early try which got me excited but that was about all as the Bulls started to run the game. One may say that the Chiefs lost because they had to travel from New Zealand to South Africa and play at altitude but that is no excuse! Even if the game was in New Zealand, I still believe the Bulls would have won with the form they showed on Saturday.
I had thought that the Bulls would use the Morne Steyn drop goal tactic through out the game but instead they did not rely on Steyn’s boot but rather just ran the ball. I can not single out a Bulls player who was head and shoulders better than his team mates on Saturday, the whole team did well.
Congratulations to the Bulls on a job well done. Bring on the British & Irish Lions now!
As expected, Bakkies Botha has been suspended for 3 weeks after his elbow on Phil Waugh. Some say the suspension should have been more than 3 weeks. But that is Bakkies for you. I do not think there is a more aggressive player in the game today than him and this aggression is what spurs the Bulls and Springboks on at times. I watched the Bulls - Waratahs game and it was not only that Phil Waugh incident that Bakkies was aggressive on but he was just his normal physical self throughout the game. The loss of Bakkies will be a huge blow to the Bulls considering they will also be without Victor Matfield who has returned to South Africa for the birth of his child. So what will the loss of the two best locks in the world mean for the Bulls against the Brumbies? It is going to be an interesting call.
Just to remind us of how aggressive Bakkies is, I have found some footage of him to share with you below.
Robbie Deans thinks the Reds will beat the Bulls this weekend at Loftus. I still think he is dreaming! Bulls coach, Frans Ludeke has named his starting XV for the game against the Reds and he has gone with probably his strongest possible lineup. His big guns are all there: the likes of Matfield, du Preez, Botha, Spies and Habana. Surely there is no way this Bok studded XV can loose to the Reds on their own home turf. Read the rest of this entry »
