Bulls stay top
by Tony Johnson | 08 March 2010 (09:40)
The Bulls would have enjoyed their weekend off!
Without lifting a finger, except to push a button on the remote or turn over the steaks on the braai, they have stayed on top of the Super 14 table and now have a game in hand.
That they are still on top is down to two lamentable performances by their closest rivals, which prove that this year in Super 14, if you drop your standards you are going to lose.
The Chiefs started well against the Reds, but because Stephen Donalds kicking game deserted him, they couldn’t capitalise on their three early tries, and that allowed the Reds to come back at them and pull off a thoroughly deserved win.
The Reds were outstanding at the breakdown, accurate and aggressive and sensed that the Chiefs were a bit flat.
Maybe it was complacency, maybe the short turnaround after getting home from South Africa and Perth caught up with them, but the cold hard fact is the better team won, the team that seemed more hungry for the win, and good on them.
The Chiefs will need to be a whole lot better this coming Friday when they face the Crusaders, and I’m sure they will be. They let themselves and their fans down.
Despite some uncharacteristic first half errors, the Crusaders rated themselves well through the match and struck the vital blows in the middle stages of the second half to see off the Blues.
The ‘Saders by tradition start the season fairly slowly and build, but despite barely getting into third gear they are just one point off the lead, which is a good sign.
The Hurricanes turned in a stinker against the Cheetahs. Their discipline was appalling, and as coach Colin Cooper said, some of their senior players needing to take a long hard look at themselves. Their kicking game was also dreadful.
The Cheetahs played a lot smarter and took their chances well. It is a terrible blow for them that the outstanding Heirich Brussow is injured.
The Highlanders too were disappointing on the back of their win in Bloemfontein, and after a promising start got wiped by the Stormers.
Again it was the Stormers “D” that stood out. To have conceded just two tries after four games, when the laws favour the attacking team so much, is quite incredible. The Highlanders have a limited backline attack, but I thought their forwards might be better than they were.
After the Christchurch game we went to a bar to watch the Waratahs and the Sharks.
It struck me as ironic that the man who turned down the Sharks appeal for a late penalty try was the same bloke who refused to award a penalty try against the Sharks two years ago in Wellington, denying the Hurricanes victory.
I’ll be taking another long hard look at “penalty try” before I do the ReUnion programme this week, but my gut feel is that the Sharks, who were dealt a rough hand pretty much throughout, probably would have scored had Kurtley Beale not deliberately knocked the ball away. That to me, is a penalty try.
But before people get carried away completely and start banging on about conspiracies, consider the following.
I have already alluded to the incident involving Marks and the Sharks two years ago when a Hurricanes player was taken out in the in-goal while chasing a loose ball for a match winning try. That was as clear cut a penalty try as the incident in Sydney but the Sharks got away with it.
Last year at Eden Park referee Marius Jonker ignored calls from his assistant and allowed Johan Muller to tackle Joe Rokocoko from an offside position, denying the Blues a crucial try (the Sharks ended up winning 35-31), and a few weeks later Jonker allowed the Sharks to score a match-turning try against the Hurricanes after a quick throw was taken with the wrong ball.
I can even go back to the Sharks scoring a winning try against the Highlanders at Carisbrook when ref George Ayoub allowed the Sharks halfback to crawl over on his hands and knees for the winner, when he should have been penalised.
The point is that while it is wrong that these calls are made, it is swings and roundabouts, and all teams get the benefit of bad calls from time to time, and other times get burned.
