Bulls and Sharks, Quench Thirst for Rugby
And there it was, the return of rugby, with the Vodacom Bulls taking on the Cell C Sharks at Loftus Versfeld. In an ideal world, this game would have pulled a huge crowd as it is one of the premium South African derbies, and one would be expecting “Marching to Pretoria” to be ringing on the stands but that wasn’t the case; because in this new world, in our country fans are not allowed in the stadiums due to government directions, as means to control the spread of the coronavirus.
Before the match started, South African Rugby delivered a message of diversity and inclusion, and position against racism in all shapes of forms. The Sharks also wore pre match shirts that showed the teams unity against racism.
SA RUGBY DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION CREDO
We acknowledge the painful inequalities of our country’s past – and its present – and that they must be eradicated.
We must maintain and continuously improve an environment that is fair and respectful, where people from different backgrounds feel accepted and valued’
Then the first half began with, the teams as expected after 1000 days without were still trying to find themselves, in the first five minutes, there may have been some who forgot how to do the basics, and tackle; Jeremy Ward was one of those who forgot the basic, he lunged into Cornal Hendricks with a high tackle to earn himself a yellow card. From that penalty, Morne Steyn kicked for the line, and from the resulting lineout they the home side mauled powerfully, with Schalk Erasmus dotting over the white line, for the games first try.
The Bulls five minutes later they got their second, Stedman Gans latched on a Morne Steyn sky kick and stepping his way to get second five pointer.
The Sharks were a shadow of who they were before rugby was paused, trying to find themselves in Pretoria. They did push for a try when they steeped into Bulls territory but they couldn’t break through the impressive defence from Bulls, instead the Bulls won the ball and quickly shifted it to Kurt-Lee Arendse who ran from his own half to score his first try of the day, in doing so he made professional rugby players look like Sunday league players. The Bulls backline, who their head coach Jake White said they fly, they indeed were flying.
20 minutes in, the Sharks were still locked in their shark tank, they showed flashes of the rugby that saw many tipping them to win the Super Rugby title.
The Bulls forward pack was not to be outdone, they won a scrum and were so jubilant, showing great team camaraderie.
A water break was called by referee Rasta Rasivhenge, this is probably going to be a regular feature during the rest of the summer rugby season.
In his pre match press conference, Jake White mentioned that he wanted to see combinations especially from his backs, and they did just that. Combining beautifully for the teams next two tries scored by Kurt-Lee Arendse, his second and Travis Ismaiel. Morne Steyn was kicking like it was 2009, successfully converting all his kicks.
The away side, were being tactically and physically outplayed, but going into the stroke of halftime they had majority of the possession and made it count with a Grant Williams try.
The score at halftime was 35 -7 to the Bulls.
The second saw a host of changes from both sides, that actually served as a reminder that this is an exhibition match. The quality of play dropped; it was schoolboy rugby level times. The half did live up to the exhibition billing, as it saw a total of five tries, David Kriel got two for the Bulls while Marius Louw, Dan Jooste and Jaden Hendricks dotted for the Sharks.
The Bulls went out 49-28 victors.
Did the match serve its purpose, yes? It showed Jake White and Sean Everitt what their teams have to offer and areas of improvement. It also quenched the thirst for rugby.
Bulls:
Try: Schalk Erasmus, Stedman Gans, Kurt- Lee Arendse (2), Travis Ismaiel, David Kriel (2)
Con: Morne Steyn (5) Chris Smith (2)
Pen:
Sharks: Team
Try: Grant Williams, Marius Louw, Dan Jooste, Jaden Hendricks
Con: Bosch (2) Jordan Chait (2)
Pen:
