It was a disappointing outcome for the Cell C Sharks in our narrow, last gasp Vodacom Super Rugby defeat on Saturday in a match where all the statistics pointed to a home team win.
The Cell C Sharks managed to earn as much as 65% territorial advantage, nearly two thirds of the match was played in the Vodacom Bulls’ half, and we followed that up with 58% possession to their 42%
This is a telling statistic as far as domination of your opposition goes, but it’s what you do with that advantage that counts, and this was where head coach Robert du Preez expressed his frustrations after the match.
“I thought our possession and territory stats were outstanding, we created a whole bunch of opportunities but at crucial times just made individual errors and that’s what cost us,” he said.
“We know these games, especially these derbies, are always going to be tight and in the end, it could really have gone either way.”
In analysing the game, he explained that, “Our discipline let us down and we should have survived the last scrum of the game, so, at crucial times, we made mistakes and the Bulls capitalised.
“We were dominant, our possession and territory stats were outstanding and when we put the phases together, I thought the guys really looked good.”
There was great disappointment for the Cell C Sharks when a clearing kick and chase was deemed to have been in touch on the bounce and a resultant try from Dan du Preez was withdrawn on TMO referral.
Had the score stood, we would have pulled ahead and quite possibly built up enough of a head of steam to put the game out of contention by building on that momentum.
“I thought we started well and started the second half well; we did everything to win the game, but win the game,” he admitted.
While there is no need to panic, after six rounds there will be a view to start rotating players, based on workload as well as Springbok World Cup planning.
“We’ll be making rotational changes as we go forward, we’ll look on the game and make a call on the team to travel to Johannesburg,” du Preez advised.
The Cell C Sharks take on the Emirates Lions in Joburg on Friday evening, kick-off is 7.10pm. The Lions top the South African Conference, but the log is tight, with just two points separating the Lions from the third-placed Cell C Sharks.
The post Everything but Win appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
The Vodacom Bulls scored a match-winning penalty moments before the end of a tight and tense Vodacom Super Rugby second round clash as they ran out narrow 19-16 victors at Jonsson KINGS PARK on Saturday afternoon.
They struck first blood with a 40m penalty from flyhalf Handré Pollard in the opening couple of minutes, but from the resultant kick-off, we got possession of the ball quickly and Beast Mtawarira, playing in his record-equalling 156th Vodacom Super Rugby game, smashed through two players, earning a penalty which Robert du Preez sent through the uprights to level matters.
It was a match that would see-saw throughout, with the visitors making the most of their opportunities, scoring when they had a sniff of the ball, which was rare in this pulsating match. Despite being under pressure for most of the game, the somehow conjured a win out of meagre scraps.
The next 15 minutes were spent in the Bulls half and although they conceded a litany of penalties in their efforts to avoid conceding further points, managed to hold out against a ferocious attacking effort.
When they eventually managed to get out of their half, they quickly made it count, a second Pollard penalty restoring their lead in what was proving to be a tighter match. Coach Robert du Preez had predicted a game of Test match intensity and it was turning into a real arm—wrestle.
It has to be said that the Cell C Sharks enjoyed the major share of possession and territory, and all the tackling was taking a toll on the visitors’ energy levels. In saying that and to their credit, they stood firm on defence, under the pumps as they were for much of the first half.
When half-time was blown, the Cell C Sharks were again on attack and had worked our way deep inside the visitors’ half, but frustrations continued as we were unable to capitalise on the momentum and it was the men from Pretoria who had the lead, 6-3.
All first half promise materialised as the second half started, the Bulls losing possession from the kick-off and immediately under pressure, found themselves conceding the opening try of the game, Daniel du Preez rounding off a well-engineered effort just 27 seconds into the half to put us in front for the first time in the game. And deservedly so.
For the next 10 minutes we again had them under pressure on defence before conceding a scrum and from first phase ball, the visitors broken the first line of defence in the middle of the field to score their first try. With the successful conversion under the posts, they retook the lead.
With an hour’s play looming, we were hammering away at their line before a scuffle between Akker van der Merwe and Schalk Brits broke out. The TMO was called to intervene and both players were red carded. However, penalty advantage had accrued and despite the visitors under pressure, they escaped further punishment from a quick tap that didn’t pay dividends.
But the visitors continued to leak penalties and du Preez opted for the posts this time, slotting the three points to make it a two point game at 13-11 with the final quarter remaining.
Pollard cancelled the penalty out with one of his own to give his team a five point lead following a collapsed maul from a lineout penalty, but birthday boy Andre Esterhuizen, strong all game, finally managed to close out a sustained effort to score out second try to even matters in the final 10 minutes of the game at 16-all.
With two minutes left on the clock, the visitors were handed the win with a scrum penalty on our put-in and Pollard made no mistake from 20 metres out and right in front.
A 19-16 victory for the visitors must be seen as an upset given the surfeit of possession and territory the Cell C Sharks had enjoyed, but all credit to the victors for managing the Herculean task.
The post Bulls Wrap up Late Victory appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
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