It’s the final game in Round 1 of Super Rugby 2016 and we head to Newlands for the big North-South derby.
Both teams have new coaches and wholesale personnel changes to contend with. The bulls are talking of a new era under Nollis Marais, but with few established stars left in their pack, they’ll have a battle containing the Bok-laden Stormers front 8.
Kick-off in Cape Town is at 17h05.
Bulls: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Nic de Jager, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Trevor Nyakane
Bench: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Roelof Smit, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Burger Odendaal
Stormers: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Juan de Jongh (c), 11 Dillyn Leyds, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Oli Kebble
Bench: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 JC Janse van Rensburg, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Nic Groom, 22 Kurt Coleman, 23 Leolin Zas
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A win for the Stormers here and I will have predicted all 9 winners on the bru! I am awesome.
Who am I supporting again?
It all seems a little too easy… perhaps the Bulls are going to upset here.
Any bets on how many games that blond kid will manage this season?
Both teams starting at 1000th.
Sure a heck of a lot easier to play when there’s a crowd in the stands….atmosphere makes a huge difference.
@Bokhoring (Comment 5) : 100 mph.
Seeing that blonde kid in the Stormers jersey caused me physical pain. Granted with our luck he’ll probably play the whole season…
Oooh….THAT blonde kid….ja ons sê maar niks
@Kiss_the_Gold (Comment 1) : Impressive…
What’s up with the gold sequence on the bulls jerseys.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 9) : The one who thinks he’s a flyhalf or the one who nearly played two games in a row for us? 🙂
@vanmartin (Comment 12) : I suppose the one who played all of 1.35 games for us. With him and his medical bill out of our lives, we freed up enough money to buy 2 new coaches + Willie and Coennie. 🙂
@FireTheLooser (Comment 13) : I’m sure that we picked up the two Cheetahs for a bargain though. Those Hilux’s don’t fill up themselves. 🙂
@vanmartin (Comment 12) : Teletubby does seem to be the Bulls go to man. Where our 9 now always looks where Willie is, Page looks out for Strauss.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 13) :pieter-steph du toit did produce a man of the match performance to help the sharks win cc final in 2013.
Monster scrum by the bulls
Some big hits in this game.
@50shadesofshark (Comment 16) : Was the juice worth the squeeze? I don’t think so.
This Vodacom half time ad with Pollard is way to cheesy for a rugby audience.
@Bokhoring (Comment 20) : Clearly vodacom throwing Pollard a bone….but yeah, that ad….mystifying.
Awful game so far.
@robdylan (Comment 22) : With respect I know we played against the King’s, but the Sharks back line looking a lot more fluent than either of these teams.
Save for a few players, this is probably the worst bulls team on paper in a long time.
I’m worried about the games against the Ozzie’s and kiwis…. SA rugby looks decidedly weak.
Stormers 19 – 9 Bulls
53 minutes.
@robdylan (Comment 22) : yes I changed channels to watch some tennis as I don’t really care who wins the game and really not as entertaining as the Sharks game!!!
@FireTheLooser (Comment 24) : we only have enough depth (that willing to remain in SA) to sustain 4 teams of good ability. Fark knows why they wanted to add a 6th. It will breed a culture of losing and being used to being pummeled by the Kiwis and Ozzies.
How did Beast go as captain today?
Stormers 26 – 9 Bulls
73 minutes.
Some nice glitter on the Bulls jersey. 🙄
Stormers maul is really scary. Bonus point.
Stormers 33 – 9 Bulls
78 minutes.
That was an excellent maul.
@Bokhoring (Comment 31) : BP not secured yet.
FULL TIME
STORMERS 33 – 9 BULLS
Stormers get a bonus point.
@Ben (Comment 34) : This Bulls team could not catch a cold. Tight five replacements not at Super rugby level.
Robert du Preez is the man of the match.
Du Preez brothers man of the match in consecutive matches
Cue every rugby scribe now favouring the Stormers to win Super Rugby.
@vanmartin (Comment 40) : Stormers will probably be the top team in the SA conference thingy due to not having to play the Kiwis, but they will fade in the quarters / semis as usual.
@vanmartin (Comment 40) : every *South African scribe
The international press are not giving any SA team a hope in hell.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 19) : was it worth the champagne flowing after the cc ’13 final?
@Kiss_the_Gold (Comment 42) : Agreed, what I meant but should have actually stated it.
@50shadesofshark (Comment 43) : Did we win that final because of PSdT….I highly doubt that….Sharks spent far more money on him than he ever gave back to the Sharks.
All that money would have been better spent developing 3 other 5 locks.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 45) : Let’s move on and rather discuss the fact that we got schooled by a Astle quite a few times. Mercifully he’s only on loan.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 45) : i dont begrudge psdt the success he had at the sharks or that he became a bok whilst playing for the provincial team i support.neither any success he will have as a player in the future.being petty and vindictive is not something we as sharks fans should be.
@50shadesofshark (Comment 47) : He can go on to have all the success in the world, because he is a good player – but his integrity in my book will forever be stained.
@Kiss_the_Gold (Comment 27) : I know why they wanted to add a 6th…I don’t think it was sensible…but I know why it was done… 😆
@Kiss_the_Gold (Comment 28) : OK, I guess…I still think it should be Marcell…he was just much more visible in our pre-season game than Beast was today…
@vanmartin (Comment 40) : Hmm…but the Bulls were swak, hey. Impressive as the Stormers were in parts, if I lok at they draw they will cruise into the knockouts and we probably still won’t know how good they actually are..m
@FireTheLooser (Comment 21) : Comedy central…just a swak ad all around…
@pastorshark (Comment 52) : I have a friend in marketing who said today that the marketing company that made that ad got a lot of money…but asked: what the hell for?
@FireTheLooser (Comment 45) : Hindsight is the perfect science. I think the Sharks deserve a lot of credit for identifying a gem that no one else had really spotted up to that point…
@Kiss_the_Gold (Comment 28) : @pastorshark (Comment 50) : nothing spectacular but he did OK. Think he made the right calls as to when they kicked for poles and when they kicked for touch. Think true test will be this coming weekend against Argues.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 45) :
Rugby is a dangerous sport and the social contract for a long time has been that an injured player is as deserving of his salary as any other. PSdT did not owe the Sharks anything, because of his injury. I know what he said. It may have felt good to say it at the time, but it was a stupid commitment by a naive youngster. Expecting him to feel bound by it is unfair, vindictive and small minded.
@fyndraai (Comment 56) : Most of us on here were worried that he’d be going to the streamers….then the Greenway story broke and we believed that PSdT’s integrity spoke for itself and he’s never be that sincere without meaning a single word he said.
He decided to sell his integrity for the better deal. Brilliant player he is, but he’ s a brilliant player that lacks the integrity.
@fyndraai (Comment 56) : I don’t care where he plays or how he left and as I stated last year I wish him nothing but success. I’m excited about what he can bring to the Boks too. But, that in no way encroaches on my right, nay duty, to make fun of the Stormers and their players.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 57) :
I know.
There was that thread after his injury, with all the “we love you Pieter-Steph” messages and then there was the interview where he said he loved you back and then…………
Your feelings are shared by betrayed lovers everywhere. But ask yourself, did you really love Pieter-Steph the person or did you only love how he made you feel when he did those magic things in a Sharks jersey?
I say be more generous and think of this:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, ……………., it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil……….. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
😉
@vanmartin (Comment 58) : hahaha well said my man well said indeed!!!
@vanmartin (Comment 58) :
I’m with you. I think PSdT is a special case though. The Love was just so general and so heartfelt that I feel somewhat of a duty too….. 🙂
@fyndraai (Comment 59) : I can can continue to love him, it’s trusting his integrity that’s the problem.
@fyndraai (Comment 61) : No one is safe once they don the hoops. God forbid Pat or Marcell winds up in one of those courier jerseys, I’d have to lay into them too regardless of my unending admiration.
I don’t make the rules on this fyndraai but I’m not some savage that disregards tradition and protocol simply because I love a guy.
Between Etzebeth, PSDT and Lood the Boks have three locks that can in any combination can be up there with the Matfield / Bakkies partnership. In my case is purely sour grapes when I see PSDT in a Stormers jersey, mais c’est la vie. When he puts on the Bok jersey I will behind him as much as any other Bok.
@vanmartin (Comment 12) : Thats as many games as there are forks in his tongue. 😈
Btw, how did he play? the bit I saw was so so.
@Bokhoring (Comment 64) : Hahaha PSDT is custom fit for the blue and white hoops!
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 65) : There’s definite evidence of rust there but he got stuck in, especially at the rucks. Eben seemed to take a lot of the lineout throw-ins so I suspect PSdT is being eased in. As Bokhoring has already pointed out, between him, Eben and Lood, it’s might be looking good for the Boks if they all stay fit. Let’s see how Lewies goes once he’s back and we might actually have some real depth there.