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• Blue Bulls charge into final
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• Currie Cup’s fitting final

Morris Gilbert

Pretoria – Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has conceded that his team will have to improve on Saturday’s performance against the Cheetahs to beat the Sharks in the Currie Cup final on October 25.

Outstanding defence enabled the Bulls to eliminate the defending champions but their 31-19 semifinal victory at Loftus Versfeld was not faultless.

Victor Matfield’s side will also have to eliminate some of their shortcomings to win in Durban.

In bringing the three-year reign of the Cheetahs to an end, the Bulls qualified for their first final since 2006. Now they have two weeks to iron out mistakes.

Hawies Fourie, who coaches the Cheetahs’ backline, agreed on Saturday night that the Bulls had won, as they had done in their league-phase match in Bloemfontein, as a result of their strong defence. 

Fourie said the Free State side had had enough try-scoring opportunities to put the Bulls under pressure, especially in the first 15 minutes when they were setting the pace.

However, they were denied time and again by the home team’s defence. 

Fourie added that the Cheetahs had not been accurate in executing their game plan and that their tactical kicking had not been on par.

Impressed with strong runs

Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske said his team had lost the match when John Mametsa scored a try for the Bulls five minutes before halftime.

“In the context of the match, those points made the difference because in any playoff, especially against the Bulls, it is hard to erase a deficit,” Drotske said.

The Bulls blew hot and cold. When it mattered most, they did enough to keep the champions at bay but some of the most senior players were guilty of basic errors.

Loose-head prop Gurthro Steenkamp impressed with some strong runs and good tackling for the Bulls and Victor Matfield was another star, again doing sterling work on defence.

Scrumhalf Fourie du Preez played intelligently but the star of the match was centre Wynand Olivier, who was back to his best Springbok form.

Cheetahs captain Juan Smith led by example but it was not enough to take them to a fourth consecutive final.