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Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Cape Town – It’s not every day that favours are handed out by either party when you are dealing with the matter of the great “north versus south” rivalry in South African rugby.
Yet from their present base in foreign climes the Stormers, still basking in their Houdini act against the Blues, will have been quietly pleased that arch-enemies the Bulls on Saturday helped them only reinforce their grip on the South African conference in Super Rugby.
Victor Matfield’s defending champions continued their 2011 claw-back with an entirely deserved 32-23 triumph over the Sharks in Durban, keeping their own quest to somehow sneak into the finals series alive and simultaneously badly dent the home team’s hopes of hauling in the Stormers at the top of the domestic table.
Let’s consider that ahead of this weekend many wise, neutral judges would have suspected that now was the time for the second-placed Sharks – they have retained that status for the moment, although it is more tenuous -- to leapfrog the Capetonians into pole position.
They would have had some justification, after all, for expecting the Blues to knock over the slightly out-of-sorts Stormers in Auckland and the Sharks, at home, to just about do enough to see off the Bulls.
Instead results went exactly the other way, so it is Allister Coetzee’s rejuvenated charges who had extra reason to whoop it up as they contemplate their next assignment in Canberra against the struggling Brumbies.
The Stormers now sport 48 points, a full five clear of the Sharks who have also lost twice more than they have, whilst the never-say-die Bulls have advanced to 40 and within breathing distance of second spot – fuelled also by the knowledge that on the last day of the ordinary season they play the Sharks once more at their Loftus stronghold.
What is proving extremely costly for the Sharks, who are showing too many signs of a split personality this season, is their abject record in derbies against the other “big two” in South Africa: their points haul out of a possible 15 in three such affairs thus far (two against the Stormers) reads a fat zero.
Further to their chagrin, they narrowly missed out on an opportunity to at least finally bank a losing bonus point on Saturday, when Pat Lambie’s brave, long-range penalty attempt took a coat of paint off the left upright but stayed out in stoppage time.
Yet the Bulls bagging four precious log points without reply was probably a fitting state of affairs at Mr Price Kings Park, as they showed greater urgency and commitment on the day.
There was far more of a “blanket” feel about the way their pack clattered into the physical exchanges, with a few of their veterans taking a timely opportunity to remind everyone of their pedigree, and the Sharks suffered greatly from a never-ending stream of unusual handling errors in contact.
Here some of the players who have served them so admirably throughout the campaign thus far, like Willem Alberts and Bismarck du Plessis, had inexplicably bad days at the office ... and when their “enforcers” are not firing then a certain vulnerability appears to run right through the Sharks’ ranks.
Long-time bugbears like their uncertain lineout and porous nature of their midfield also returned to haunt them, although they did appear to rectify many of their shortcomings in a better second half, after the proverbial horse had bolted.
There were no persistent swarms of bees to delay proceedings between these adversaries on this occasion, but if there was just one at the venue then it rested in the Bulls’ collective bonnet – their focus and steely intent was admirable and backline men like Morne Steyn, Wynand Olivier and Gerhard van den Heever (a notably successful convert to the fullback berth for this fixture) matched their no-nonsense forwards for relish.
Plenty of permutations remain possible as each of the South African trio of realistic challengers contemplate four remaining games, but the Stormers will be very hard to eclipse, you would think, if they manage wins in each of their last two overseas games in Australia (and both do look well winnable).
Nevertheless, the wonderfully born-again Cheetahs, who had another thumping win on Saturday against the Rebels, could have a big say in the final outcome of the SA conference as they have lingering outings against all of the superpowers – two of them in Bloemfontein.
The Bulls may still lie the least favourably placed of the three, but have only one of their remaining quartet of matches away from Pretoria.
Twists and turns? Expect a few yet ...
Remaining fixtures for Stormers, Sharks and Bulls:
Stormers (48 points): Brumbies (a), Rebels (a), Bulls (h), Cheetahs (a)
Sharks (43 points): Waratahs (h), Cheetahs (a), Lions (a), Bulls (a)
Bulls (40 points): Cheetahs (h), Waratahs (h), Stormers (a), Sharks (h)
Cape Town – It’s not every day that favours are handed out by either party when you are dealing with the matter of the great “north versus south” rivalry in South African rugby.
Yet from their present base in foreign climes the Stormers, still basking in their Houdini act against the Blues, will have been quietly pleased that arch-enemies the Bulls on Saturday helped them only reinforce their grip on the South African conference in Super Rugby.
Victor Matfield’s defending champions continued their 2011 claw-back with an entirely deserved 32-23 triumph over the Sharks in Durban, keeping their own quest to somehow sneak into the finals series alive and simultaneously badly dent the home team’s hopes of hauling in the Stormers at the top of the domestic table.
Let’s consider that ahead of this weekend many wise, neutral judges would have suspected that now was the time for the second-placed Sharks – they have retained that status for the moment, although it is more tenuous -- to leapfrog the Capetonians into pole position.
They would have had some justification, after all, for expecting the Blues to knock over the slightly out-of-sorts Stormers in Auckland and the Sharks, at home, to just about do enough to see off the Bulls.
Instead results went exactly the other way, so it is Allister Coetzee’s rejuvenated charges who had extra reason to whoop it up as they contemplate their next assignment in Canberra against the struggling Brumbies.
The Stormers now sport 48 points, a full five clear of the Sharks who have also lost twice more than they have, whilst the never-say-die Bulls have advanced to 40 and within breathing distance of second spot – fuelled also by the knowledge that on the last day of the ordinary season they play the Sharks once more at their Loftus stronghold.
What is proving extremely costly for the Sharks, who are showing too many signs of a split personality this season, is their abject record in derbies against the other “big two” in South Africa: their points haul out of a possible 15 in three such affairs thus far (two against the Stormers) reads a fat zero.
Further to their chagrin, they narrowly missed out on an opportunity to at least finally bank a losing bonus point on Saturday, when Pat Lambie’s brave, long-range penalty attempt took a coat of paint off the left upright but stayed out in stoppage time.
Yet the Bulls bagging four precious log points without reply was probably a fitting state of affairs at Mr Price Kings Park, as they showed greater urgency and commitment on the day.
There was far more of a “blanket” feel about the way their pack clattered into the physical exchanges, with a few of their veterans taking a timely opportunity to remind everyone of their pedigree, and the Sharks suffered greatly from a never-ending stream of unusual handling errors in contact.
Here some of the players who have served them so admirably throughout the campaign thus far, like Willem Alberts and Bismarck du Plessis, had inexplicably bad days at the office ... and when their “enforcers” are not firing then a certain vulnerability appears to run right through the Sharks’ ranks.
Long-time bugbears like their uncertain lineout and porous nature of their midfield also returned to haunt them, although they did appear to rectify many of their shortcomings in a better second half, after the proverbial horse had bolted.
There were no persistent swarms of bees to delay proceedings between these adversaries on this occasion, but if there was just one at the venue then it rested in the Bulls’ collective bonnet – their focus and steely intent was admirable and backline men like Morne Steyn, Wynand Olivier and Gerhard van den Heever (a notably successful convert to the fullback berth for this fixture) matched their no-nonsense forwards for relish.
Plenty of permutations remain possible as each of the South African trio of realistic challengers contemplate four remaining games, but the Stormers will be very hard to eclipse, you would think, if they manage wins in each of their last two overseas games in Australia (and both do look well winnable).
Nevertheless, the wonderfully born-again Cheetahs, who had another thumping win on Saturday against the Rebels, could have a big say in the final outcome of the SA conference as they have lingering outings against all of the superpowers – two of them in Bloemfontein.
The Bulls may still lie the least favourably placed of the three, but have only one of their remaining quartet of matches away from Pretoria.
Twists and turns? Expect a few yet ...
Remaining fixtures for Stormers, Sharks and Bulls:
Stormers (48 points): Brumbies (a), Rebels (a), Bulls (h), Cheetahs (a)
Sharks (43 points): Waratahs (h), Cheetahs (a), Lions (a), Bulls (a)
Bulls (40 points): Cheetahs (h), Waratahs (h), Stormers (a), Sharks (h)
