Action-packed weekend for SA teams – Vodacom Super Rugby Round 15 Preview
A full and exciting weekend of Vodacom Super Rugby lies ahead with all five South African franchises in action on Friday and Saturday.
The weekend kicks off with the Cell C Sharks taking on the Blues in Albany, where the team from KwaZulu-Natal will be looking to improve their superb winning run – the best ever by any South African team against overseas opposition – at North Harbour Stadium.
On Friday evening, Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria will host a repeat of last year’s semi-final between the Vodacom Bulls – thus far unbeaten at home – and the Brumbies, who will be looking to avenge their defeat last weekend in Bloemfontein.
On Saturday morning, the Lions will be looking to turn back the clock to 2007 when their Australasian tour concludes with a tricky encounter against the Force in Perth, before the DHL Stormers will be looking to build on their recent home success when host the Toyota Cheetahs in the only derby of the weekend at DHL Newlands in Cape Town.
Blues v Cell C Sharks
This week, the Cell C Sharks will go from their toughest to their favourite opponent from New Zealand when they travel to Albany to take on the Blues in their final Vodacom Super Rugby tour match on Friday morning.
Last weekend’s win over the Crusaders was their first ever in Christchurch, but on Friday, the Cell C Sharks will be looking for their sixth away victory over the Blues.
The KwaZulu-Natalians will also be looking to stretch an impressive winning run that goes back more than nine years, to 16 April 2005 when they last lost to the team from Auckland. Since then, the Cell C Sharks have won nine straight – the South African winning streak against any team from abroad – which includes three away victories, of which two at were at Eden Park and one in Albany.
The Cell C Sharks also seem to enjoy playing the Blues in and around Auckland, where they have won five out of seven – much better than their away record against the Chiefs (won three out of nine), Hurricanes (won three out of eight and one draw), Highlanders (won four out of eight) and the Crusaders (won one from 11).
The Blues have been up and down this year, but one thing is for sure – they know how to create tries out of nothing, which is something the Cell C Sharks have taken notice of.
“We are going to have to defend,” said Cell C Sharks Director of Rugby, Jake White.
“I don’t think they will kick as much as the Crusaders did – they’ll definitely try run it back at us and they’ve got some dangerous outside backs.
“But, in saying that, we need to make sure that the rest of our game is good enough as well, we can’t rely on defence only. We got away with it against the Crusaders but I don’t think you can defend like that week in and week out. We are going to have to create some pressure when we are attacking as well.”
The teams are:
Blues: Lolagi Visinia, Frank Halai, Pita Ahki, Ma’a Nonu, Tevita Li, Simon Hickey, Bryn Hall, Jerome Kaino, Luke Braid (captain), Peter Saili, Tom Donnelly, Patrick Tuipulotu, Charlie Faumuina, Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock. Replacements: James Parsons, Sam Prattley, Angus Ta’avao, Hayden Triggs, Steven Luatua, Jamison Gibson-Park, Ihaia West, Albert Nikoro.
Cell C Sharks: SP Marais, JP Pietersen, S’bura Sithole, Paul Jordaan, Lwazi Mvovo, Frans Steyn, Cobus Reinach, Willem Alberts, Jacques Botes, Tera Mtembu, Stephan Lewies, Etienne Oosthuizen, Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis (captain), Tendai Mtawarira. Replacements: Kyle Cooper, Dale Chadwick, Lourens Adriaanse, Ryan Kankowski, Keegan Daniel, Charl McLeod, Tim Swiel, Heimar Williams.
Blues v Cell C Sharks
Date: Friday, 23 May
SA Time: 09h35
Venue: North Harbour Stadium, Albany
Referee: Nick Briant (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Mike Fraser (New Zealand), Aki Aso (Japan)
Television match official: Aaron Peterson (New Zealand)
Vodacom Bulls v Brumbies
The Vodacom Bulls and Brumbies take on each other on Friday evening in a repeat of last year’s Vodacom Super Rugby semi-final when they clash at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Friday evening.
The Brumbies upset the odds last season to hand the Vodacom Bulls their first-ever home defeat in a playoff. On Friday, they travel to Loftus Versfeld where the team from Pretoria have not yet lost in 2014.
In fact, in the last two seasons, the Vodacom Bulls have won everything at home except for two matches – their semi-final defeat to the Brumbies last year and a draw to the Chiefs two months ago.
That win in the semi-final, was the Brumbies’ first since 2006 and only their fourth ever at Loftus Versfeld.
The Vodacom Bulls will want to avert losing a fifth home game to the team from Canberra on Friday, but they realise it will be tough despite the Brumbies’ defeat in Bloemfontein last weekend.
“We will need to be at our best in facing a Brumbies side that has played some great rugby this year,” said Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke.
“We have made slight changes for the match and rotated certain players and I believe we will be competitive come Friday.”
Vodacom Bulls captain Flip van der Merwe, who is back in the side, is looking forward to the match.
“It is important to start the match with a lot of energy and I believe everyone will do so,” said Van der Merwe. “We don’t look ahead in the competition, but know how important a win will be with regards to a possible play-off spot.”
The Brumbies have included three South Africans, props Ruan and JP Smith, as well Conrad Hoffman, on their bench.
The teams are:
Vodacom Bulls: Jurgen Visser, Akona Ndungane, JJ Engelbrecht, Jan Serfontein, Bjorn Basson, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Francois Hougaard, Grant Hattingh, Jacques du Plessis, Jono Ross, Victor Matfield, Flip van der Merwe (captain), Werner Kruger, Callie Visagie, Dean Greyling, Replacements: Bongi Mbonambi, Morné Mellett, Marcel van der Merwe, Paul Willemse, Jacques Engelbrecht, Piet van Zyk, Handré Pollard, Ulrich Beyers.
Brumbies: Jesse Mogg, Henry Speight, Tevita Kuridrani, Christian Lealiifano, Robbie Coleman, Matt Toomua, Nic White, Ben Mowen (captain), Jarrad Butler, Scott Fardy, Sam Carter, Leon Power, Ben Alexander, Stephen Moore, Scott Sio. Replacements: Josh Mann-Rea, Ruan Smith, JP Smith, Fotu Auelua, Jordan Smiler, Conrad Hoffman, Andrew Smith, Pat McCabe.
Vodacom Bulls v Brumbies
Date: Friday, 23 May
SA Time: 19h10
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Cobus Wessels (South Africa)
Television match official: Johan Greeff (South Africa)
Force v Lions
The Lions will be looking to turn back the clock to 2007 when they finish their Australasian Vodacom Super Rugby tour in Perth against the Force on Saturday.
It will also be the team from Johannesburg’s final chance to record their first win Down Under since 28 May 2011, when they beat the Highlanders by 26-22 in Dunedin.
Their last victory in Perth was in round four in 2007, when they snuck through by 25-24 thanks to a last-minute penalty by former Springbok flyhalf Andre Pretorius.
Only one player from that day will be in action again this weekend – Force captain Matt Hodgson. Two Lions players who played in that match are still around, but Franco van der Merwe is currently injured and Willie Wepener was not selected to play this week.
The Force have returned home from South Africa this week, where they beat the Toyota Cheetahs and lost to the DHL Stormers. They can stretch their winning run over the Lions to six on Saturday as they last lost to the Johannesburg-based team in 2007.
In 2009, the Force won comfortably at home against the Lions, but in 2012 they scored a late try to seal a 17-11 win at NIB Stadium.
The teams are:
Force: Jayden Hayward, Dane Haylett-Petty, Chris Tuatara-Morrison, Luke Burton, Nick Cummins, Sias Ebersohn, Ian Prior, Ben McCalman, Matt Hodgson (captain), Angus Cottrell, Wilhelm Steenkamp, Sam Wykes, Kieran Longbottom, Nathan Charles, Pek Cowan. Replacements: Heath Tessmann, Tetera Faulkner, Ollie Hoskins, Adam Coleman, Brynard Stander, Justin Turner, Zack Holmes, Patrick Dellit.
Lions: Coenie van Wyk, JW Jonker, Deon van Rensburg, Alwyn Hollenbach, Anthony Volmink, Marnitz Boshoff, Ross Cronje, Warren Whiteley (captain), Warwick Tecklenburg, Jaco Kriel, Franco Mostert, Rudi Mathee, Ruan Dreyer, Armand van der Merwe, Corne Fourie. Replacements: Robbie Coetzee, Jacques van Rooyen, Julian Redelinghuys, Willie Britz, Stephan de Wit, Faf de Klerk, Elton Jantjies, Stefan Watermeyer.
Force v Lions
Date: Saturday, 24 May
SA Time: 11h40
Venue: NIB Stadium, Perth
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: James Leckie (Australia), Ian Smith (Australia)
Television match official: Peter Marshall (Australia)
DHL Stormers v Toyota Cheetahs
The DHL Stormers will be looking to continue their recent good form in Cape Town when they host the Toyota Cheetahs at DHL Newlands on Saturday afternoon.
Neither side will have forgotten their derby match in Bloemfontein a month ago, when the Toyota Cheetahs won comfortably, scoring five tries to three – their best ever try-scoring return against the Capetonians.
Since that defeat though, the DHL Stormers have stepped up a gear and have beaten the Highlanders and Force at DHL Newlands, a venue where the franchise from Central South Africa have not won since 2006.
That Toyota Cheetahs victory eight years ago in Cape Town was by 31-25, when the home team lost despite outscoring their visitors by three tries to one.
Looking ahead to the weekend, DHL Stormers coach coach Allister Coetzee said: “We learned a few lessons from our defeat last time out. On that occasion we gave the Cheetahs too much space when they ran the ball.
“We allowed them to get into that space, which you cannot do against them as they have players like Willie le Roux who will punish you. We must close up that space better than we did in Bloemfontein.”
The teams are:
DHL Stormers: Jaco Taute, Damian de Allende, Juan de Jongh, Jean de Villiers (captain), Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt Coleman, Nic Groom, Duane Vermeulen, Schalk Burger, Nizaam Carr, Ruan Botha, Michael Rhodes, Pat Cilliers, Deon Fourie, Alistair Vermaak. Replacements: Stephan Coetzee, Oli Kebble, Brok Harris, Jean Kleyn, Siya Kolisi, Dylon Frylinck, Peter Grant, Kobus van Wyk.
Toyota Cheetahs: Hennie Daniller, Cornal Hendricks, Johann Sadie, Ryno Benjamin, Willie le Roux, Johan Goosen, Shaun Venter, Boom Prinsloo, Teboho Mohoje, Heinrich Brussow, Francois Uys, Boela Serfontein, Coenie Oosthuizen, Adriaan Strauss (captain), Caylib Oosthuizen. Replacements: Torsten van Jaarsveld, Trevor Nyakane, Maks van Dyk, Hilton Lobberts, Carel Greeff, Tian Meyer, Elgar Watts, Riaan Smit.
DHL Stormers v Toyota Cheetahs
Date: Saturday, 24 May
SA Time: 17h05
Venue: DHL Newlands, Cape Town
Referee: Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa), Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
Television match official: Deon van Blommestein (South Africa)
Other fixtures (South African kick-off times):
Friday, 23 May:
11h40: Rebels v Waratahs – Melbourne
Saturday, 24 May:
07h35: Highlanders v Crusaders – Dunedin
09h35: Hurricanes v Chiefs – Wellington
Bye: Reds
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