Vodacom Bulls secure South African Conference – Vodacom Super Rugby Round 18 Review

Jun 30 • General News, Super Rugby, Super Rugby News • 2621 Views • Comments Off on Vodacom Bulls secure South African Conference – Vodacom Super Rugby Round 18 Review

The Vodacom Bulls secured first place in the South African Conference and booked their place in the Vodacom Super Rugby Finals Series with an emphatic win over the Southern Kings at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.

 

At the same time, The Sharks and the DHL Stormers kept alive their slim mathematical chances of reaching the playoffs when they beat the Blues and the Toyota Cheetahs respectively.

 

The Sharks needed a try at the death by Riaan Viljoen (fullback) to beat the Blues for the ninth consecutive time, by 22-20 on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Durban.

 

The Vodacom Bulls outscored the Southern Kings by six tries to two for their eighth successive victory for the season as they beat the visitors by 48-18.

 

And in the final match of the weekend, the DHL Stormers capitalised on an error-strewn performance by the Toyota Cheetahs to win by 28-3 at DHL Newlands in Cape Town.

 

Note: By clicking on the various headings, you will be able to access the breakdown for that specific match on www.sarugby.co.za, where team line-ups, replacements and run of play can be found.

 

The Sharks 22 (17) Blues 20 (5)

 

The Sharks extended their Vodacom Super Rugby winning streak over the Blues to nine matches dating back almost a decade when Riaan Viljoen scored the winning try with the final move of the match to secure the Durbanites a 22-20 win at Growthpoint Kings Park on Saturday evening.

 

After 40 minutes The Sharks looked to be cruising to victory as they lead the team from Auckland by 17-5, thanks to first-half tries by Marcell Coetzee and Charl McLeod, but they went into a lull in the second half and allowed the Blues to fight back.

 

Frank Halai and Rene Ranger scored in the first 10 minutes after the break to draw level and when Baden Kerr added a penalty goal on the hour, the visitors took the lead for the first time in the match.

 

With 10 minutes to go Pat Lambie missed his fourth penalty attempt which would’ve seen The Sharks draw level and it seemed like the Blues were going to win their first match in Durban since 2004, but Viljoen was not done yet.

 

The Sharks’ well-deserved win was set up by a solid performance by their pack, with Springbok prop Tendai Mtawarira walking away with the man of the match award.

 

Both teams were guilty of making too many unforced errors, but that will not bother fans of the embattled Durbanites, who in the end deserved this win after a tough few weeks off the field. Sharks wing Lwazi Mvovo could thus celebrate his 50th match at this level with a few sips of champagne.

 

Scorers:

 

The Sharks – Tries: Marcell Coetzee, Charl McLeod, Riaan Viljoen. Conversions: Pat Lambie (2).

 

Blues – Tries: Frank Halai (2), Rene Ranger. Conversion: Chris Noakes. Penalty goal: Baden Kerr.

 

Vodacom Bulls 48 (31) Southern Kings 18 (13)

 

The Vodacom Bulls will be crowned South African Conference champions in a fortnight’s time and will contest their seventh Vodacom Super Rugby playoff match in nine years when they comfortably beat the Southern Kings by 48-18 in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon.

 

At the same time, Vodacom Bulls flyhalf Morné Steyn became the first player to reach 200 season points when he contributed 16 of the home team’s points as they moved up to second position on the combined log.

 

The Vodacom Bulls scored six tries – four of them in the first half – to the two by the Kings, both by flanker Wimpie van der Walt. It was a burst of three tries in five minutes towards the end of the opening 40 minutes which ultimately broke the visitors.

 

At 31-13 at half-time, the game was basically in the bag for the home team, who set up the victory on the back of a very solid set piece and some enterprising play at the back, especially when they got into the Kings’ half of the field.

 

The Kings deserve credit though – they never gave up and managed to disrupt the Vodacom Bulls at certain times of the match, but they did make a few crucial mistakes on defence. As it stands, the home team won easily, although the performance was far from perfect.

 

Scorers:

 

Vodacom Bulls – Tries: Louis Fouché, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Jan Serfontein, Francois Hougaard, Jacques Potgieter, Deon Stegmann. Conversions: Fouché, Morné Steyn (5). Penalty goals: Steyn (2).

 

Southern Kings – Tries: Wimpie van der Walt (2). Conversion: Demetri Catrakilis. Penalty goals: Catrakilis (2).

 

DHL Stormers 28 (10) Toyota Cheetahs 3 (3)

 

The DHL Stormers dealt the Toyota Cheetahs’ hopes of reaching the Vodacom Super Rugby playoffs a huge blow as they won this local derby by 28-3 at DHL Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday evening.

 

The home team kept things simple and took the points when they were on offer, while their defence again held firm against a Toyota Cheetahs attack that was not as sharp as earlier in the season.

 

It was especially in the first half where the Toyota Cheetahs’ spirits were crushed by rock-solid DHL Stormers defence. The visitors enjoyed a lot of territorial advantage, but simply could not breach the Capetonians’ defensive wall.

 

Conversely, the home team took their chances when they had to, with three well-worked tries – two of them after the break – the big difference between the two sides.

 

Deon Fourie crashed over from a maul in the first half, Siya Kolisi, who was named man of the match, ran a great line to round off a good attacking move and Bryan Habana went over in the left hand corner for the home team.

 

The Toyota Cheetahs, whose Sarel Pretorius played his 50th Vodacom Super Rugby match, could only show one penalty goal, by Riaan Smit, for their efforts as they left Cape Town empty handed, but still in the top six on the overall log with the playoffs a couple of weeks away.

 

Scorers:

 

DHL Stormers – Tries: Deon Fourie, Siya Kolisi, Bryan Habana. Conversions: Joe Pietersen (2). Penalty goals: Pietersen (3).

 

Toyota Cheetahs – Penalty goal: Riaan Smit.

 

Other results – Round 18:

 

Chiefs 34 Hurricanes 22 (Hamilton)

Highlanders 12 Crusaders 40 (Dunedin)

 

Vodacom Super Rugby Logs – after Round 18:

 

Combined Log

Pos

Team

P

W

D

L

PF

PA

PD

TF

TA

Bye

BPts

Pts

1

Chiefs (NZ leader)

14

11

0

3

417

305

112

44

32

2

9

61

2

Vodacom Bulls (SA leader)

14

11

0

3

415

281

134

38

29

2

7

59

3

Brumbies (Aus leader)

15

10

2

3

415

274

141

41

28

2

7

59

4

Reds (wild card)

15

9

2

4

307

284

23

30

21

2

6

54

5

Crusaders (wild card)

14

9

0

5

378

275

103

36

26

2

7

51

6

Toyota Cheetahs (wild card)

15

9

0

6

348

345

3

35

31

1

6

46

7

Waratahs

15

8

0

7

399

357

42

43

33

2

4

44

8

Blues

14

6

0

8

318

304

14

38

29

2

12

44

9

The Sharks

14

7

0

7

307

272

35

28

27

2

6

42

10

DHL Stormers

14

7

0

7

292

267

25

25

17

2

6

42

11

Hurricanes

14

6

0

8

325

383

-58

33

40

2

7

39

12

Rebels

15

4

0

11

344

478

-134

38

61

2

8

32

13

Force

15

3

1

11

246

351

-105

23

32

2

5

27

14

Southern Kings

14

3

1

10

273

482

-209

25

57

2

2

24

15

Highlanders

14

2

0

12

288

414

-126

30

44

2

6

22

South African Conference

Pos

Team

P

W

D

L

PF

PA

PD

TF

TA

Bye

BPts

Pts

1

Vodacom Bulls

14

11

0

3

415

281

134

38

29

2

7

59

2

Toyota Cheetahs

15

9

0

6

348

345

3

35

31

1

6

46

3

The Sharks

14

7

0

7

307

272

35

28

27

2

6

42

4

DHL Stormers

14

7

0

7

292

267

25

25

17

2

6

42

5

Southern Kings

14

3

1

10

273

482

-209

25

57

2

2

24

New Zealand Conference

Pos

Team

P

W

D

L

PF

PA

PD

TF

TA

Bye

BPts

Pts

1

Chiefs

14

11

0

3

417

305

112

44

32

2

9

61

2

Crusaders

14

9

0

5

378

275

103

36

26

2

7

51

3

Blues

14

6

0

8

318

304

14

38

29

2

12

44

4

Hurricanes

14

6

0

8

325

383

-58

33

40

2

7

39

5

Highlanders

14

2

0

12

288

414

-126

30

44

2

6

22

Australian Conference

Pos

Team

P

W

D

L

PF

PA

PD

TF

TA

Bye

BPts

Pts

1

Brumbies

15

10

2

3

415

274

141

41

28

2

7

59

2

Reds

15

9

2

4

307

284

23

30

21

2

6

54

3

Waratahs

15

8

0

7

399

357

42

43

33

2

4

44

4

Rebels

15

4

0

11

344

478

-134

38

61

2

8

32

5

Force

15

3

1

11

246

351

-105

23

32

2

5

27

 

Vodacom Super Rugby Top Scorers – after Round 18:

 

Vodacom Super Rugby | POINT SCORERS

Player Team

Tries

Conv

Pen

Drops

Tot

Morné Steyn Vodacom Bulls

2

29

47

1

212

Christian Lealiifano Brumbies

2

18

44

0

178

Beauden Barrett Hurricanes

2

23

37

0

167

Joe Pietersen DHL Stormers

0

19

43

0

167

Gareth Anscombe Chiefs

5

30

26

0

163

Patrick Lambie The Sharks

0

17

40

1

157

Quade Cooper Reds

3

20

32

1

154

Brendan McKibbin Waratahs

0

19

33

0

137

Demetri Catrakilis Southern Kings

0

14

33

1

130

James O`Connor Rebels

1

21

23

0

116

Dan Carter Crusaders

2

22

18

0

108

Colin Slade Highlanders

2

13

22

0

102

Chris Noakes Blues

1

14

15

0

78

Aaron Cruden Chiefs

1

7

15

0

64

Sias Ebersohn Force

1

5

14

2

63

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