Fairytale in Soweto!

http://sumrugga.blogspot.com here are my comments, id love to read yours!!

It was definitely how it was scripted. I cant lie i may well have been the lone voice shout for the Crusaders at Orlando Stadium last Saturday. It was funny. Even though i was surrounded by hoards of crazed Bulls fans, i somehow felt safe and free to vocally support the team i wanted to. One guy even said to me you are a brave man, to which i answered thats cos its not Loftus :)

But man what an atmosphere, the whole suburb of Soweto was abuzz. people braaing in the homes of the locals. one guy even painted the wall of his place in Bulls colours and had painted on the wall Soweto welcomes the Bulls. The game in itself wasnt what id hoped for. The officiating was random at best, but the result was unquestionable. I dont think the Bulls dominated or dismantled the Saders in any way, but what they did do however was hold their nerve when it counted and clinically executed their chances when they arose. what dissapointed me about the Saders was that if i knew that the Bulls would send send a hail storm of up and unders onto them, why didnt they? and if they did why didnt they deal with them better? So many points resulted from failed attempts to field these up and unders.

The Bulls deserve to be where they are because they got the points they needed to get. They played a pretty predictable style of rugby and to be honest if you man up they become ruddarless. They have a strong pack and a good 8,9,10. They have scored tries this year which shows their willingness and ability to play rugby. But now its crunch time. They will be playing Bulls rugby. Kop and Stamp, use their big forward to drive it up 9 10 and 15 sending up and unders to the loose trio.

Anyway it is what it is

The stormers have played a superb brand of rugby this year. Alastair Coetzee and Robbie Fleck have got the team to fire like they should have in the last few years, but then again like the Reds and the Warratahs, it was just a matter of time. There was only one styling Juan de Jongh try in the whole game, but what they did was strangle the life out of the Tahs, something they tend to do well against opposition teams. The other thing about the Tahs is they played some stupif football, especially in kicking range.

Its going to be a tough game tomorrow. If the Stormers front 5 step up they will have this game. Guthro has been a force this whole season, his work rate and stregth yikes, everyone else has just done their job like a unit. For the Stormers, Liebenberg and Bekker have stepped up plenty and the rest have given a superb account for themselves.

In the loosies, i like Potgieter and Spies is a phenom! Stegman on the other hand is a liability. For th Stormers, Louw has been my pickk of the 3, even though Schalck has been Massive and Duane Herculean. As a unit i back them as opposed to the Bulls trio. But time will tell

At 9 the Bulls have the second best scrummy in the southern hemisphere, and last week he brought his game face. Duvenhage is no slouch, i dont think he will be out of his depth at all, in my minds eye, i cant recall a crap performance this year.

At 10 i think Steyn and Grant are evenly matched, i would even go as far as saying Grant may, to me be hugely underrated and may be better than Morne!

The rest of the backline if i had to call it man for man, id say the Stormers have a better unit than the Bulls. There is no bias in this, well i hope. some might argue that Wynand is better than Juan. And i would ask for evidence please. they both dont really pass, and Juan may be smaller than Wynand, but please show me a time when he (juan) has shirked his defensive duties this year.
Jacques Fourie, best no 13 around, well him and o'driscol. 11 Bryan over whoever, mind u Hougaard has been huge this year. 14 Gio v v/d heever, u know my pick 15 Joe v Afro puffs

Interesting game tomorrow, but it will be about who brings their game!!

Cheers