Power to powder blue
12 Oct 2006
Keo, in his News24 column, reminds the Muppits that Saturday’s Currie Cup winner was identified some time ago.
This is what I wrote in my column on September 27:
‘One team of the top five is going to miss out and it is going to be the Lions. Brave and brilliant in the last seven matches, the Lions will curse their early season experiments that cost them easy points. Lesson learned by Eugene Eloff who will not easily again surrender league points to prove a point to his senior players.
‘The Cheetahs will lose in Pretoria on Saturday but still end top of the table, with the Bulls ending second on points difference from Western Province who’ll take the five league points at Newlands. The Sharks will hammer the Falcons to set up another trip to Bloemfontein and a semi-final exit from the competition.
‘The Sharks, my early season call to win the competition, have mixed and matched so much this season that they cost themselves a home semi-final and with that any chance of winning the competition. The Sharks can’t beat the Cheetahs at the moment. In the other semi-final match-up Western Province will travel to Loftus and this time there won’t be an ambush.
‘I’m tipping the Bulls to win on Saturday, win against Province the next week and then travel to Bloemfontein and set the record straight for last season’s defeat to the Cheetahs in the final.’
Are these words, written more than two weeks ago, to be viewed as some sort of prophecy? Absolutely not. Because I also wrote in May that the Waratahs would win the Super 14 and the Wallabies would triumph in the Tri Nations.
Domestically, though, it was always going to be the Bulls once the Sharks started fading through excessive experiment.
That’s why I could write with such conviction on September 27 as to how the Bulls march to the trophy would unfold. It is now October 11 and nothing in my view has changed. I am still backing the Bulls to go to Bloemfontein and win. Individually, they are a better unit and cohesively they have made as much impact as the Cheetahs in the last month.
Take nothing away from Ollie le Roux and Rassie Erasmus. The former, in his role as captain, has been inspirational. The latter is the most exciting thing to happen to the South African coaching scene. He is talented, innovative and definitely not a one season wonder. South Africa rugby is healthier in the coaching department because of Rassie’s emergence.
But if you want to know why the Cheetahs won’t win on Saturday, then you simply have to look at the tight five composition of the Bulls and the kicking game of Derick Hougaard at flyhalf. The tight five will set up the victory for the visitors and Hougaard’s boot will close the deal.
There won’t be much in the final, but all you need to win it is one point.
Statistics favour the Bulls. They’ve lost just one out of their last 10 against the Cheetahs, while winning the last four in Bloemfontein. The defeat happened to be in last year’s final and it took a miraculous comeback and the bounce of the oval ball to sink them.
The surprise element a year ago was with the Cheetahs, but this weekend there won’t be any such tricks in the party packs handed out during the final. The Bulls know exactly what to expect and they are in no doubt as to what they have to do to succeed. This is a victory that will be fashioned on preparation as much as execution and with Heyneke Meyer back from his overseas travels his input is crucial.
Pote Human has settled as Bulls coach, but Meyer’s technical and analytical contribution will be massive to the Bulls success. He remains the Director of Rugby at the Bulls and the man in charge.
The Bulls have been the form team in South African rugby in the last month. They’ve put 50 past the Sharks in Durban, given the Cheetahs 41 points in Pretoria and scored 45 comfortably against Western Province a week ago. They’re scoring tries with ease and Hougaard is kicking well.
Gary Botha’s captaincy has been outstanding and the tight five are fronting for each challenge. The Cheetahs, this season, have thrived on forward domination against most teams. The exception has been when playing the Bulls. That is why they lost in Bloemfontein earlier in the competition, got hammered in Pretoria and will again come second best on Saturday.
The path to the final was recorded here a fortnight ago. And nothing in the last fortnight convinces me to change the call that has the Bulls to win the Cup again.
1,320 Comments
Pages: « 1 … 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 [24] 25 26 27 » Show All
12 Oct 2006, 17:42 pm
RedCard
Britney has been finished off a long time ago.
I’m waiting for this dingo to come up with something better than Yawn
12 Oct 2006, 17:43 pm
Gibbs has implicated 3 saffas in the match fixing saga.
12 Oct 2006, 17:43 pm
Fokkit, ou GBS het my nou so lus vir n ‘pie’, ek vergeet skoon van Wallabie!!!
12 Oct 2006, 17:44 pm
pieterman,
Damn, ons het dieselfde paaitjies gestap broeder!!
Onthou jy ook die “Portugese Pies”???
12 Oct 2006, 17:44 pm
1151
yawn!
12 Oct 2006, 17:45 pm
LMFAOLINNBNESNWN
What the HELL is this?
12 Oct 2006, 17:45 pm
and Mark Waugh refused to speak to police!
12 Oct 2006, 17:47 pm
Shane warne skipped bail!
Gotta give it to us aussies we know how to do the jobbing of keeping stuff under wraps, but Warnie has dirt on his hands.
12 Oct 2006, 17:47 pm
Marginally better Wallabie.
You have not yet acquired that SA Male skill of effectively insulting women.
You have a lot to learn.
Dingo.
12 Oct 2006, 17:48 pm
Dawn
Your a woman?
12 Oct 2006, 17:49 pm
Once again, Mark Waugh and Warnie.
What makes you think we bothered?
Are we bothered? Noooooooooooooooo!
12 Oct 2006, 17:49 pm
Laugh My F*cking Arse Off Luke Watson is nie ‘n Bok nie en sal nooit wees nie = LMFAOLWISNBNESNWN
12 Oct 2006, 17:50 pm
that is a very impressive way of laughing RedCard!
12 Oct 2006, 17:51 pm
wolfman, ek is 26.
12 Oct 2006, 17:51 pm
1154# GBS
Wallabie
Wag eers.
Ons praat lekker ‘paais’ nou, ek en GBS.
Ai! Ek weet presies waar, maar kan nie vanaf hier lekker beduie nie.
Ek verlang nou skielik na Pretoria…fok, en ek is WP.
En dit oor n ‘pie’. Ek het my geboortereg verkoop vir n ‘Pretoria Pie’!!!
12 Oct 2006, 17:52 pm
Get it into that neanderthal skull of your, what your players do or don’t do, how they play or don’t play, who cares?
Now. If you talk to me about Chris Gayle, you will have my undivided attention.
12 Oct 2006, 17:52 pm
dawn
Gibbs and crookes are cheats!
12 Oct 2006, 17:52 pm
Wallabie Gibbs must be taking the piss, Crookes?
BWAAAAHAAAAHAAA!!!
12 Oct 2006, 17:52 pm
are you attracted to Chris Gayle, dawn?!
12 Oct 2006, 17:53 pm
pieterman,
Dit was in een van daai deurlope tussen Schoeman Str & Pretorius Str……iets soos die Presidents Arkade!
12 Oct 2006, 17:53 pm
shane warne and mark waugh are the biggest cheats I have ever come across.
Throw Ben Tune into that mix.
12 Oct 2006, 17:54 pm
Crookes opened the bowling on that tour, under orders from Cronje, after Cronje had told Crookes it would not happen. That is why Crookes is implicated. Old news.
12 Oct 2006, 17:54 pm
red
Gibbs has named crookes as part of the plan to throw a game.
12 Oct 2006, 17:54 pm
And that Gilchrist outback reject WAAAAAARNNIIIEEE everytime a ball’s bowled.
Yuck barf.
12 Oct 2006, 17:55 pm
Danger
hsve you met both players?
12 Oct 2006, 17:56 pm
LMFAOLWINNBNESNWN Dawn!
12 Oct 2006, 17:56 pm
No, but I have met their wives…
12 Oct 2006, 17:57 pm
GBS
Ons moet nou eers stop.
Ons gaan die eerste twee ouens wees wat ge-’ban’ word omdat ons mense honger maak!!!
12 Oct 2006, 17:57 pm
dawnie
I threw that spanner in for you – you are interested now!
read 1166 again.
12 Oct 2006, 17:57 pm
Wallabie.
You sanctimonious dingo.
Here we cheat very well. We take our lawyers everywhere.
Tough *** if you haven’t mastered the art yet.
Wolf. Chris Gayle is a very appetising long tall cool drink of Jamaican water.
12 Oct 2006, 17:57 pm
danger
12 Oct 2006, 17:59 pm
Fooooook Ek’s nou doodhonger!
12 Oct 2006, 17:59 pm
‘n paai sal nogals lekker wees nou. hulle het heeeerlike burger paais hier by spar in die paarl.
12 Oct 2006, 17:59 pm
Maar Pretoria se ‘pies’ is lekker, selfs n Kapenaar moet dit erken…net soos die Laeveld mooi is!!!
12 Oct 2006, 18:00 pm
I don’t have the time to re-read your rubbish.
You seriously think I’m gonna trawl back and read whatever again?
12 Oct 2006, 18:00 pm
Dawn yes but Xkreni wants to know if he has a mother AND a sister.
12 Oct 2006, 18:01 pm
F*KKIT!!! Ek is nou so lus vir ‘n RENNIE ek eet sommer ‘n paai!
12 Oct 2006, 18:01 pm
dangerbot, cheeseburger paais van die BP in stellenbosch, dit is ‘n heerlike paai!
12 Oct 2006, 18:02 pm
dangerbot,
Man, daai spar paais kan gaan slapies, ek wil ‘n Porra Pie NOU hê!
12 Oct 2006, 18:02 pm
Wallabie
Ken jy n Pretoria ‘pie’?
12 Oct 2006, 18:03 pm
Dawn, should that not be a very appetising long tall cool drink of Jamaican rum?
12 Oct 2006, 18:03 pm
Will you hungry lions just get a table already.
12 Oct 2006, 18:04 pm
hahaha, redcard.
wolf, yeah, i’ve had those, especially after a bight out.
12 Oct 2006, 18:04 pm
GBS
Het jy al n paai in Bloemies gehad?
12 Oct 2006, 18:04 pm
Dawn
I was refering you back to your post you wanna call it rubbish then so be it.
12 Oct 2006, 18:05 pm
Dangerbot
Is jy in die Paarl?
12 Oct 2006, 18:06 pm
1200
12 Oct 2006, 18:06 pm
Wolf yes he is that too!
Cool style, laid back, let’s balls go to the boundaries, he’s Jamaican, nooo problem!
12 Oct 2006, 18:06 pm
I had a Porra girlfriend…does that count?
god, I miss her. fabulous.
12 Oct 2006, 18:06 pm
1200.
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