JJ Harmse

Trust the Bulls to achieve the impossible. Again, they defied the odds, as they did in all of 2007 and for that they will be remembered. They created their own destiny and stuck to their unbelievable spirit to win the Super 14.

Again, unfortunately, there was controversy that overshadowed their victory and the unbelievable achievement of the trendsetters in South African rugby.

The way the ball was won back to enable Bryan Habana to score that final try, is now suddenly the focus in many a newspaper and Steve Walsh is quoted as saying that he got it wrong.

Yes, he did, just two minutes earlier when Albert van den Berg’s try was awarded. It was clear that there was no way that he could have awarded the try, yet no one is doubting that call or why Walsh did not go to the TMO.

There is no doubt that Habana deserved a yellow card early in the game and to be honest, if the final was played in Australia or New Zealand, a red card would have been the most likely outcome.

However, there were also other calls where Walsh and the officials got it wrong. Just as everybody was wondering, why Frans Steyn rushed his last kick, but forgets that Percy Montgomery missed two sitters as well.

And as Habana is the real hero, everybody seems to forget that it was a conversion that won the game, not the try. If Hougaard missed, he would have been ostracised, but he succeeded and now Habana is the hero!

The Bulls know how it feels to lose out in the last minute. They have been waiting to jump on the crossbar, Jaco van der Westhuyzen-style, for three long years.

In 2005, that last gasp try by the Cheetahs ripped the Currie Cup away from the Bulls. Last year, during the drawn Currie Cup final, the Bulls had to sit and wait for the Cheetahs to complete their victory lap around Vodacom Park before they could lay their hands on the Cup they came to reconquer.

During this year’s competition, the Bulls shaped their destiny week after week. Remember, they had a home game less than the Sharks and dropped one of those when a really bad call by a touch judge cost them the match against the Force at Loftus.

And a week later, when Habana scored the winning try against the Chiefs, again after the buzzer, it was the moment that finally launched them towards the title.

Their three victories in Australasia were a fantastic first for South Africa, as was that memorable day against the Reds.

Sixth on the log

That game showed fans that this team would not give up. Remember, they started that game sixth on the log and finished it second.

I suppose one can write a glowing report on the Sharks as well. But in the words of Tiger Woods, second place is first loser. And that is unfortunately the way the Sharks will be remembered by those without any affinity for the black and white cause.

It was their big chance and they could not do it. Next year there will be no AJ Venter, Johan Ackermann, Percy, Bob Skinstad, Warren Britz, Albert or even John Smit, all who deserve to go out winners. Their departure is a huge, huge loss to Dick Muir. He will be back, no doubt, to fight another battle, but somehow I feel he will not be as confident in his arsenal as he was in 2007.

The Sharks fans are in despair, the Bulls’ ones ecstatic, but even it if was the other way around, you can be sure that both teams will again have massive support in 2008. Even more than the Springboks.

But then, they are not continually undermined by politicians and edgy administrators. The Bulls and Sharks coaches, Heyneke Meyer and Muir are tipped for the national set-up. I could understand if both were reluctant to leave the empires they have built for what can only be described as organised chaos.

The Bulls fan or Sharks fan is totally committed to his/her team. The mess at national level will not make those fans jump ship to join the Springbok cause.

The success of last year’s Currie Cup, rated by many as one of the best yet, and the fantastic way the Super 14 ended, should have had fans flooding Bloemfontein to see the Springboks beat the hell out of the English. After all, Bok van Blerk has been reminding us how bad the English treated us in his song De La Rey. There is a reason why the N1 past Bloemfontein has no traffic jams.

Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates fans do not miss a game their teams play, but somehow Bafana Bafana does not hold the same attraction. The rugby fan feels the same way at the moment about the Springboks. Both sporting disciplines have the same problem: meddling politicians and unsure officials.

Chiefs and Pirates were established in the bad, bad days of segregation and separate development. Yet, in the new, democratic South Africa, their fan base is bigger than ever before. Does this mean their fans are still supporting the past, the old system or are racist? Of course not.

Maybe it is time for politicians and administrators to understand that like soccer fans rooting for Chiefs and Pirates, and rugby fans that support the Springboks (or the Bulls and Sharks for that matter) are not clinging to something that was good in bad days. They just want to feel proud and part of something special that speaks to the core.

And if any politicians or administrators with those values can step up, we will be proud of them too. Until then, it seems the Bulls, Chiefs or De La Rey will have to do.

Read JJ every Sunday in Rapport

Alber van den Berg has the ball in both arms when he gets tackled. Then first he pushes his left arm forward. Then, finally, he rolls the ball over his left arm, with his right hand. That is two movements, and he therefore did not place the ball immediately. It happened pretty quickly though, which is why Walsh awarded the try. So these things happen in sport, and the Sharks have only themselves to blame for losing.

but whats done is done and it is time to move on and for sharks fans to show though their team may not have won, they are the better supporters. which is not exactly a difficult task…

Is it legal?
No

Is it illegal?
Of course

Is it blindness?
Who said that????

Is it shortsightedness?
Who said that again????

Is it outofsightedness?
Allegedly

Is it conspiracy?
Unlikely – too much intelligence required for that!

Is it sad?
For the Sharks and the Bulls now that the image has been published

Is it not sad?
I am too upset to answer that one!

Is it a combination of any of the above?
Its a combination of ALL of the above.

But still, Steyn threw the game, he had an easy kick for touch, twice, and he didn’t kick it out on the hooter. And that is the where Sharks lost.

Butch’s silly knock-on behind the tryline was the turning point in the match.
He was too ‘lacksedazical’, out there on his own.

The analysis boils down to only four words:

BULLS TRY
SHARKS CRY

That’s all folks! Super 14 is over! Bulls won! Sharks lost!

Came second or whatever…you lost! The hard, cold facts are that the Bulls are the supreme Super 14 side of 2007.

Dry your eyes dear Sharks fans. You are embarrassing yourselves now.

What happened to the colonial Natal stiff upper lip? Now replaced by the quivering lip of the new breed of Shark fan, blubbering “The ref missed it and lost us the game”.

You have so many positives to take out of your season. Don’t dwell on the negativity…it will drag you back to the netherworld from whence you came.

A “double movement,” even if it is not in the laws, is a common expression that refers to player making two stop-start movements with the ball while it is in his grasp. If he only manages to place the ball over the line after the second movement, then he clearly didn’t do so immediately.

I’ll give you time to let the concept sink in.