The Bulls and the Chiefs are rested and ready for home Super Rugby Semi-finals against the Brumbies and the Crusaders respectively.
In Pretoria, the Bulls will have the easier job. The Brumbies struggled at home against the Cheetahs last week, winning 15-13.
In Hamilton, the Chiefs come up against the Crusaders, who have hit form late in the season, and who crushed the Reds 38-9 last week.
Brumbies to meet Bulls
The Brumbies deserved the win over the Cheetahs, who made too many unforced errors.
Cheetahs captain, the hard-working Adriaan Strauss, said he was proud of his players. The Cheetahs scored the try of the match, right on full-time. The conversion from the sideline, which would have given the Cheetahs victory, faded at the last minute.
“I thought he had a great kick.” Strauss said, “and I thought it was over, but that was unfortunate for us tonight.”
The Bulls had a shock 30-13 loss to the Stormers in their last game two weeks ago. After the match, the Bulls were awarded a trophy for winning the South African conference.
“It was not a good feeling when we walked off the field tonight,” Bulls captain Dewald Potgieter said, after receiving the trophy.
His side had worked hard to win the conference, but the loss to the Stormers showed they needed to improve their rugby and their attitude. Coach Frans Ludeke agreed.
“We had a great season with nine wins in a row but tonight we were given a reminder that we can lose focus,” Ludeke said.
So complacency will not be an issue for the Bulls, who were second-overall to the Chiefs, by one competition point.
Both the Bulls and the Brumbies are coached by South Africans, with former world-cup winning coach Jake White running the Brumbies.
The Brumbies had to travel to South Africa, which is an impost. If they win, they will have to travel back to either New Zealand or Australia for a match against either the Chiefs of the Crusaders respectively.
So the Brumbies are the underdog against the Bulls—even if they did win, a victory may prove a travel-bridge too far, as far as the Final goes.
Crusaders to meet Chiefs
In New Zealand, the Chiefs, like the Bulls, had last week off. I’m sure they watched the Crusaders demolish the Reds, which would have ruined their break.
The Crusaders were so powerful across the park, they looked capable of beating international sides. They scored four tries to none, and had two disallowed.
The match was seen as a preview of Reds coach Ewen McKenzie’s new role as the coach of the Australian side. However, the Crusaders were so dominant, they obscured any such judgment.
Crusaders hero Ritchie McCaw, who captains the Crusaders and NZ, returned from the bench in the second half, ending a six-month break from rugby.
Current captain Kieran Read said the win was “quite pleasing”.
“I guess it’s good to hit your straps at this time of year,” he said. “It was a great start from our guys which set the tone pretty early and it continued on from there.”
On their form against the Reds, the Crusaders would be the hot favourite. But they play the overall winner of the competition rounds, the Chefs, who won the Super Rugby title last year.
Chiefs coach Dave Rennie had assumed his side would meet either the Crusaders or the Reds. He worked his side hard, developing plans for both teams. This week, he pared that plan to focus on the Crusaders.
He said they knew the Crusader game well, so their focus would be on small corrections.
It was “nice” to be the top qualifier, particularly not having to travel “but that’s the easy part of it”.
The hard part comes on Saturday—for all four teams.
Peter Lalanabaravi is a rugby writer with over 30 years experience.
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