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Black magic gets Blues home over Bulls
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Gritty, not pretty, but the Blues will glady take it.
No win in South Africa can be scoffed at, especially when you’ve won three of the past 14 matches there.
This 23-21 victory, in which the Blues scored three-tries-to-one and pedantic South African referee Marius van der Westhuizen dished out four yellow cards, won’t go down as one of the most aesthetically pleasing.
But in the context of the Blues season, it sure is important.
Blues first five-eighth Otere Black, in his first game of the season after returning from a rib injury, stepped up in the final minute to knock over a 30-metre penalty and turn match-winner.
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This was a game that, in previous years, the Blues would have undoubtedly folded after falling behind late. Instead they showed character to hang tough and fight to the final whistle to steal a valuable win away from home.
Prior to Black’s ice-cool strike, it seemed the Bulls would cling on for their first win of the season.
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Blues No 8 Hoskins Sotutu again performed strongly but his yellow card for an apparent high tackle led to Bulls flanker Jeandré Rudolph crashing over to establish a one-point lead with eight minutes remaining.
The Blues stoically defended their line and then won a turnover to work their way downfield, where they earned the penalty which gave Black the chance to slot the winner.
Needing to respond after their 17-point loss to the Crusaders at Eden Park last week, the Blues banked their second away win of the year after knocking over the Waratahs in Sydney.
This result leaves their season evenly poised, rather than on the ropes, after two wins from four games, as they await Beauden Barrett’s first appearance in mid-April.
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Praise the Lord! Rugby miracles do happen! #SuperRugby #Brumbies https://t.co/1hHTqW6jU4
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 22, 2020
Sotutu and Patrick Tuipulotu produced busy performances in the Blues pack but Tom Robinson, starting in his preferred blindside role, was the standout.
Whether it was taking lineouts, carrying or defending Robinson made his presence felt. His typically high work-rate brought reward in the form of a second-half try when driving over with assistance.
Stephen Perofeta continued his form with another assured display from fullback.
Perofeta was safe under the high ball, had intelligent touches coming into the line and he held Matt Duffie’s offload – after his brilliant grab from a cross-field kick– to claim the Blues third try.
Black’s steady influence from first receiver was also clear. Harry Plummer, moved to second-five, was much less influential and it would be a surprise if he starts there next week.
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Heavy rain in Pretoria left the sodden Loftus Versfeld pitch cutting up rough throughout and the ball greasy which made handling difficult. Both elements contributed to a scrappy spectacle, featuring frequent messy scrums, played in front of few locals.
The Blues enjoyed a two-man advantage during the first half after successive yellow cards to Bulls lock Andries Ferreira, for repeat team infringements, and captain Burger Odendaal after his shoulder collided with the head of rookie Blues wing Emoni Narawa.
Had Narawa not been ducking after taking a high ball, Odendaal would almost certainly been red carded for the incident.
Despite their numerical advantage, the Blues struggled to capitalise. For extended periods they thumped away at the Bulls line with little success until the ball was slung wide to Mark Telea, the wing showing impressive upper body strength and skill to score the opening try while holding off two defenders.
Bulls wing Rosko Specman, the South African sevens star, was denied a try after his foot was in touch. He and Cornal Hendricks regularly threatened on the edge, finding success by getting outside and in behind the Blues defence.
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Just before half time Blues halfback Jonathan Ruru was the next player sent to the bin for cynically killing the ball five metres out from his line following a break from the Bulls. Straight after, Morne Steyn scored the Bulls first try of the season to give his side their 11-8 lead at the break.
Former Springboks playmaker Steyn, now 35, extended the Bulls lead after halftime and pushed his personal tally out to 14 points.
But after Rudolph’s try, it was the Blues who had the final say.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Blues next week with the unbeaten Stormers looming in Cape Town.
This result, though, and the return of Rieko Ioane, will boost confidence that they can compete.
The one blow the Blues did suffer was losing hooker James Parsons who left the field late clutching his shoulder in what looked a serious injury.
This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and is republished with permission.
WATCH: England head coach Eddie Jones was forced to apologise after making a bizarre remark about racism that has invited renewed scrutiny of his England regime.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
1 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
28 Go to comments