Bulls showed a lot of backbone!

The Bulls managed to get their first log points of the season against the Cheetahs while stuffing up my SuperBru weekend, the Sharks left it dramatically late against the Pumas, WP were pretty topsy turvy against the Leopards, while the Lions upset the apple cart by hammering the Griquas in Kimberley … Who needs the second string Boks??

Congrats to Adri and Louwtjie who top the Front Row Grunt SuperBru pool on 9.5 points, just managing to keep yellow cap of the weekend, Draadkar, at bay … My 3 from 4, again with no margin points, sees my hovering in 76th position out of 269 … Very average!

Below a mini wrap up courtesy of the guys at SARU …

Pumas 22 Sharks 23

The defending champions had to dig deep and could only secure their victory over the Pumas late in the game when prop Dale Chadwick crashed over. Flyhalf Frederic Michalak’s conversion gave The Sharks a one-point lead at 23-22, which they managed to hold on to for the final five minutes to win their second game of the season.

It was the second successive weekend where the Pumas made their more fancied opponents work hard for a win. Judging by the way they played in their first two games, a first 2011 victory for the team from Mpumalanga is not far away. At the break, they were still ahead by 19-16.

The Sharks’ victory, their second from as many games, saw them finish the second week in second position on the log. It wasn’t easy as the home team kept the score board ticking over thanks to five penalty goals by Tiaan Marx, who also converted Coenie van Wyk’s great try in the right corner for a personal points haul of 17.

Michalak contributed 18 points to The Sharks’ cause with one try, two conversions and three penalty goals.

Scorers:

Pumas 22 – Try: Coenie van Wyk. Conversion: Tiaan Marx. Penalty goals: Marx (5).

The Sharks 23 – Tries: Frederic Michalak, Dale Chadwick. Conversions: Michalak (2). Penalty goals: Michalak (3).

Leopards 9 WP 47

WP looked much better on Friday night in Potchefstroom when they beat the Leopards by 47-9 (halftime 23-9). It was a rather one-sided match where the visitors’ defence held out as they scored five tries in a match they dominated from the kickoff.

Demetri Catrakilis, in his first Absa Currie Cup start, succeeded with nine out of his eleven kicks at goal, converting all five tries and adding four penalty goals. He finished the game with 22 points behind his name.

The stats won’t make happy reading for rugby fans in North West though, as the Leopards have now gone 22 Absa Currie Cup games without a victory, since they were promoted at the end of the 2008 season. Their last victory at this level was on 28 August 2009 against Boland in Potchefstroom, when they won by 50-16.

WP will be much happier with this performance after they drew their first round match against Griquas last weekend. The team from Cape Town looked a little more composed at times …

Scorers:

Leopards 9 – Penalty goals: Clayton Durand (3).

WP 47 – Tries: JJ Engelbrecht, Brok Harris, Johann Sadie, De Kock Steenkamp, Nick Koster. Conversions: Demetri Catrakilis (5). Penalty goals: Catrakilis (4).

Griquas 11 Lions 49

The Lions finished week two at the top of the log after their 49-11 rout of Griquas, with scrumhalf Jano Vermaak scoring three tries in 25 minutes.

The visitors lead by 36-6 at the break in a match where they just had too much fire power for the team from the Northern Cape. Apart from Vermaak’s hat-trick, wing Lionel Mapoe weighed in with two tries, while Burton Francis (flyhalf), Deon van Rensburg (wing) and Waylon Murray (centre) also scored.

Francis, who converted three tries and added a penalty goal, missed four attempts at goal, while Hein Cronje, who replaced the Lions flyhalf late in the match, missed a further two kicks at goal.

Scorers:

Griquas 11 – Try: Jonathan Mokuena. Penalty goals: Monty Dumond (2).

Lions 49 – Tries: Jano Vermaak (3), Burton Francis, Lionel Mapoe (2), Deon van Rensburg, Waylon Murray. Conversions: Francis (3). Penalty goal: Francis.

Bulls 33 Cheetahs 30

After trialling 6-17 at the break, the Blue Bulls fought back strongly to eventually beat the Cheetahs by 33-30 in a highly entertaining game.

At times it looked like the Blue Bulls were going to lose their second game of the season, but they showed some good resilience to claw their way back into the lead, which they manfully defended in a frantic final 10 minutes.

Flyhalf Francois Brummer kicked 18 points for the home team, while his direct opponent, Sias Ebersohn, contributed 15 of his side’s points. Both teams scored three tries each in this thrilling match, the Blue Bulls getting all theirs in the first 20 minutes of the second half.

The Cheetahs got the score board ticking over in the 10th minute when fullback Hennie Daniller, a former Blue Bull, scored the first of his team’s tries. Nineteen minutes later prop Marcel van der Merwe got the Cheetahs’ second try as they went ahead by 17-3.

A penalty goal in the final minute of the first half by Brummer pulled the Blue Bulls closer, but the 24 points the home side scored in the first 20 minutes of the second half, compared to the Cheetahs’ 10, was the difference in the end.

Scorers:

Blue Bulls 33 – Tries: Gerhard van den Heever, Derick Kuün, Akona Ndungane. Conversions: Francois Brummer (3). Penalty goals: Brummer (4).

Cheetahs 30 – Tries: Hennie Daniller, Marcel van der Merwe, Francois Uys. Conversions: Sias Ebersohn (3). Penalty goals: Ebersohn (3).

Absa Currie Cup Premier Division Log

Absa Currie Cup First Division

Boland 46 Griffons 7

Boland – Tries: Willie le Roux, Bolla Conradie, Alwyn Bester, Brendon April (2), Cornal Hendricks. Conversions: Elgar Watts (3), Le Roux (2). Penalty goals: Watts (2).

Griffons – Try: Werner Griesel. Conversion: Jannie Myburgh.

Border 15 EP Kings 62

EP – Tries: Jaco Bekker (2), Marcello Sampson (3), Barend Pieterse, Wayne van Heerden, Hannes Franklin, George Whitehead (2). Conversions: Whitehead (6).

Border– Tries: Byron McGuigan (2). Conversion: Dale Sabbagh. Penalty goal: Sabbagh.

Absa Currie Cup First Division Log