The DHL Stormers and The Sharks will fly the South African flag in the Vodacom Super Rugby Finals Series after both teams cemented their place in the Top Six with superb away victories in the final two league fixtures of the competition.
The Sharks eliminated the defending champions, the Vodacom Bulls, with a great performance at Loftus Versfeld, taking the spoils by 26-23 in a hard-fought match. The way the results in the final round went meant this match went down to a “winner takes all” scenario, which saw the Durbanites take the spoils and the sixth place on the overall log. Their task in the Qualifiers is not an easy one though, with the seven time champions, the Crusaders, waiting for The Sharks in Nelson next Saturday.
The Sharks will take a lot of heart from their performance in Pretoria though, where they produced arguably one of their best displays of 80 minute rugby of the season. It was the Vodacom Bulls’ third home defeat of 2011 and ended a six match unbeaten run after they struggled midway through the season. The last time the Vodacom Bulls lost three games in Pretoria in a season, was in 2008, when they lost to The Sharks, Hurricanes and Crusaders and finished 10th on the Vodacom Super 14 log.
Where the Durbanites, runners up in 1996, 2001 and 2007, made the most errors in their last match against the Vodacom Bulls a few weeks ago at Mr Price Kings Park, the shoe was on the other foot yesterday, with the home team making a host of uncharacteristic and unforced mistakes. As a result, the team from Pretoria never got their rhythm going, with The Sharks always in control.
Stefan Terblanche scored a superb try from a set piece in the first half, while Lwazi Mvovo proved his finishing skills with what turned out to be the match-winning try in the 74th minute. Even though Francois Hougaard crossed The Sharks’ tryline a few minutes later, adding to Gerhard van den Heever’s try late in the first half, it was too little too late for the Vodacom Bulls, who bowed out of the competition after a disappointing season by their standards.
In the second South African derby yesterday, the DHL Stormers concluded the league phase of Vodacom Super Rugby with a 44-34 victory in an open match against the Toyota Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, ensuring they win the South African Conference and finish second on the overall log, with automatic progression into the semi-finals in the first weekend of July.
The DHL Stormers, runners up last season, went to the Free State Stadium with only one aim to beat the Toyota Cheetahs. They did that in some style in a match which saw no less than eight tries scored, including a hat-trick to Toyota Cheetahs winger Rayno Benjamin. The home team’s first try was scored by Davon Raubenheimer late in the first half, but their discipline let them down, with DHL Stormers flyhalf Peter Grant slotting six penalty goals in the process. Grant also converted three of the DHL Stormers’ tries – scored by Gio Aplon, Juan de Jongh, Nick Koster and Bryan Habana for a personal haul of 24 points. The four tries the DHL Stormers conceded was the most they’ve let in since 3 May 2009, when they lost 14-28 to the Chiefs in Hamilton, but they won’t be too concerned as their main aim was to emerge from the Bloemfontein match as victors.
The DHL Stormers and the Reds will enjoy a bye next week as the Crusaders (New Zealand Conference winners and third on the combined log), Blues (fourth), Waratahs (fifth) and The Sharks (sixth) slog it out to progress to the semi-finals.
The Crusaders won the New Zealand Conference when they beat the Hurricanes by 16-9 in Wellington yesterday, while the Waratahs made sure they qualified for the Finals Series with a comprehensive 41-7 victory over the Brumbies in Sydney. In other results from the weekend, the Reds were made to work hard for their 19-11 victory over the Chiefs in Hamilton yesterday, the Western Force beat the Melbourne Rebels by 27-24 on Friday and the Blues were too good for the Highlanders (33-16), also on Friday.
Vodacom Super Rugby Finals Series
Vodacom Super Rugby Qualifiers
Friday, 24 June
19:35 (09:35 South African time): Blues (4th) vs Waratahs (5th) – Eden Park, Auckland
Saturday, 25 June
19:35 (09:35 South African time): Crusaders (3rd, NZ Conference winners) vs The Sharks (6th) – Trafalgar Park, Nelson
Vodacom Super Rugby Semi-finals
Saturday, 2 July
19:40 (11:40 South African time): Reds (1st, Australian Conference winners) vs Lowest Placed Qualifier – Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
17:05 (South African time): DHL Stormers (2nd, SA Conference winners) vs Highest Placed Qualifier – DHL Newlands, Cape Town
Vodacom Bulls 23 The Sharks 26
Vodacom Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Dean Greyling. Replacements: 16 Gary Botha (53rd minute for Ralepelle), 17 Rossouw de Klerk (72nd minute for Kruger), 18 Flip van der Merwe (63rd minute for Potgieter), 19 Danie Rossouw (49th minute for Bakkies Botha), 20 Fourie du Preez (65th minute for Van den Heever), 21 Francois Brummer, 22 Akona Ndungane.
Scorers – Tries: Van den Heever, Hougaard. Conversions: Steyn (2). Penalty goals: Steyn (3).
The Sharks: 15 Patrick Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Stefan Terblanche (captain), 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Keegan Daniel, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Gerhard Mostert, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira. Replacements: 16 John Smit (79th minute for Bismarck du Plessis), 17 Wiehahn Herbst (59th minute for Jannie du Plessis), 18 Ross Skeate (59th minute for Hargeaves), 19 Willem Alberts (53rd minute for Deysel), 20 Marcell Coetzee (78th minute for Daniel), 21 Adrian Jacobs (78th minute for Bosman), 22 Louis Ludik (76th minute for Pietersen).
Scorers – Tries: Terblanche, Mvovo. Conversions: Lambie, Michalak. Penalty goals: Lambie (2), Michalak. Drop goal: Michalak.
Toyota Cheetahs 34 DHL Stormers 44
Toyota Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Riaan Viljoen, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Barry Geel, 11 Ryno Benjamin, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Davon Raubenheimer, 7 Ashley Johnson, 6 Johan Wessels, 5 Martin Muller, 4 Francois Uys, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen. Replacements: 16 Ryno Barnes (72nd minute for Strauss), 17 Lourens Adriaanse (72nd minute for Nel), 18 Izak van der Westhuizen (54th minute for Muller), 19 Pieter Myburgh (55th minute for Wessels), 20 Tewis de Bruyn (71st minute for Pretorius), 21 Corné Uys (36th minute for Robert Ebersohn), 22 Riaan Smit (49th minute for Viljoen).
Scorers – Tries: Raubenheimer, Benjamin (3). Conversions: Sias Ebersohn (4). Penalty goals: Sias Ebersohn (2).
DHL Stormers: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Jean de Villiers, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger (captain), 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Rynhardt Elstadt, 3 Brok Harris (73rd minute for Blaauw), 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw. Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie (52nd minute for Liebenberg), 17 Frans Malherbe (64th minute for Harris), 18 Anton van Zyl (64th minute for Elstadt), 19 Nick Koster (52nd minute for Vermeulen), 20 Nic Groom (61st minute for Schreuder), 21 Johann Sadie (61st minute for De Villiers), 22 Earl Rose (80th minute for Habana).
Scorers – Tries: Aplon, De Jongh, Koster, Habana. Conversions: Grant (3). Penalty goals: Grant (6).