Rugby Round-up

The Currie Cup and Rugby Championship are well under way and providing plenty of quality rugby viewing.

Currie Cup

• Pumas drew first blood, taking an early 3-0 lead due to a Griquas penalty. Griquas responded with a try by Marnus Schoeman who crashed over the whitewash following a successful rolling maul. Pumas retaliated with a penalty kick and an unconverted try. Griquas would have the last say in the first half, with debutante flyhalf Dean Grant scoring and converting a try. Griquas led by one at halftime. The Pumas’ Jerome Pretorius scored his second try after restart, but Grant would pull back three points with a successful penalty kick five minutes later.Two converted tries and penalty would see Pumas end the game 33-15 ahead. Pumas currently are fourth on the log while Griquas are second to last at seventh.

• The Blue Bulls won their first match of the competition when they beat the Eastern Province Kings at Loftus. Bulls scored first with a penalty from Jantjies. Kings’ Shane Gates scored a try in response. The Bulls would not take that lying down and Stegmann crashed over the try line seven minutes later. Each team gained three point through successive penalties and the halftime score was 11-8 in favour of the Bulls. After the restart prop Lizo Ggoboka scored a try to put the Kings in front. In the 45th minute Jantjies was sent off for not retreating ten metres. Van Breda’s penalty kick is good and the score is 18 – 11 in favor of the Kings. Kings’ Mike van Vuuren gets sent off for repeated infringements. Tries by Ndungane and Kriel would see the Bulls’ lead stretch to 30-18. The Kings wouldn’t let their opponents relax and Van Vuuren (back from the sin bin) scored in the corner. The Bulls could have added more points through three penalties, but Jantjies missed the first, they decided to take a line-out with the second, and they just kicked the ball into touch after the siren, instead of taking the penalty. So, due to poor decision-making, the score stayed 30-25 Bulls. Bulls are sixth and Kings are last (eighth) on the log.

• Western Province beat the Golden Lions 27-14 at Newlands. Province struck first with a try from Kobus van Wyk, who pulled a beautiful switch with Kolbe after the ball went wide from the back of a maul. Van Wyk scored four minutes later, after chasing after a dodgy Catrakilis’ up-and-under kick, winning the ball in the air and running a few metres to score. Lions’ first points would come from a penalty in the 31st minute by Ruan Combrink. Combrink featured eight minutes later, managing to get two defenders to commit to tackling him and offloading to Coetzee who scored in the corner. Province lead 14-8 at the break. Two penalties apiece after restart took the score to 20-14 in Province’s favour. Jaco Taute came off the bench to score eight minutes before full time and Kurt Coleman (also off the bench) converted. Province are top of the log, Lions are third.

• The Sharks just about held on for a 19-16 win against the Cheetahs at Kings Park. Cheetahs led for the majority of the game and probably were more deserving of a win. Each team scored a try apiece, but what would ultimately be the difference between winning and losing was a long-range penalty kick from Fred Zeilinga four minutes from full time. Cheetahs did have a last gasp attempt but prop Kevin Stevens placed the ball millimetres short of the line in the dying seconds of the game. Sharks are in second, Cheetahs are fifth.

Rugby Championship

• The All Blacks hosted the Wallabies at Eden Park. It was their second matchup in the championship and they were thus playing for the Bledisloe Cup. The All Blacks have been unbeaten at Eden Park since 1994. They managed to extend that unbeaten run when they thrashed the Wallabies 51-20, retaining the cup for yet another year. Due to a lacklustre draw between the two last week, the All Blacks are second on the log, while the Wallabies are last.

• The Springboks were unbelievably lucky to win against the Argentine Pumas. In fact, if life were fair they would’ve lost. Since the tournament’s inception in 2012, it has been obvious that the Springboks struggle in Argentina. They never lose (the closest they’ve come is a draw), but they play abominably. Grown men actually have cried in frustration while watching them. Somehow they managed to be even worse this year. The Pumas opened the scoring through a penalty. Pollard pulled back six minutes later with their own penalty kick. JM Hernandez dropped back and scored a drop goal from just outside the Springbok 22. Another Pollard penalty kick saw scores leveled again. Pumas score a try three minutes later. Springboks have a penalty and a try (Habana) in quick succession. Springboks led 16-13 at the break. After the restart the Pumas scored an unconverted and a converted try. Soon they were awarded a penalty and the score was at 28-16 Pumas. The Springboks come back with tries by Cornal Hendricks and Marcell Coetzee and led by two. Pumas got a penalty six minutes from full time, putting them in the lead by one. Springboks got a penalty three minutes later and won by two points. Final score saw the Springboks win 33-31. They are on top of the log, having won both their matches. Pumas are in third because they have a better points difference than the Wallabies.