Well done Bully Boys

Zhahier Ryland tackles Akona Ndungane Photo: Rugby365.com

As a Western Province and Stormers supporter, I am glad I didn't go to Loftus tonight. My wounds from the 75 - 14 thrashing dished out in April are still healing, and witnessing tonight's mauling first hand (and amidst 45 000 howling mad Bulls fans) would have been too much.

The Bulls were close to perfect tonight. Their handling of the first 20 minutes appeared to leave the Province boys confused and awestruck. The Bulls were content to let WP play the ball and then kill them in the rucks and mauls. It was a strategy akin to the Boks' play in the Tri Nations. Except that this time, the Bulls had the dinosaur pack like the one Jake White tried in Sydney - and they worked. They were immense. Danie Roussouw, Victor Matfield, Kees Lensing, Pedrie Wannenberg and Anton Leonard knocked the Province forwards out of their socks in rucks and mauls. Their ferocity was such that it looked like a game of men versus boys. It was here that WP lost the game. They never looked like scoring or retaining multi-phase possession. In desperation they resorted to kicking for position, but inevitably lost ground against the Bulls from resulting lineouts and defensive play.

An additional factor that worked for the Bulls was Derick Hougaard. He started tentively and De Wet Barry looked to pressurise him - but only really succeeded with one hit. Hougaard grew more slef assured as the match wore on and started succeeding with his familiar raking kicks.

In contrast to the rucks and mauls, WP dominated the Bulls pack at scrum time. Frederico Mendez is immense and has clearly taught the WP pack that technique wins over size. Central to this appears to be a low hit and body position. Inevitably this results in the opposing front row dropping their shoulders below their waists and either losing power or collapsing the scrum. Jonathan Kaplan's reading of this was excellent. The WP forwards also contested well in the lineouts, even stealing some of the Bulls ball. But scrums and lineouts are where it ended for Province.

Psychologically, it seems that after being hit back every time they touched the ball in the first 20 minutes, the WP boys gave up. Certainly, after conceding two tries before half time, they were up against it and didn't look like they believed they could win.

As good as the Bulls forwards were, so was the performance by Werner Greeff, Gus Theron, Bolla Conradie and Gaffie du Toit bad. Werner Greeff had clearly not recovered from his sternum injury and should not have played. His lasting contribution to this match will be his truculent flinging away of the ball in touch, that led to a penalty and ultimately the second try for the Bulls. It was the turning point of the match and it was typical of the "brain explosions" that he and De Wet suffer from. De Wet was restrained however and did not respond to constant Bulls niggling. Greeff could have learnt from him.

Gus Theron's contribution was an early hit that saw the Bulls get a penalty 10 metres from the Province line, a ridiculous scoop of the ball from the bottom of a ruck (in front of the touch judge) and a poor handling mistake right at the beginning of the match. There is no ways that Theron deserves another starting place in the WP team. He has been seen as a stand-in for all the years he has played in the team and has never put up his hand to prove this otherwise.

Gaffie looked as though he would rather not be on the park - probably dreading doing anything to deserve another Mallet tongue-lashing in the change room. It is unlikely that Mallet possesses the self-restraint or motivational skills to build up a player who is falling apart. He is in fact renowned for the opposite. This said, Carel du Plessis is precisely the coach to build a player, and he could not succeed with Du Toit. Someone else deserves a chance as the WP challenger for the number 15 jersey.

Conradie responded to the Bulls niggle by trying to take on the Bulls pack himself. He wasn't going to contribute anything to the game that way and the contrast from De Kock's performance signalled a WP side that had given up. Conradie must now be allowed to play some club rugby prior to his Free State move and give up his bench position for Paul Delport. Thought might also be given to Tertius Carse - someone who I believe remains one of the most underrated scrumhalves around. His pace to the ball is fantastic and service is great.

Shimange looks like a player short of game time - his throwing in was woeful. If he cannot be guaranteed a start, he must get more time on the park in some club games.

The WP backs hardly saw the ball. The only noteworthy performance was by Peter Grant. His distribution is something special. He made some snap passes as well as 10m long efforts that went straight to hand. It was a pity that the WP runners could not do them justice by finding some space to run into. Even Zhahier Ryland, who looked dangerous when he got the ball was quickly shut down. The youngster tried hard though and in addition to his sparkling side steps, made all his tackles. He is someone to invest in.

But the closing comment must be congratulations to the Bulls. They seem to live for their matches against the Streeptruie at Loftus. They lived up to their nickname and bullied the WP players off the ball. They played this niggle as much as the referee would allow and as such showed street smarts that the growing WP pack could not match.

If this match was a prelude to the final, then the WP have work to do.