Stormers and Bulls flying South African flag high
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Two former Cape Town Brothers in Arms, JJ Engelbrecht (L) and Francois Hougaard (R) now playing for fiece North rivals, the Vodacom Bulls. Photo by James Loretz /Rugby15
Carlo Botha – After good wins on the weekend by the DHL Stormers and the Vodacom Bulls, these two rugby powerhouses look like sides to fly the South African flag high. The DHL Stormers were made to work hard for a 24-19 win over a spirited MTN Lions outfit, while the Bulls humiliated the defending champions, the Queensland Reds 61 – 8 at Loftus Versfeld.
Everything is now set for a massive North-South derby at Newlands this coming Saturday, when these two arch rivals clash for tops in the South African conference. The Stormers who are now the only unbeaten side remaining in the competition will be looking for it to stay that way, while the Bulls will be hoping to keep their scintillating form displayed this past weekend going.
The Sharks, Toyota Cheetahs and the MTN Lions will feel they slipped up this weekend and things could have been totally different if they used their opportunities. Although the season is only five weeks old, it can quickly become a very long season and a chasing game for these sides if they let the gap between them and the DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls widen.
The MTN Lions have improved with leaps-and-bounds and credit must go to the franchise, players and coach John Mitchell. One just feels that they need to start to winning games in which they are in control off; such as their fixture this past weekend against the DHL Stormers. The MTN Lions had majority of the possession and forced the DHL Stormers to make over 120 tackles. The DHL Stormers being the quality outfit they are the last couple of years, sustained the onslaught and were able to close it out.
The same applies to the Toyota Cheetahs, who in their tight encounters, have come up second best in more instances than on top this season.
The margins between winning and losing this season has been so close, that one can’t helping thinking that the teams who are going to win the most tight games will finish on top. There are no more easy games in this competition; therefore the ability to close out a tight one has become that much more important.
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