11 March 2019, by: Quintin van Jaarsveld

SUPER RUGBY ROUND 4 – BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS

The biggest takeaways from the fourth round of Super Rugby from a South African perspective, according to Quintin van Jaarsveld.

Swys de Bruyn backed a handful of rookies to turn the Lions’ fortunes around following back-to-back bad losses, and boy did they deliver!

The young centre pairing of Franco Naude and 2018 Junior Springbok Player of the Year Wandisile Simelane in particular looked comfortable at Super Rugby level, aside from the latter’s nervous first pass.

They gelled well as a combination and brought some much-needed x-factor back to the Johannesburg side. Simelane looked every bit of the star he’s been for the Baby Boks for a number of years in his magnificent Man of the Match performance.

Wandisile Simelane announced himself on the world stage in yesterday’s Vodacom #SuperRugby match after putting in a man of the match performance for the LionsRugbyCo ????

Just how far can this guy go? pic.twitter.com/4r5YLZGzyY

— VEK_TOH (@VEK_TOH) March 10, 2019

The turnaround started up front though, where greenhorns Ruan Vermaak and Vincent Tshituka formed part of a pack who played like men possessed. The young lock and flanker both had shining moments to cap off promising and productive performances.

Young replacements like James Venter and Gianni Lombard also played their part in making the Lions look like their old selves on the day.

The Pretoria franchise completed a comprehensive clean sweep of their South African counterparts to usurp the Sharks at the top of the conference standings.

In terms of South African derbies, it doesn’t get more convincing than a 40-3 thumping of the Stormers, 30-12 lashing of the Lions and Saturday’s 37-14 hammering of the Sharks. The Bulls are now clearly South Africa’s flag bearers, a role the Sharks had looked set to fill after the first two rounds.

The slip-up in Buenos Aires in Round Two can now confidently be considered a once-off. In fact, it may have been the catalyst for the tactical masterclass the Bulls have put on since.

Handré Pollard and his team have showed over the past fortnight that the basics still work, that you can still win – and win handsomely – through physical dominance and playing percentage rugby.

The Bulls are the only South African side not getting caught up in the allure of chasing tries at all cost. Instead, they take the points when they’re on offer, keeping the scoreboard ticking and putting the opposition under increasing pressure as they perfectly illustrated during the first half on Saturday.

Simple, basic and effective…the blueprint the Boks will surely follow in their quest for World Cup glory later this year.

For the second week in a row, a slow start effectively left the Sharks dead in the water, this time leaving them trailing 19-0 at half-time. The basic errors and ill-discipline from the shock defeat to the Stormers also carried over to the Loftus clash, with the knock-on count again in the double figures.

It’s now crystal clear: deny the Durbanites front foot ball and they’re all but beat. The forwards took a beating in the set pieces and in the gainline battle for a second straight week, and while it was a much-improved second half, the damage had already been done.

As much as the players will have to own up for another subpar showing, Robert du Preez also has to cop a fair amount of blame for the 23-point pummelling. In stark contrast to Swys de Bruyn’s aforementioned selections paying off, the Sharks coach’s changes backfired spectacularly.

The big, hard-running André Esterhuizen was born for a physical battle of inches as is always the case at Loftus. He made this obvious when he burst onto the park in the second half and smashed over the advantage line time and time again.

Jeremy Ward, the man who took over the No. 12 jersey for the all-important fixture, is a talented player but doesn’t pack the physical punch of an Esterhuizen, and never recovered from the glaring defensive error that gifted the Bulls the simplest of tries from a scrum deep inside the hosts’ half.

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