By Lucky Vince Pienaar
It’s become a tradition by now that the Sharks perform like wiggly little sardines when they are splashing about, waiting for the likes of Springboks Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth to come and rescue them from the playground bullies.
But this weekend, their performance was about as bad as it could be.
This is Benetton’s first victory in four matches. They are officially the whipping boys of the URC, and they beat the Sharks by 28 points. For the sake of decency, let’s call that a thrashing, but there are other, more descriptive words.
Yes, playing without your Springbok stars is tough, but the players who get selected should consider it an opportunity. They can’t go onto the field with a white flag hoisted to the rugby pole.
You really have to wonder how John Plumtree and Neil Powell still keep their jobs.
➤ The Stormers, not quite as pathetic as the Sharks, are also standing around waiting for Manie Libbok and other Springboks to get back into their team.
Damian Willemse, finally back from injury, could not have had a worse game, but that’s not as bad as it sounds. Willemse is one of the best backline players in the world – and he will, without doubt, get his mojo back.
The cold weather and an inspired Edinburgh crowd didn’t help them either.
But all of that can only partially excuse the Stormers’ performance. Conceding five tries to one is woefully below international standard.
John Dobson, talk to your team! You’re not the Sharks!
➤ When the Bulls’ forwards get going, there aren’t many teams in the world who can match them, and the Ospreys were run into the Swansea turf.
It was far from a perfect performance by the Bulls, though, conceding one red and two yellow cards for tackle errors that should not have happened.
Although they played with only 13 players on the field for long periods of the match, they were still the better team, but they will suffer against the best teams.
Jake White will, one imagines, sort out the discipline issues during the week.
Once again, the card system, imported from soccer, showed why it should be kicked into touch.
➤ The Lions, not nearly as brilliant as last week, still showed a lot of guts to come away with a four-point win against the Dragons.
Have the Lions given up on defence for the sake of attack? Conceding three tries against this kind of opposition must be a worry. They remain in Europe for a match against Zebre next week. Expect Cash van Vuuren to get his team to perform a lot better.
Results:
Benetton (5 tries) 38-10 (1 try) Sharks.
Edinburgh (5 tries) 38-7 (1 try) Stormers.
Ospreys (3 tries) 19-29 (4 tries) Bulls.
Dragons (3 tries) 19-23 (2 tries) Lions.
Pictured above: Benetton Rugby.
Source: URC/X
