Brigadier Dylok

There were a few things I learnt this weekend.

1. The Bulls are not missing Habana one bit.

2. Structures and nurturing young talent are far more important then buying superstars.

3. Cape Town fans blatant lack of rugby knowledge.

4. England are rubbish at rugby.

Consistent under achievers the Vodacom Stormers have once again impressed at the Stadium of False Hope. While they certainly look the real deal this year one has to wonder what will happen if the self-proclaimed worlds best outside centre gets injured.

What has really irritated the hell out of me over the past few weeks are the Stormers fans going on and on about Habana but not acknowledging their most important player. Jaque Fouries influence on the Stormers has been nothing less then phenomenal. His defensive organisation is unbelievable. I honestly believe that without him this season would be another typical Stormers year, one where hope is built up only for it to be unrewarded.

It was lovely to see Schalk Burger playing well again, in-fact he played two decent games in a row, something that he has not done in over 2 years. Lets hope he stays injury free, as it would be nice to see him in his old Bok number 6 or as Stegmans back up.

Being a supporter who has never been a fan of smaller players it took a lot for the brave Juan de Jongh to impress me. I think he is a candidate for the Bok 13 jersey one day although he is playing inside at the moment.

So now the giant slaying cheetahs come to Newlands. Before Brussow was injured I would have made the unpopular prediction of the Bloem boys pulling a sneaky win out of the bag! They always seem to up their game when playing against their countryman. But not this weekend I am afraid, without the phenomenal intensity of Brussow I think they may be a different team. Stormers by 7.

So what have the bulls been doing? Other then shutting up all the absolute idiots who still call them predicable...... Scoring lots and lots of tries while playing the most entertaining rugby a South African team has ever played.

When one of the world greatest wings stubbed the union that built him even after the greatest season in SA rugby history, Bulls supporters where fuming (myself included) the reason for all the anguish was the lingering thought that they would not be the same without him. I am happy to say that he is not being missed one bit.

The combination of youth and experience has really shown to be a wonder recipe in Pretoria. One can only have good things to say about a team that losses one of the greatest wings of all time and the 20 year old who replaces him is now one of the tournaments top try scorers (4). On the other end of the line Ndungane breaks his leg and is replaced by (at the time) the Bulls 3rd choice SCRUMHALF. Thats right..... Scrum half who has now also scored 4 tries playing wing. Francios Hougaard is playing some brilliant rugby and has already made his bok debut at scrum half, Du Preez has a worthy understudy at last. Bakkies gets injured and one of the most exciting locks I have ever seen comes into the fray. Flip van der Merwe is the real deal, just you watch. He surely is Bakkies long-term replacement both at the Bulls and Boks. This really tells a story about the structures that are in place at Loftus. Perhaps all SA unions should concentrate a bit harder on the very important topic of NURTURING YOUNG TALLENT and letting them take the step up when the time comes. Alternativly you could buy some over priced, over rated, over the hill internationals.

It must be said though that the Bulls simply have to pull their act together on defence if they wish to have a succesfull tour. There will be no army of blue horned crazys cheering there team on in australasia and the altitude factor will not be a present. But what will shine through is the bulls seperior fitness levals because of all the high altitude training.

This weekend the Canes are in town and one can predict with relative certainty a much impoved defencing effort and the usual brilliant atticking one from the home side. Bulls by 10

Having two teams at the top is very nice, having one of them being unbeaten with a game in hand defending the trophy just lovely.

The Future.