Front Row Grunt

Like the bounce of the ball – both golf and rugby – it seems rugby score predicting is influenced by the state of one’s living! It was my first week in who’s knows how many that I reintroduced myself to Mr Straight and Mrs Narrow, and what happens – a Grand Slam SuperBru point for getting six predictions out of six …

The weekend’s results, and my predictions:

Stormers 21 – 8 Cheetahs (My prediction: Stormers by 16)
Western Force 10 – 14 Waratahs (My prediction: Waratahs by 12)
Highlanders 16 - 30 Sharks (My prediction: Sharks by 9)
Crusaders 46 - 19 Lions (My prediction: Crusaders by 22)
Bulls 19 - 18 Hurricanes (My prediction: Bulls by 14)
Blues 39 - 34 Brumbies (My prediction: Blues by 9)

Sure I am missing two margin points so I might not have the yellow cap in every pool, but I am taking that …

Points of interest for me:

Tim Whitehead had a magnificent debut. No issues on defence, confident on attack, breaking a few tackles, making a few yards, and off-loading in the tackle.

Opposite Whitehead, another up and coming centre, Robert Ebersohn, had a huge game on defense, showing very little respect for his body or the opposition. Very gutsy performance.

Anyone still doubt the Jaque Fourie purchase? The man is not only the best organiser of a defence on a rugby field, but is now making an impression on attack.

Wicus Blaauw made mincemeat of WP Nel, who looks like he has swallowed a Weber!

The Brok Harris guide to touch kicking is already a best seller on Kalahari.net. Together with his flying tackle on Naas Olivier, the man was pretty impressive.

John Smit has now played in all three front row positions this season, and had his best game with the number 1 on his back! I still think he is a hooker though.

Welcome to the Super 14 Patrick Lambie - you really do belong. I saw this man play at the 2008 Craven Week and thought he had something special. His performance on Saturday confirmed this!

The Sharks can win a game of rugby! Naalskraap, though – imagine that TMO call had gone against them and they had lost a third one because of a referee’s call?

The Lions really are hopeless.

Fourie du Preez can have a bad game! I really was not aware of that possibility!

The Bulls can win when Fourie du Preez has a bad game! Just full of confidence, only the Bulls (at Loftus that is) could come back from being 12-0 down while still playing pretty ordinary rugby. Mark of a champion side.

We really could have an all South African final this year!

The difference between the Vodacom Cup and Super14 is monumental. I commentated on the Vodacom Cup game between WP and the Border Bulldogs at Newlands, and though winning 29-0 that WP side, which is pretty much a Currie Cup side, really made hard work of the win …

I hope you have left a little in the tank for this afternoon my friends. Varsity Cup semi final time – one at Ikeys at 16h15, and one at Maties at 18h30. I am calling the UCT game with Gavin Cowley, so go hard on the vodka at your public holiday family lunch!

Semifinal team line-ups for Monday, March 22, 2010:

FNB UCT v FNB Shimlas, Groote Schuur
Kick-off: 4.15pm (Live on SuperSport One)
Referee: Ben Crouse

The teams:

UCT: Therlow Pietersen, 14 Pete Haw, 13 Marcel Brache, 12 Sean van Tonder, 11 Marcello Sampson, 10 Matt Rosslee, 9 Stu Commins (vice-captain), 8 JJ Gagiano, 7 Mike Morris, 6 Nick Fenton-Wells (captain), 5 Donovan Armand, 4 Levi Odendaal, 3 Grant Kemp, 2 Mark Goosen, 1 Ash Wells.
Replacements: 16 Matt Page, 17 Chris Heiberg, 18 Mike Ledwidge, 19 Sam Peter, 20 Nic Groom, 21 Douglas Mallett, 22 Mark Esterhuizen, 23 Wesley Chetty.

Shimlas: 15 George Whitehead, 14 Jamba Ulengo, 13 Earl Snyman, 12 Wayne Stevens (captain), 11 Beast Ndwandwa, 10 Franna du Toit, 9 Gerrie Odendaal, 8 Boom Prinsloo, 7 Sybrand Mostert, 6 Gerrit Theron, 5 Wilken Heyns, 4 Joubert Horn, 3 Ian Potgieter, 2 Hans Grobler, 1 Charles Marais.
Replacements: 16 PW van Vuuren, 17 Vaatjie Koorsen, 18 Lebo Zietsman, 19 Erik le Roux, 20 Marlin Ruiters, 21 Johan van Schalkwyk, 22 Divandré Strydom, 23 Johnny Harris.

FNB Maties v FNB Pukke, Danie Craven Stadium
Kick-off: 6.30pm (Live on SuperSport One)
Referee: Dilbert November

The teams:

Maties: 15 Adnaan Oesman, 14 Wilhelm Loock, 13 Danie Poolman, 12 Charl Weideman, 11 Tythan Adams, 10 André Kemp, 9 Johan Herbst, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Jonathan Adendorf, 6 Sam Mabombo, 5 Hugo Kloppers, 4 Andrew Prior, 3 Lourens Adriaanse (captain), 2 Matthew Dobson, 1 Mike De Neuilly-Rice.
Replacements: 16 Gareth Light, 17 Johan Roets, 18 Marinus Pretorius, 19 Hannes van Wyk, 20 Johan Laker, 21 Hayden Groepes, 22 Jonathan Francke, 23 Andrew Crausaz.

Pukke: 15 Theuns Kotzé, 14 SP Marais, 13 Kempie Rautenbach, 12 Wouter Watermeyer, 11 Johannes Seerane, 10 Neill Jacobs, 9 Janis Terblanche, 8 PJ van Zyl, 7 Thabo Molete, 6 Siya Mdaka, 5 Markus Fourie, 4 Francois Robbertse, 3 Stephanus Bezuidenhout, 2 Stoffel Duvenage (captain), 1 BG Uys.
Replacements: 16 BW van Dyk, 17 Dewald Coetzee, 18 Edwin Hewitt, 19 Jaco Lötter, 20 Willem Barnard, 21 Ghafoer Luckan, 22 Dane Johnson, 23 Johan Coetzee.

Have a good short week,
Tank