The quality of rugby on show this year is pathetic. The amount of aimless kicking, the poor level of basic skills and the influence of referees is killing the game as a spectacle.

It was not a good weekend for South African teams, with 4 out of the 5 losing, but the NZ aand Aussie teams aren’t that far ahead of us either. Sure there has been alot of Southern Hemisphere players move north, but I blame the Elv’s firstly, and then the coaches.

The Sharks now look clear favourites for the title, and the Chiefs look to be the one team capable of stopping them.

Picks 4/6
     
Crusaders (16) v Bulls (13)
A disgraceful performance by the Bulls. They’ve now lost two in a row and given their great advantage up. A home semi now seems to be gone, just making the semis is going to be tough enough now.
Is it coindcidene that the Crusaders seem to be involved in the most boring and pathetic games? eg v Islanders, Stormers…

Both teams made too many errors, kicked aimlessly and showed a poor skill level. However the Crusaders showed greater urgency and were rewarded for this with their try which was the result of the Bulls not taking responsibility. Someone needed to stick their hand up and WANT to take the ball. Standing around waiting for someone else to take is leads to looking stupid, and that’s being nice.

I find it amazing that a team can train all week, be paid to play and then produce that sort of dribble. The Bulls at Loftus care, play with passion and don’t like to be embarrased. On the road they simply don’t care.
The errors were amazing. Fourie Du Preez dropped two balls cold. JP Nel gave away two stupid penalties (which cost points and ultimately the game), Spies dropped 2 passes, Rossouw once again showed great endeavour yet got turned in the tackle and isolated at times turning over possession. These things cost us. Why do we do it week after week? What do they do in their video sessions for crying out loud!

The match winning penalty was the result of not taking the kickoff after we drew level (and had the momentum) and then trying a short throw at the lineout. Two errors, puts us under pressure and eventually the error presented 3 points to the Crusaders. Stupid play.
These are the small things that lost us the game. Disappointingly it was there for the taking. The Crusaders are not a great team. We got dominated in possession, territory, at the breakdowns and pressure simply by taking stupid options and not playing to our strengths.

The players need to be accountable. Habana had a shocker. Matfield was annonymous, he lacked confidence in the lineout. It’s the first time i’ve seen him unsecure on his own ball. Botha was nowhere. Rossouw lacks precision. Du Preez was somewhere else. Jaco Pretorius is hopeless. JP Nel a liability. In short this team embarrased the jersey and history of a proud union. I understand where Ludicrous Ludeke is coming from saying the refs are costing them, I agree. But we need to rise above that and adapt. We are getting killed at the breakdown, and the loss of Stegmann is huge. But we need others to step up, protect the ball and get us some go forward instead of the static delivery.

To hear Matfield say he was reasonably happy with the performance is a disgrace. As much as I love Matfield, that sort of thinking gets us nowhere. I just hope we can turn it around and play with a bit of pride and passion.

Force (39) v Reds (7)
A blowout scoreline. The Reds lack precision in their helter skelter rugby, and at times they can look silly. They’ve now lost 19 in a row on the road. At least it makes our SA teams not look so bad.

Chiefs (36) v Lions (29)
The Lions showed great urgency and commitment for 60 minutes. It allowed them to lead by 19 points midway through the second half. Then they imploded. The game was there for the taking. But as all South African teams do, they played to protect their lead as opposed to going for the win and really hurting the Chiefs. This meant we gave away all possession, and the Chiefs had all the territory and possession. As the great Kitch Christie said “You can only make so many tackles” Eventually it told. Firstly a yellow card, then the opening of the floodgates.

The Lions should hang their heads in shame for they gave this game away. It highlights the problems of not holding onto possession, and trying to do something constructive with the ball. At least Jacque Fourie played well, and Louis Ludik is fantastic. Fearless and great commitment. I’d make him the Bok fullback.

Worrytahs (12) v Stormers (6)
The quality of rugby this season is shocking.Another crappy game. The Stormers are filled with stars. They need to be accountable. The Bok team should be based on form. I’d dro Burger, Jantjies, Januarie, Mujati…sack them all. Get some committed and intelligent players.

Cheaters (27) v Brumbies (40)
Pretty predictable stuff. The Brumbies are awful. That makes the Cheaters, …, I guess they don’t have a superlative for something that bad! I don’t know how the Cheaters can believe they deserved to be in this competition ahead of the Southern Spears. Did they honestly think they could win this competition?

Sharks (33) v Horrorcanes (17)
Another game down on the skill level to previous years, but full of passion and determination. The Sharks started off slowly and gradually after 20 minutes or so started to dominate posession and territory. They couldn’t find the tryline however and luckily their pressure produced 3 penalties.

The second half saw them score twice from turnover posession. You get one or two of those chances a game, and it’s the one thing the Sharks are scoring from. It’s still worrying we can’t construct much more than that, but we butchered a couple of clear chances, including Jaques Botes who only had to catch the ball.
The Sharks now move to the top of the log, and next week they play the Cheaters. Should be a gift 5 points.