The Queensland Reds have won the 2011 Super Rugby tournament. A valiant Crusaders team seemed to just not have enough gas in the tank after a grueling season where they did more than a 100 000 miles of travelling. They lost 18 – 15 to the team from Australia in the Super Rugby final in Brisbane on Saturday.

Will Genia scored the last of two Reds’ tries in the 69th minute and that seemed to be enough. The other try was scored by Digby Ioane.

For the Crusaders Daniel Carter scored a try, a conversion and two penalties.

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The Aussies are the only noteworthy objectors this week to the Springboks possibly fielding an under-strength side come Tri-Nations time. Were they not the ones who instigated the protests in 2007 when Bob Skinstad’s “B-side” toured Down Under? The basis of their grievances was that folks pay their hard-earned money to buy tickets to see the “big guns compete and what they were set to receive was a slap in the face”.  And it wasn’t only Mick from Melbourne and Syd from Sydney who stood the chance of getting a “klap”, their hugely superior team also stood to be disrespected.

The mere fact that the Springboks almost caused a most prolific upset in their bastion of rugga, Stadium Australia, deserves mentioning though if for no other reason than the utter impertinence shown to them by the Aussie media and officials. (more…)

First choice centres who don’t penetrate defensive systems, locks and loose forwards that camp in the backline and a national captain who can’t even make his union’s starting line-up – these are but some of the nightmares that should keep Peter de Villiers up at nights. However, the national coach seems to be more than satisfied with the state of S.A. Rugby and says he is sleeping like a baby. A baby ostrich, with his head firmly buried under ground possibly, seeing as things are not where they have to be with a World Cup tournament less than 65 days away!

The Stormers’ crushing defeat at the hands of the battered and bruised Crusaders in Cape Town last Saturday did little else except to underline the desperate state of the level of the game in the Republic. Jean de Villiers and Jacque Fourie (widely regarded as the centre pairing for the RWC) had a horrid time of it; between trying to restrict Sonny Bill Williams, fighting their own forwards for possession in the backline and trying to look for some inkling of direction from Peter Grant!

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How sick must Harold Verster, Naka Droske and the loyal supporters of the Cheetah franchise be of players leaving the union for greener pastures?! The Sharks effectively field a Free State “B-side” every time they don the black and white in any competition!

It’s not a recent occurrence either; think back to Andre Joubert, Henry Honiball, Pieter Muller, and Ollie Le Roux in the early nineties. AJ Venter and Werner Swanepoel followed suit in the latter part of that decade and Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Ruan Pienaar, Andries Strauss and Meyer Bosman brought it full circle in the new millennium. Granted the younger du Plessis and Pienaar never represented the Cheetahs at senior provincial level, but they were taught the finer “inns and outs” of the game at Grey College in Bloemfontein! You cannot really blame these guys for their decision to depart. The professional nature of the sport determines where their loyalties lie and this matter is compounded by the ever-shortening shelf life of rugby players. You are forced to go where the money is, and let’s face it, you ain’t gonna find it at the foot of Naval Hill!

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The Crusaders booked their semi-final spot against the Stormers on Saturday as they comprehensively beat the Sharks 36 – 8 in their Vodacom Super Rugby Qualifier at Trafalgar Park, Nelson.

The Crusaders will face the Cape Town side at Newlands on the 2nd July 2011.

Scorers:

Crusaders 36 – Try: Sonny Bill Williams, Kieran Read, Ben Franks; Conversions: Dan Carter (2), Mathew Berquist; Penalties: Carter (5)
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For Sharks fans everywhere the presence and well-being of at least one Frenchman is of paramount importance this coming weekend. While Dominic Strauss-Kahn’s parole restrictions and Nicolas Sarkozy’s impending fatherhood drew a fair amount of attention, Frederick Michelac is the focus here – the man who almost single-handedly turned the Bulls on their heels and Loftus Versveld on its head.

The former French international’s contribution to the crushing of every blue-blooded, horn head’s ticker was epic to witness, as was the faces of utter relief seen on the mugs of the hundreds of Durbanites who made the trip up north. Michelac commanded and received the respect of the every, single Bulls player on the park. Not through brute force (as is often the case in titanic Loftus battles) but through sheer brilliance and self-belief. Not once did the pivot, selected ahead of golden boy Patrick “Lamborghini” Lambie, look out of place or set a foot wrong. He distributed well, organized defence without much trouble and led the attack of the three-quarters effortlessly.

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Once, not too long ago, the name on everybody’s lips was Jonah Lomu. The giant, Tongan-born, All Black winger that took South Africa, the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the world by storm. Mike Catt might have said it best (after he woke from the concussion suffered from this big unit running over him at Newlands) when he referred to The Tongan Express as “a monster of a man that seems to have no limitations”.

Of course Lomu’s well below-par kidney (he received a transplant a few years back) proved that the man-mountain was not only human, but also rather suspect in quite a few other areas. Lomu “developed” into a victim of his circumstances and was proven to be merely as good as the players (teammates and opponents) allowed him to be. He famously started his inability to score a try against South Africa (in any form of the game) in the 1995 RWC Final and it plagued him for his entire career.

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