The Blue Bulls have released their beloved flyhalf Derick Hougaard to further his career in England where he will team up with Heyneke Meyer.
It looks like the closely fought endgame of the Super 14 might turn Saturday’s announcement of the 45-man Springbok squad into something of a damp squib. Springbok coach Peter de Villiers will want to avoid disrupting the semifinal preparations of the Sharks and Stormers and will postpone naming players from those squads.
Champions Bulls beat the second-placed New South Wales Waratahs 16-13 in a Super 14 match on Saturday. The result helped the struggling Bulls to move up a slot into 10th place, while the Waratahs retained their position in the standings. They lie 10 points behind the Canterbury Crusaders courtesy of a losing bonus point.
An early four-try scoring blitz fashioned a 50-22 Super 14 triumph for Wellington Hurricanes over title holders Northern Bulls on Saturday. ”We were shocking,” was the blunt assessment of scrumhalf and captain Fourie du Preez as the Bulls returned to their home ground after a dismal four-match Australasia tour.
The Western Force came from a long way behind to snatch a thrilling 15-14 win over the Bulls in Perth on Friday night. Down 14-3 at half-time and staring down the barrel when still trailing by four points and with the Bulls in possession with just two minutes to go, the Force scored the winning try through rugby league convert Ryan Cross in the 79th minute.
Bulls loose forward Pedrie Wannenburg will become the most capped Bulls player in Super rugby when he takes the field against the Western Force in Perth on Friday. Wannenburg, who was selected as flank alongside Wikus van Heerden, will surpass Victor Matfield’s record of 77 matches for the franchise.
Pierre Spies has been included in the Bulls side to play the Blues in a Super 14 match in Auckland on Saturday. The inclusion of the Springbok number eight is a major boost for the defending champions, who have won only two of their six matches to date and were outplayed by two of the competition’s weaker sides over the past two weekends.
The Waikato Chiefs ran away with a 43-27 win over the Northern Bulls in a Super 14 rugby match that came alight with a flurry of second-half tries in New Zealand on Saturday. Their third win from six matches produced Chiefs’ first bonus point of the season and lifted them from 10th to eighth on the ladder.
The Bulls will be without Bryan Habana for their Super 14 match against the Chiefs in Roturua on Saturday. The 2007 IRB Player of the Year has not been considered due to a recurrence of a shoulder injury, and Danwel Demas will replace him on the left wing.
Under-fire Queensland Reds bounded out of the Super 14 rugby doldrums with a 40-8 demolition of fading champions the Northern Bulls of South Africa in Brisbane on Saturday. The Reds cashed in with five tries for their first bonus-point victory in the southern-hemisphere competition in four years.
Despite having to play for 10 minutes with 13 men, the Bulls beat the Lions 31-17 in a pulsating Super 14 match in Pretoria on Friday. The home side lost Springbok hard man Bakkies Botha to the sin-bin, and fullback Zane Kirchner to a red card, in the first period, but still had too much fire-power to overcome the Lions.
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/ 28 February 2008
The Sharks and the Bulls will stage a replay of last year’s final in the third round of the Super 14 this weekend, with both teams attempting to prevent recent glory days from ebbing away. The Sharks won their first two matches by narrow margins, 17-10 over the Western Force and 12-10 — relying on penalties — over the Stormers.
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/ 27 February 2008
The Bulls have included their fit-again World Cup Springboks Bakkies Botha and Akona Ndungane in the team to play the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday in a repeat of last year’s Super 14 final. Their inclusion was expected, pending their fitness, but coach Frans Ludeke made a surprise selection of Morne Steyn at flyhalf, while giving Springbok Derick Hougaard a rest.
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/ 23 February 2008
The Crusaders spoilt the Bulls’ homecoming when they thrashed them 54-19 in their Super 14 encounter played at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Friday. The visitors ran in a deluge of seven tries as opposed to the solitary one scored by the Bulls in the dying minutes.
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/ 16 February 2008
World player of the year Bryan Habana scored the only try of the match as the Bulls began the defence of their Super 14 title with a hard-fought 16-9 victory over the Stormers on Saturday. Habana scored his 25th try in 40 matches in the competition when he dived over on the left hand side four minutes before halftime.
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/ 30 January 2008
The Bulls have included three of their previously injured World Cup Springboks in the side to play the Lions in a warm-up match in Windhoek on Saturday. Danie Rossouw, Gurthro Steenkamp and Akon Ndungane have all been given the green light, and the starting line-up is arguably the best Frans Ludeke could have selected.
The Free State Cheetahs pulled off the double over the Blue Bulls with a near-clinical 29-17 victory at Loftus Versfeld on Friday evening. The Bulls had begun with plenty of gusto but soon found themselves running out of steam and handing the game to the Cheetahs.
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/ 16 September 2007
The Blue Bulls turned the corner and all but cemented their place in the semifinals of the Currie Cup with a comfortable 35-10 victory over Western Province at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. The hosts’ victory was made that much sweeter by the fact that they were able to also gain the bonus point as they breached the Western Province tryline four times.
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/ 2 September 2007
The Blue Bulls look on course to fight until the end for a home semifinal berth after they ran over Griquas 46-3 in their Currie Cup encounter at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon. In Cape Town, Western Province kept their Currie Cup semifinal hopes alive when they thrashed the Boland Cavaliers 62-10 at Newlands.