'New' Bulls stick to the old aerial route

NOT even the many artillery officers in the military camps dotted around Pretoria could have plotted a more systematic shelling of the enemy than the Bulls in their 18-13 Super Rugby win over the Sharks at Loftus on Friday night.

The Bulls had clearly paid no heed to all the talk about a bold new approach emerging from refereeing efforts to free up the ball and speed up play as they stuck to the kicking game that has served them so well over the years.

And the aerial bombardment proved to be extremely effective with the Sharks cowering in their territory like victims of a bombed out city.

Concessions have to be made to how early it is in the season, that this was the first serious hit-out for both teams, and probably also the muggy weather but this was a dreadfully disappointing game of rugby.

With the exciting Francois Hougaard compelled into doing a passable impersonation of his predecessor Fourie du Preez and Morne Steyn doing pretty much what he always does for his side, the Bulls signalled that the words "imagination" and "expansive" do not figure in their plans at this point in the season.

There is no denying that they perform the kick-and-chase extremely well, especially with the chase-jump-and-catch specialist Bjorn Basson in their ranks, but such a sterile approach might not work against opponents who attack them harder in the forwards to unsettle their kickers.

At least the Bulls had a plan. The Sharks had few ideas to counter the high ball and lacked structure and tactical nous when they were in possession. Instead of planned moves and secure building up, they seemed to have only quick switches and reckless passes in their arsenal. Too often they simply ran into an ambush of Bulls forwards or spilt the ball.

The Sharks did score the only try of the match - a spectacular long-range effort that would have been a certainty for the highlights reel but was soured by the fact that a crucial transfer from Tim Whitehead to Charl McLeod was clearly forward.

The Sharks appeared to have been shaken by the ferocity of the Bulls' initial defence and it will be a worry for coach John Plumtree that they backed off the fight.

In the end, the first South African match of the season provided a stage for Steyn to push his compelling attribute of being able to harvest points. It took five missed penalties, two apiece by Steyn and Patrick Lambie and one by Riaan Viljoen, before Steyn found his range and guided the Bulls to safety with five penalties in the space of 15 minutes in the second half (including a missile from close to the intersection of the halfway line and touchline) before sealing it with a trademark drop.

Steyn's haul of 18 points put the Bulls 12 points in the clear with 13 minutes left to play and even though the Sharks in desperation sparked their try by running the ball from deep in their own territory they lacked the necessary concentration and handling precision to create panic in the blue ranks.

In terms of individual performances the young Bulls lock Juandre Kruger was the stand-out player on the field. Kruger seems to have taken on the responsibility of calling the lineouts from Victor Matfield and even though the Bulls' precision in this facet requires a lot of work, Kruger overshadowed the other locks and would have made an impression on the new Springbok coach, Heyneke Meyer.

Pierre Spies had a quiet night and is clearly not going to be a demonstrative captain of the Bulls. He would have taken pleasure though in the fact that his pack dominated most exchanges.

There was obviously not a lot of scope for the Bulls backs. Hougaard, although having to kick more than he would probably like to, provided the odd piece of invention while Johann Sadie, in his debut, suffered the disappointment of being injured in the first 10 minutes. For the rest, the role of the Bulls backs was not to run and pass but to chase.

For the Sharks JP Pietersen revelled in having a new number on his back and got through a lot of constructive work.

He played a lone role though and the Sharks have much to do to set up the solid platforms and front-foot ball to bring a runner like Lwazi Mvovo into play rather than simply shuffling the ball from side to side.

A new trend, that of defending forwards standing off, rather than entering rucks, was also evident in this match and it is going to be interesting to see which side will be the first to find an effective counter as the Super Rugby season begins to unfold.