Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: The big hits from Western Province vs the Blue Bulls

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The big hits from Western Province vs the Blue Bulls

The North-South derby between Western Province and the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup this weekend proved to be everything that was expected of it. Both sides pummeled each other for large parts of a game that had a good old Test match feel to it. No tries were scored, so here’s the best of the rough stuff from what was an extremely physical contest.

Western Province snatched the 15-12 win in front of close to 48 000 home fans at Newlands after Willem de Waal and Jaques-Louis Potgieter battled it out with the boot, with De Waal winning the kicking contest by slotting the one extra penalty.

"I'm very happy and pleased with the four points because in the past, we normally lost close games like this," said WP coach Allister Coetzee.

"You couldn't get a tougher Currie Cup match than this - in the week we predicted it would be like a Test and it was exactly that," he added.

The brutal nature of the match took it’s toll as both sides have injury concerns, with the Bulls looking to be worse off. Fullback Zane Kirchner twisted his knee, ruling him out of this coming weekend’s Springbok test against the All Blacks.

Before the injury came about, Kirchner was in the thick of it as you can see in this clip, making a huge hit then taking one later in the game from Frikkie Welsh.

There were one or two illegal or late tackles, that were penalised, and then there was a fantastic tackle from Province eigthman Duane Vermeulen as he knocked back big Juandre Kruger, who northern hemisphere fans will know well from his time with Northampton Saints in England.

Province remain unbeaten with six wins in a row and top the table at 27 points, whilethe Sharks are one behind on 26. Those two sides meet this coming weekend in what should be another classic Currie Cup match up.

Time: 02:56
Song: Pull me back by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

1st

By Anonymous, at August 17, 2010 9:58 pm
Idiot...

These were some massive hits, good to watch

By Ben, at August 17, 2010 10:11 pm
i dont understand how that third tackle was illegal

By Anonymous, at August 17, 2010 10:40 pm
^^^ at above,i can see both sides of the argument.he did seem fairly late in real time,but the slow-mo shows that he committed himself very early.no big deal that the call went against him.

i thought van den heever was very unlucky,you can see that his arm starts at the chest and slides up to the neck.however,it did prevent a try,so no problems with him being sent to the bin.

finally,great vid RD!
please keep posting as many big hits as possible

By Leeners93, at August 17, 2010 11:01 pm
i love the big hits but if the wife catches me watchin em she gives me a right bollocking!

By Anonymous, at August 17, 2010 11:59 pm
Sit down!

By Anonymous, at August 18, 2010 12:03 am
Oh, RD, you dog you. I'd written those times down (the Kirchner and Welsh tackles) as suggestions for the next in the TSRB series.

It's like you read my mind...

By tickle me elmo, at August 18, 2010 12:16 am
The Welsh hit was even better since they showed a good replay of it.

...I hadn't really noticed the others, though. So definitely thanks for the post since I got to see the other big hits from the game.

By tickle me elmo, at August 18, 2010 12:17 am
Oi, why Vermeulen is not even considered for the Boks still amazes me. He's a good, solid, hard player, and it looks like they need someone like that in the team ;)

Welsh, you demon!!!

By Anonymous, at August 18, 2010 2:46 am
I'm not too familiar with SA domestic rugby, so forgive me, but I've been watching this year's Currie Cup and it seems the the Blue Bulls aren't really all that convincing.

They've lost 3 matches already (I think) and they just barely put one over on the Leopards it seemed.

I'm just surprised since they usually do so well in the Super 14 - do they also usually do well in the Currie Cup and are these opening rounds just them getting warmed up? Or are all the other sides just stepping up this year?

By Humphrey's beard, at August 18, 2010 3:41 am
@humphrey's beard during the currie cup alot of the star players will move up to play with the Springboks, and the bulls have quite a few impact players that move up (morne steyn, victor matfield, etc.) so they have to fill those positions

By Anonymous, at August 18, 2010 4:02 am
Great hits! ZAne Kirchner looking good and smiling on the hits... Great attitude, but I think he's still got a long way to go if he wants to take full possession of the Boks no. 15...

By Juggernauter, at August 18, 2010 4:15 am
as usual, currie cup doesnt dissapoint wish we could get it on tc here in argentina

By eric, at August 18, 2010 4:50 am
Thanks, Anonymous - I'd forgotten about that.

So do the Boks on call go back to their teams (a lot coming from the Bulls) once the 3N is over - and if so, that's why the Bulls end up on top?

By Humphrey's beard, at August 18, 2010 5:24 am
Too many physical tackles, both team receive 3 months

By The Citing Commissioner, at August 18, 2010 6:23 am
^ You really ought to learn when to quit a joke, buddy.

By robin williams, at August 18, 2010 6:45 am
Humphrey's beard, pretty much as you say.
The Bok players will usually come back for the final series, so it changes things and means as long as the Bulls preform solidly, and make the finals, they have a great chance of winning them, cuz their internationals come back.

By Tommy, at August 18, 2010 9:38 am
WE WANT TSRB 12 RD!

Some nice hits here.

Tom Eire

By Anonymous, at August 18, 2010 9:51 am
Now you point to me a rugby player or fan that would not be glued to the screen watchging this kind of action. Absolutely tantalizing! No tiddly winks here for sure!

By Anonymous, at August 18, 2010 10:31 am
i agree, good game, great hits.

But i cant help but feel that if this had been played in the NH, this board would be awash with comments about being boring etc etc.

By Dave, at August 18, 2010 1:39 pm
Good - physical hits with none of the stupid flying headbutts or cheap shots seen at International level recently. Great to see this type of committed game....

I think it also goes to prove that no tried DOES NOT always equal a boring game.

By NiWiTa, at August 18, 2010 1:41 pm
Hey Dave! did you actually get to watch the whole game. I`ve watched my fair share of NH games and out of those not too many will come close to this one. NH rugby tends to be too slow for my liking. not always though.

By Anonymous, at August 18, 2010 3:14 pm
Re: 3rd tackle (Welsh on Küun)

For those that say a tackler
"committed himself early", that's not much of an excuse.

IMHO, there are many players nowadays who put their heads down into a tackling position way too early.

They are choosing to maximize the impact of their hit, at the expense of actually watching the game and see howing it develops.

It's a calculated risk, but they should be responsible for the outcomes -- be it a great hit, or a late hit.

By cheyanqui, at August 18, 2010 6:29 pm
It's more than tries scored Nitwa.
Games can be interesting without tries (though usually they are better with them, simply because of what tries mean - positive attacking rugby, played with ball in hand - not a kick fest).
The difference between the NH and SH is the speed of play.
The South African fitness trainer, comparing GPS stats of South african players in S14 and those in NH comps like the T14 and the GP, came out a couple days ago and said, statistically, NH players cover roughly half as much ground in a game.
He said the ball rarely goes more than five or six metres away from the ruck before it dies.
It's too slow, too predictable.

By Tommy, at August 19, 2010 6:04 am
Some lovely tackles. SO much more enjoyable to watch than the cheapshots and shoulder barges that often creep into these compilations.

Pick of the bunch must be the Welsh tackle on Kirchner. Excellent technique, solid hit and well executed, fair and square. Love Kirchner's reaction too, getting up with a big grin on his face as if to say "nice one, well done".

By Von, at August 19, 2010 10:06 am
Hey Tommy - Fair point on the statistics side - although I still think there are many good physical games in NH - often with good tries too. After all, many of the French games are awesome to watch and even as Southern Hemisphere fan you have to admit that...

I'll keep wearing my rose-tinted specs!

By NiWiTa, at August 19, 2010 2:29 pm
I would give a penalty at most for the first tackle, it was barely high and not dangerous at all

You could easily argue that Kirchner deserved a yellow card for his hit on the basis of consistency, as he made as much of an attempt to wrap the arms as Franks et al

By RedYeti, at August 19, 2010 5:55 pm
^ are you kidding me?? Do you not see those two things out in front of him attempting to wrap? They're called arms btw :)

It's amazing how we all see things differently

By Benson, at August 19, 2010 6:03 pm