Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Gerhard van den Heever's great try against the Lions

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Gerhard van den Heever's great try against the Lions

Another contender for Super Rugby try of the weekend was this individual effort from 21 year old gas-man Gerhard van den Heever of the Bulls. They beat the Lions 24-20 in what was a closely contested affair at Ellis Park on Saturday night.

The Lions, who now have wealthy investors and subsequently a few new signings, put in a strong second half performance but couldn’t quite manage to get through the defending champion Bulls, who had a healthy dose of Springboks in their ranks.

It was uncapped youngster Van Den Heever though who scored the try of the game, this great individual sprint effort from 60m out after a poorly chased kick ahead by Elton Jantjies.

The talented wing spotted a gap and went for it, burning up the turf while gliding through hapless Lions defenders, who will know too well in future that you can’t give a guy of his ability so much space. We saw that last year against the Highlanders.

"Every Bulls try is special. One is not worth more than the other to me, as they all contribute to the team effort," Van den Heever said later.

"It is nice to start the season like this, but it is my job to score tries, after all. We talked before the match about the chip kicks from Elton (Jantjies) and I was ready for that. When I started to run, the gaps kept opening up so I just kept going," he added.

Time: 01:46

1st!!!!!!!

By Anonymous, at February 22, 2011 4:03 pm
Great to see a white guy running that fast!

By Anonymous, at February 22, 2011 4:09 pm
lol yeah amazing to see Gerhard and the other guy ( francoise hoougard?!?)being better wings than me even though i am very fast too and even faster than them.
But their speed is great too.

P.S
I am not the real Chavanga!

By chavanga, at February 22, 2011 4:12 pm
commentators could be a bit more excited...

By Joey, at February 22, 2011 4:15 pm
We see better here in the superior NH, all he did was jog forward and players didnt even bother to tackle him.

By ElTigre, at February 22, 2011 4:26 pm
Good run, lousy defense by the Lions, no line or structure. Something you would see in Holland at under 8's level every saturday. Still a very, very good runs and spotted the gaps well.

By Guy, at February 22, 2011 4:29 pm
This has Leicester Tigers style written all over it. Something Billy Twelvetree's esque about it

By WatchMan, at February 22, 2011 4:29 pm
A boring game, although not as poor as the Sharks and Cheetahs.

It was a shame to see Naas Olivier booting possession away over and over and over again.

Who is top of the east and west conferences and when does the Super Superbowl start? Yeeehaaa!

By Anonymous, at February 22, 2011 4:40 pm
Wow, mixed bag of comments on this one already. Are the only people that comment those who are mentally insane? :)

This one reminds me of Ashtons try against Australia. No real steps, just good changes of direction. Very good.

By Benson, at February 22, 2011 4:58 pm
Very nice comments from Van Den Heever there - good to see such modesty and magnanimity.

Great try, but what on earth were the Lions players doing?? Might as well have laid out a 50 metre-long red carpet...

By Von, at February 22, 2011 5:11 pm
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

By Anonymous, at February 22, 2011 5:12 pm
Nice try indeed....

Agree with Benson, very nice smooth running

By Flipje, at February 22, 2011 5:30 pm
three cheers for van den heever, very good, ja very good

By Anonymous, at February 22, 2011 6:20 pm
"lousy defense by the Lions"

...well it is the Lions. I'm impressed that the scoreboard was that close. I'm hoping they can pull out a few wins this year (though I still wish Todd Clever was there)!

By frank, at February 22, 2011 6:26 pm
whoever plays fullback for the lions needs some practice. Did you see him change his pace as he pondered whether or not Van Den Heever was worth chasing? Patheitc.

By Anonymous, at February 22, 2011 6:37 pm
lazy defense! look at the lions back line jogging after him, they could have easily plugged those holes if they had bothered to try. even so, it was an impressive try

By Anonymous, at February 22, 2011 6:59 pm
Typical poor Soup rugby defence...

By enonemous, at February 22, 2011 7:24 pm
when i first saw this clip i thought it must have been towards the end of the game the way the lions were runing then i saw it was only 16mins in
i think they thought it was a game of sleeping lions and when the music stops

anyone know whats happend to king carlos ???

By kingcarlos search party, at February 22, 2011 7:27 pm
shit defense again

By Anonymous, at February 22, 2011 8:55 pm
I swear its like players in the super 15 dont know how to tackle

By Anonymous, at February 22, 2011 9:41 pm
Mmmmm nice young fresh meat!!! I'd like to tenderise his ass!

By Tom, at February 22, 2011 10:06 pm
Shocking defence most NH props could shred them to pieces.

By NH4LifeBro, at February 22, 2011 10:44 pm
He's hot, id like to see him naked

By Craig, at February 22, 2011 10:44 pm
Powder puff defending. I know I'm biased, but NH rugby is so much better than this.

By SmellyNerfherder, at February 22, 2011 10:47 pm
^^^^

Shame that superior NH rugby doesn't come through to the internationals though does it.

By Anonymous, at February 22, 2011 10:49 pm
'Shame that superior NH rugby doesn't come through to the internationals though does it.'

I dunno, I'm pretty sure Scotland stopped the saffas, England stopped the Aussies, etc

Wasn't it only NZ that were 'unstoppable' and how well did they do in tha last WC?

But ofcourse none of that counts does it? It only counts when a SH team wins...

By Anonymous, at February 22, 2011 11:00 pm
I like shaft down my throat.

It takes my mind off all the thrashings the SH have given my NH comrades

By Juggernauter, at February 22, 2011 11:05 pm
Dirty South in your Mouth

By Anonymous, at February 22, 2011 11:07 pm
Wow, some real fuckheads commenting on here today.
The sad thing is they're probably not 14 year olds like they sound, they;re probably fat guys with no girlfriends who are in their twenties or thirties and get a breif thrill out of making childish comments on the internet, I imagine it distracts them from the dreary nature of their lives.

Anyway, in regards to the try, this was one of only a handful of tries in this game.

If you hoenstly believe that Super 14 has bad defence, you really know very little about rugby.
Obviously if this competition is producing all the players that play for the Wallabies, All Blacks and Springboks, it must be far superior to anything the NH produces.
After all the NH teams are clearly behind the SH.
In the Super 14 the attacking play is simply better, in virtually every way.
The defence is as good.
If it wasn't why would NH clubs constantly poach SH coaches, defensive, offensive and head coaches? Why would they constantly poach players?
Why would their national teams struggle so much to score points against SH opposition.
The truth is that NH attack is typically predictable. It's often just one out hit ups, or a single backline with no decoys.
Easy to defend.

By Tom, at February 22, 2011 11:28 pm
Yeah, sorry but Super rugby is head and shoulders above any other NH competition. Jealousy.

Bulls would have their way with pretty much any NH side.

By Anonymous, at February 22, 2011 11:52 pm
Why does every Heineken Cup team have Kiwis, Aussies & Saffas in them? And why are they the best players in the teams?

You call that NH Rugby? Whatever makes you feel better.

By Darren, at February 22, 2011 11:59 pm
@ Tom. I love the way you go on about how childish people are and then rant about how the SH would beat the NH mum in a fight. GROW UP. I think the post several above said it but your obviously struggling, the only team to win All their matches was New Zealand so please be quiet about unimportant autumn internationals as no-one cares. P.s. I bet.mines bigger than yours ;)

As for commenting on the try, excellent vision and running. Very Ashton, Cueto, Williams, Halfpenny, Lamont & Bowe like!!!!

By My-hemis-better-than-your-hemi, at February 23, 2011 12:07 am
^
SH not only have better players than the NH, they also have better finishers. That's why Mvovo owned Ashton with relative ease last year and no one even bothered to mention in.

By Anonymous, at February 23, 2011 12:12 am
You can defend Super Rugby by pointing to all the wonderful SH international players, but I think at a league level, Aviva Premiership teams play better all-round rugby. This is a SUBJECTIVE opinion, berate it if you like. The only way to test it OBJECTIVELY would be for a team like Wasps to go on an Ozzie tour, but in this day and age it wouldn't happen. Would be awesome if it did though...

By SmellyNerfherder, at February 23, 2011 12:22 am
The difference is that I make valid points to defend the Super 15 competition. I welcome any disagreement or argument you might have, that's the point of these boards.

I virtually never single people out and insult them, it's just sad.
It's the internet, it proves nothing.

From a logical point of view the SH has the edge in terms of their rugby.

There's not alot in it these days though, and there are aspects of play in the NH that are superior. Scrummaging is a real focus up north, and there's alot SH teams can learn from that.

But maybe if there hadn't been 175 comments denigrating Super rugby I wouldn't have bothered defending it.

By Tom, at February 23, 2011 12:23 am
this guy is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the near future. i reckon he'll be in the boks by the world cup.

By Chris Boy, at February 23, 2011 12:24 am
Pathetic comments. Nice try by the young fella.

By Anonymous, at February 23, 2011 12:30 am
Would any of you like some cheddar, brie or Camembert with your whine?

Seriously stfu or gtfo

By Stubby, at February 23, 2011 12:35 am
The only reason all blacks won all their autumn internationals is because referees are petrified of giving a decision against the "Almighty" all blacks.

Plus Richie McCHEAT!

Also the Heineken cup is much better tournement than the super 15. You show me highlights from two super 15 games and they'll be exactly the same but with different colour shirts on. The heinieken cup pits different styles of play agaisnt each other from all across the continent, for example the fast free flowing attacking rugby of say a Clermont or a Toulouse against a grind-it-out forward orientated team such as a wasps or a leicester. Thats without mentioning the expansive rugby of the magners league teams.

Henieken cup brings unpredictability and prestige to rugby. Super15 is boring and too predictable. Im not disputing the SH teams are better or worse than NH but in my opinion SH rugby is superior to NH all you have to do is look at the previous world cup winners.

But the super15 doesnt come anywhere close to Heineken cup

Talk shit its my opinion

By Nonymousa, at February 23, 2011 12:42 am
The only good team in the NH is France. The rest suck.

By Jimeoin, at February 23, 2011 12:53 am
Nonymusa, you don't know what your talking about..

I'm from Europe and I get to watch a lot of H cup, but trust me I most happy when it's Super rugby time... Cause that's where all the excitement is. Better players, better game plays, faster, harder.

And I'm not saying the top 3 or 4 NH teams wouldn't find a place there - in fact I'm quite sure a team like Toulouse would be genuine contenders - but fact is the overall average is much higher. You get loose ends, like the Lions or the Rebels, but all in all, top notch rugby.

By Ave, at February 23, 2011 12:58 am
Honestly the bleating from NH supporters just sounds like sour grapes to me.
Get over it.

How about we talk about this try.
Some loose defending, but what a great run and trun of pace from a young back who will be a star in the future for the Boks.

By Get over it, at February 23, 2011 1:08 am
there is a reason I don'tvisit RD as much as i used to and it’s because of these stupid comments! I remember years ago ACTUAL rugby fans would come on and simply appreciate the skills and lighter bits RD puts on. Looks like those days are long gone!

R.I.P the old RugbyDump

By FedUp, at February 23, 2011 2:05 am
You know, I don't think international NH/SH rugby players complain (if at all) about their counterparts as much as some of the armchair readers hiding behind their monitors.

Get over it!

By Philip, at February 23, 2011 2:23 am
aaaagghh! these comments are seriously taking away from the joy of visiting RD.

Note to self: make more use of the forums (fora technically)

Enough already with generalising from one clip about an entire hemi! FFS! And did I see a McCheat comment? Sheesh.

Sooo repetitive, I suppose its the nature of how older sites/blogs end up functioning, but this place needs to be better than Youtube, and all pointless posts do here is waste the moderators time cleaning up the comments. Thus, less time spent on good clips.

Cop on fellas.

On the clip itself; love the way he picked the line the ref presented to him - just saw the ref step away and ran trou the hole to get started. Well spotted ,speedy.

By Mise, at February 23, 2011 2:49 am
'Try of the Year!!! .......Oh wait its the Super 15.........Poor defense!!!'

"What a boring game, HC props would've caught him, commentators weren't excited enough, the stadiums are empty, ........and Ashton's 10X faster and better."

By TrollGuy1,000,001, at February 23, 2011 3:00 am
the SH was producing better international teams than the NH (in general) way before the Super 10/12/14/15 was even a lightbulb in someone's head.

Super rugby has very little to do with international rugby. It is a competition with some scintillating attacking play and some shite defence. I like it, it's different, but there's no need for it to be constantly compared to NH club rugby when Super teams never play Heineken teams competitively.

All you guys from both hemispheres who score points off each other with the same old comments are so BORING.

By Anonymous, at February 23, 2011 3:37 am
The problem is when you say it has shite defence.
It's a ridiculous thing to say.
What do you base that on?
Anything factual?
Of course it has alot to do with international rugby.
When the Crusaders played the Blues last week, there were 22 All Blacks in the starting line ups.
Do you think those players don't know how to defend at Superugby level, but suddenly become the best defenders in the world when they get to international level.

Thw whole defence is shit thing is NH fans trying to make themselves feel better by denigrating SH rugby.

Logically it makes no sense, and it's extremely annoying when someone makes an argument that's obivously false.

By Get over it., at February 23, 2011 4:01 am
Like it how the NH fans think that the Super rugby's defense is bad.

Ever wonder that maybe the attack is just very good? I guarantee you the Stormers would deny all NH teams from scoring a single try against them, especially on last years form.

Jealous losers.

By Anonymous, at February 23, 2011 4:01 am
NH fuckwit fans actually think Scotland is better than OZ and SA. Morons.

By Anonymous, at February 23, 2011 4:09 am
I know, they don;t get it.
Try beating New Zealand some time in the last 30 years and we'll talk.

By Get over it., at February 23, 2011 4:17 am
'NH fuckwit fans actually think Scotland is better than OZ and SA. Morons.'

Actually no we don't (from a Scottish supporter) however we did draw with Oz which we will take as a huge moral victory, and we did beat the saffas, which let's face it, is one hell of an accomplishment. But ofcourse you SH bunch cannot have the good grace to say 'congratulations Scotland' no, you have to fire excuse after accusation after excuse.

The general issue the NH fans have with SH fans is that you guys think your teams are gods gift and are unbeatable, then when you have a less than perfect performance and the opposition has a better performance you do not posess the good grace to be a good loser. You have to act like a bunch of 5 yr old children and generally take what we all have learnt about the good nature of rugby right out of the game.

By Yin, at February 23, 2011 4:25 am
What's quite sad is that having lived in both hemispheres and met likeable and not so likeable people from each, none of it reflects on here. I'm sad to say the it appears the 'SH fans' who act like tools on here seem to live under some sort of false perception that they are untouchable. Which leads the NH fans having to scream at the top of their lungs to get a word in about some win that happened in 2003....

I think most people can see that the SH rugby tends to get the upper hand on the NH bunch, however doesn't that mean the SH fans should be encouraging the play from the NH... As a bigger brother encourages a smaller brother?

I think what is equally as sad is that YouTube videos seem to have about 80% less c*nts from either Hemisphere.

By (u-p)rick, at February 23, 2011 4:36 am
The truth us this is a video about a try in the Superugby and there's about ten comments stragiht away from NH fans talking about bad defence.
Which is complete and utter BS.
Which is why people get shitty.

But anyway, let's just talk about the try.

It was a good one, I'm sure everyone can agree.

By Jono, at February 23, 2011 4:42 am
Wow, 54 comments, and what 8 of them are about the actual video!! Wow well done guys you really excelled this time round! Sorry RD, I cannot stand the comments section, yet I have to look at if i come on. So this is one less visitor now. Thanks for everything in the past and I hope things turn out better for the site. As for bow and myself I don't plan on being back again.

(not that it matters, sure -1 decent visitor, +20 shitbags! Either that or it's +1 shitbag who talks enough for 20 people!)

Anyways, goodluck and goodbye.

By Jimmy, at February 23, 2011 5:11 am
Some of you people are so one eyed its pathetic. To be clear I am English however some of the drivel spouted here is unbelievable...... what planets do you live on?!

For starters if that try was scored by a player in a NH club comp no-one from up North would bring up poor defense (whether or not it was actually the case), this is just the same nonsense that gets reeled out every time a good S14 try is scored. Yes the defense wasn't the best in this instance however the focus should be on the electric pace and skill of a 21 year old winger.....

To prove my point, huge amounts of praise was given to England for their skillful attacking performance versus Italy, and rightly so. However very little focus was on how atrocious the Italian defense was at times, it was schoolboy stuff really. Anyway it reeks of double-standards and jingoism.

And this myth that the Super14 rugby is loose and lacking good defense is nonsense. The defense on the whole is excellent and very tough however when international calibre teams (Blues, Crusaders, Reds, Bulls) come up against the the weaker sides (Lions, Force) big scores do happen, the same as in international rugby...... Just look at what All Blacks did to the Lions 2005 and England 2008 in New Zealand! These teams got hammered because the All Blacks were on another level and not because they were playing ‘basketball rugby’ whatever that term means! Sure some S14 rugby can be a bit fast and loose at times but that's what happens when both teams focus on quick ball, speed and have huge attacking ability combined with good playing conditions...... shame on them for not slowing it down and playing proper rugby ;-) Now if you argued that the Heineken Cup is a more interesting and colorful competition due to the countries and playing styles that’s another thing.

Finally, it is impossible (completely!) for a weak domestic competition to produce strong international teams..... if the s14 was defensively rubbish then the same would be true of Auz, NZ and SA. Just ask any of the International players from the Northern Hemisphere if this is the case! I can't be bothered to dig up any stats on tries conceded in recent years, but trust me we don't score many. The reason is that the SH players in the S14 are consistently exposed to the highest quality attacking rugby even by international standards.

And although the SH doesn't produce all the best players it can't be doubted that the teams are CONSISTENTLY better than us up north. Some call this arrogance on their parts, I call it fact. Just look at world rankings (top 3-4 consistently with only Fr/Eng challenging) and world cups won (6 of 7), which is why most world 15's are dominated by players from the South. In my opinion let’s just focus on improving ourselves so we can beat them on a consistent basis……… until we can do that we all sound like idiots.

By Anonymous, at February 23, 2011 6:02 am
^^^

Spot on. Most intelligent comment I've read on here in a LONG time.

By Nam, at February 23, 2011 7:04 am
it's really interesting all the comments on here. I don't think they're is anything wrong with saying the defence was crap because the defence was crap. I'm fairly sure the coaching team will be picking up the video highlights and asking the team 'WTF?'. However, the fact this lad spotted it and exploited it so beautifully is very impressive. Pace and vision, very dangerous combination.

As for the whole NH/SH arguement I think it's hilarious. Reading Jonny Wilkos book at the mo (old I know) and he mentions flately writing to him, congratulating him on the WC win. If even thesr driven men can appreciate each other why can't we? As for the WC this yeat, I think therr are going to be some very red faces, especially when England win ;)

By jimbo1, at February 23, 2011 8:26 am
Hope all our rugby brothers and sisters are ok in NZ. Sending our best wishes from the NH.

By Jimbo1, at February 23, 2011 9:11 am
I HATE OUR SAFFER COMMENTATORS. Really I do, listening to Hugh Bladen reminds me of my high school science teacher. The Aussies may be biased, but at least they sound interested in the game.

By ANDYMO, at February 23, 2011 9:48 am
Whatever you SH sheep shaggers may say you still drive pickups and live in wooden houses.
And in SA you have slaves.

By Anonymous, at February 23, 2011 10:17 am
If you saw the whole game, you would have seen that the defence from both teams was actually pretty tight. The Lions sometimes struggled to stop the Bulls maul, and the Bulls in turn found themselves scrambling to contain the Lions counter attacks.

But this try was scored completely against the run of play, so it is no surprise that the defensive line wasn’t properly organised. Van den Heever got a good bounce, combined with a bunch of tight forwards in front of him, and he took full advantage to score a great try.

Along with the Blues Crusaders game, this was certainly the game of the first round. Plenty of drama, great second half fight back, long sweeping moves with good continuity. Not a bad way to start off a fantastic competition.

I wish some of the HC fans here would watch more of the S15 – you’ll see it’s very entertaining. Just as I enjoy watching as many of the HC games as I can. It’s not a pissing contest – just lots and lots of rugby.

By katman, at February 23, 2011 10:41 am
It's funny how there is an extremely long anonymous comment from a 'NH fan' which literally backs up the SH and does nothing to mention the one eyed ness of the SH supporters who cannot appreciate anything that isn't home grown....

I think both hemispheres are being right c*nts here...

By Anonymous, at February 23, 2011 11:47 am
Really bad defence!

By Anonymous, at February 23, 2011 12:14 pm
fuck you last anon.

FUCK YOU

By Anonymous, at February 23, 2011 1:41 pm
Drive pickups, live in wooden houses and have slaves.... Is that supposed to be an insult?
It beats driving a Gee-Wizz, living on a council estate and having to wash the dishes.

By Anonymous, at February 23, 2011 2:26 pm
i must be some sort of masochist, because i'm starting to enjoy this debate now.

Its matured. (!)

esp:

fuck you last anon.

FUCK YOU

that was funny. Reasonable points staring to emerge, esp from anon at February 23, 2011 6:02 AM- see how I did that - i identified an anon!!!!)

my GREAT FEAR thou, is that this exact debate will be had, again, on the very next posting of a video.

Man on man.

So can we agree: this particular video.... shows up a good line pick by the attacker; a bit of a sluggish attempt at defence; but is not necessarily reflective of anything more than.....this match!

By Mise, at February 23, 2011 2:39 pm
This will teach u not to kick the ball away...

By vinniechan, at February 23, 2011 3:10 pm
FUCK YOU ALL NOW IM GONNA KILL MESELF

By Anonymous, at February 23, 2011 4:07 pm
history repeats itself :P

By Anonymous, at February 23, 2011 4:08 pm
Ok, you can argue that was great running (much like ashton against Oz) but you have to admit, whilst it may not be a direct representation of SupeRugby, that was SHITE defence...

Check out the fullbacks effort at getting to him....I mean the game is over 16 mins in if your fullback can't be f*clef to bust a gut trying to make a tackle!!!!!

By Johnson, at February 23, 2011 9:11 pm
That's really not the case Johnson, the whole point is that van den Heever has very deceptive pace. He's extremely quick, and makes other plays look slow.
The reason the defence was disorganised (hich it was), is because the Lions were attacking, and hadn't formed any defensive line (they were scrambling to defend after a backline move backfired).
But this was a fairly low scoring game overall.
The point is that this young winger exploited the staggered defence, found the gaps and used his pace and changes of direction to glide thru.

By Jono, at February 24, 2011 12:05 am
I like shaft. Yummy shaft

By Tom, at February 24, 2011 12:36 am
Jono, i totally get that he exploited gaps...my point is the shocking line up from the lions created huge gaps...

And the number 15...watch him...yes he may have been outpaced in the long run, but he didnt try...

By Johnson, at February 24, 2011 1:36 am
Just had another look, the fullback mayeb could have put more effort in, but it wouldn't have mattered, he would have been easily outpaced from where he was, and it wasn't his man at that point.
But yeah, he did give up.

But with the line, it's not a defensive line, it was an attacking backline, so there's always gonna be gaps, they weren't set up defensivly.

By Jono, at February 24, 2011 2:06 am
I agree, i was just disappointed to see gaps like that...

I guess it was early in the match, and early in the season...these will tighten later i guess.

but yes, it was never going to be as easy to defend as a defensive set up...

By Johnson, at February 24, 2011 2:57 am
To be fair to the Lions, they were absolutley terrible last season, so this effort, only going down by a couple points to the S14 champs, aint half bad.

By Jono, at February 24, 2011 3:10 am
It's really disappointing to read some of these comments.

Until further notice, commenting will be disabled.

By GMC, at February 24, 2011 1:01 pm