Many talking points as Rainbow Cup starts with a flourish

The DHL Stormers will be devastated and the Emirates Lions were well short of where they need to be but the first round of Rainbow Cup SA provided the perfect start to what will become the PRO16 era for South African rugby.

You can’t just measure the watchability of rugby matches or gauge the quality by the number of tries. But the quantum shift from the turgid rugby we saw in the return to play season can be underlined by the fact there were eight tries in the opening game at the Cape Town Stadium. That was a game between two sides who produced a spectacle akin to watching paint dry in the Currie Cup semifinal just a few months ago.

They were mostly good tries too, with the Stormers showing great control before they shot themselves in both feet with the indiscipline that saw them concede two red cards and a yellow. Their continuity at the end when they put in a last-ditch effort off the last move of the game to win it, and they really should have scored, was brilliant.

But the running and off-loading of the Cell C Sharks during the 16-minute purple patch where they scored 26 unanswered points and turned a 16-point deficit into a 10-point advantage was particularly high quality. If there was a warning to the overseas teams about what they can expect when they visit South Africa for the PRO16 later in the year, that was it.

Okay, if they head to Durban to play the Sharks in the months between October and March their opponents might not be able to produce that kind of rugby because the passes just won’t stick like they did in the dry on a lovely clear autumn day at the Cape Town Stadium. It was though a thrilling cameo of what the Sharks, and by extension South African rugby, can produce when the conditions allow it.

GOOD WEEKEND FOR BOK COACH

On an individual level, it would also have been a great weekend for Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber. Not only did Cheslin Kolbe again show great form for Toulouse in the Champions Cup semifinal that provided the entertainment for Supersport viewers between the two Rainbow Cup fixtures (Raymond Rhule wasn't bad for La Rochelle on Sunday either), most of the Springboks playing in Rainbow Cup made statements too.

Considering he was out of rugby for 14 months before the game, the performance of Pieter-Steph du Toit in particular was immense. Had the Stormers finished as winners, which they really should have despite the cards, Du Toit and the Stormers’ openside flank Nama Xaba would have been the big talking points afterwards.

Xaba certainly backed up the faith shown in him by the coaches and vindicated head coach John Dobson’s view that he is an exciting player that will bring a much-needed different dynamic to his loose trio. He and Du Toit were all over the Sharks when the Stormers had three loose-forwards on the field, which unfortunately because of the cards shown to debutant Willie Engelbrecht was only for 50 minutes.

It wasn’t Dobson’s plan to play Du Toit for the entire 80 minutes but the cards dictated that he had to and the 2019 World Rugby Player of the Year responded by showing why he has that status. Steven Kitshoff, who missed the domestic semifinal in January, and Frans Malherbe were good too, and the only Stormers World Cup Bok who is a concern is Hershel Jantjies.

Even though they didn’t really have much of the game outside of the 20 minutes where they really put it together, the Sharks Boks were mostly good too. That said, Bok skipper Siya Kolisi, although he proved his fitness and made telling contributions for both the Sharks’ first half tries, didn’t show us what his coach promised in terms of being deployed differently on the openside flank to what he was at his former franchise.

EUPHORIC SHARKS DO HAVE ISSUES TO ADDRESS

The Sharks will have returned to Durban in a euphoric mood because it was a massive win for them. It was also an away win and there are only six games in the competition, with the eventual winner being determined on a league basis. The try scoring bonus point they picked up could be invaluable to that end.

However, while they showed just how dangerous they are from all parts of the field when they play ball in hand rugby, they will know they do have issues to address. The Stormers attained their expected dominance in the scrums and when it was 15 against 15 the Sharks just didn’t look like they were on the field.

And while their main lineout tactician Reniel Hugo won a lot of plaudits for his hattrick of tries, the lineout was again a problem area for the Durban team. That, like the scrum, is an area they will have to address before they start playing European opposition later in the year.

There were some technical issues for the Stormers but the main reason they lost was because of the red cards, which was predictably the main talking point afterwards. Indeed, both of the main experimental law variations, the other being the captain’s referral, were talking points both after the Cape Town game and the one in Pretoria later in the day.

There were only three tries in the Loftus game, in which the Vodacom Bulls were much better than the Lions than the final scoreline might indicate. But there were also three tries disallowed and generally the game was a good one considering it was played on a wet surface.

CAPTAIN’S REFERRAL BEING TAKEN TOO FAR

The disallowed tries were the product of the captain’s referral, which worked for the Lions but the question is, was it taken too far? For something clear and obvious the captain’s referral is a good innovation, but when it is applied to whether or not a lineout throw was straight it is arguably taking it too far.

At a time when every effort should be being made to speed the game up, it could become just another mechanism that slows the game down. The Stormers’ captain referral late in the game in Cape Town turned out to be the right one, and it was called by us in the press box, but it just took way too long for a decision to be made and the game to restart. The sight of referees conferring has even less appeal to viewers and spectators than re-set scrums.

On that note, there seemed to be less of an emphasis from the referees to speed things up than there was in the preparation phase and that is a pity. Admittedly in the Cape Town game the situation wasn’t helped by the Stormers having to manage the game differently, in other words slow it down, when players were off because of the red and yellow cards.

RED CARD INNOVATION IS A POSITIVE

There has been a mixed reaction to the innovation which sees players who are red carded be replaced after 20 minutes, but for me it is a massive positive. The Stormers were disadvantaged by the red cards, which they should have been, but the game did not become the farce it would have been had they been reduced to 13 men permanently.

In normal times people pay a lot of money to be at big games and the 2017 Super Rugby final between the Lions and Crusaders was effectively ruined by a moment of recklessness rather than malice from Kwagga Smith. The 2011 World Cup semifinal between Wales and France, with the Sam Warburton incident early in the game, too. Had the 20-minute rule been applied in those two games the offending teams would have been disadvantaged but the games would have remained a contest, like the one at Cape Town Stadium did.

Perhaps a few adjustments should be made, and one would be that if a team has two red cards shown to them, then they have to go to 14 men permanently. It did seem a bit unjust that when the Sharks got their first yellow card to Jeremy Ward late in the game it was suddenly the Stormers, who by then had 15 players on the field, who had the numerical advantage.

And the 20-minute rule should also only be applied to the technical kind of red cards that have become too prevalent in the modern age, such as the ones we saw on Saturday (those that apply to contesting in the air, height of tackle, repeat infringements etc). Malicious foul play, such as punching, eye gouging, ear biting should be dealt with in the same way as they always have been, with the offending player’s team being reduced in numbers permanently.

Weekend Results

DHL Stormers 30 Cell C Sharks 33

Vodacom Bulls 24 Emirates Lions 9