Some truths, some untruths...

The penultimate weekend of the league phase Vodacom Super 14 dished up an interesting plate of truths about the standing of some teams and individuals.

Firstly, we may have known it already, but the Bulls’ come from behind win over the Crusaders confirmed that they are now the team in the southern hemisphere that has that indefinable champion quality which comes with the ability to win games you should lose.

The Kiwis might rightly complain about Marius Jonker’s role in the result, and it certainly wasn’t only New Zealanders who were raising eyebrows in those final minutes. But let’s be honest about this -- the Bulls did not play well in the match, yet beat the Crusaders by scoring a winning try when down to 14 men. That requires a heck of a lot of self-belief.

So what of the other top South African team in this year’s competition? Well, there has always been a concern that the Stormers may not handle the pressure that comes with being one of the favoured sides heading towards the knockout phase of competition. And the way they just failed to pitch up against the Sharks, and the jittery way they played that game, did appear to confirm it.

It is up now to the Stormers to prove that Sharks coach John Plumtree was right when he said after the Absa Stadium match that his men had done the Stormers a favour. They now have experience of the pressure that comes with knowing that you are going into a game where victory will take you through a frontier.

Talking of Plumtree, there was another truth. Earlier in the year there were all sorts of rumours about Plumtree’s future at the Sharks, and there were even media reports that he was on his way out.

But the Sharks management said otherwise, and that would not have surprised those who have knowledge of Plumtree’s excellent coaching ability. There was a stage earlier in the season where the Sharks appeared to be playing the wrong game, but they have set that right now, and there were aspects of genius about the Sharks win over the Stormers.

If you want evidence of what I am referring to, think about what the Sharks gained from those lineout throws across the top.

The Durban game, to my mind, was won and lost in the front-row, and here there were some truths that should be internalised by the coaches of both teams involved in the match, as well as the Springbok selectors.

A Durban newspaper reporter, in his report on the game, asked where the Stormers prop was who, after outscrumming the Sharks in a pre-season friendly, was heard to remark afterwards that he could have drunk a six pack of beers and still come out on top.

I have the answer to that question. The player was not actually in Durban. My understanding is that the man who said that was Wicus Blaauw, who has been out injured and only returns to action this week. Blaauw was the man who provided the destructive edge to the Stormers scrum in the early season, and the reversal of roles at scrum-time in Durban was partly down to his absence.

I say only partly, because that would not tell the full story. The man that Blaauw mangled in the pre-season game was Springbok skipper John Smit. He was playing tighthead back then, and no-one seemed to want to recognise the folly. Smit is now back at hooker, Beast is back at loosehead, and suddenly the Sharks scrum is cooking again. Really, it isn’t rocket science...

Some more truths from this past weekend – the Cheetahs again confirmed that they are a different animal when Juan Smith is present as captain; the Lions still look like they are going nowhere.

Okay, so those were the truths. What might be the untruth? It relates to the performance of the Sharks halfbacks, Rory Kockott and Ruan Pienaar. I wrote myself after the match what a revelation the pair were, and the Sharks backs looked far more potent on attack than they have all season.

But then it also needs to be recognised that the Sharks pack was probably more dominant than it has been at any other stage of the Super 14, and Pienaar’s susceptibility to pressure was not challenged in a game in which the Sharks were playing for little more than pride.

It is true that on his day Pienaar can be a world beater at flyhalf. He showed that in Durban. But it is also true that when you are talking about a player whose biggest failing is inconsistency, a conclusion on his ability cannot be drawn over 80 minutes.

That said, however, Pienaar was outstanding and did show what he could achieve if he could rid himself of the inconsistency that is probably a product of the game of selection musical chairs that he has been forced to play by some coaches.