Superhero Sunday: Let’s do it again

In terms of advertising the talent and the skill available as well as the fact that there is still plenty of interest in South African rugby, the local season could not have got off to a better start than it did at SuperHero Sunday at Cape Town Stadium.

The four local franchises, the Stormers, Bulls, Lions and Sharks, participating in Vodacom Super Rugby, which kicks off in less than two weeks, could not have asked for a better way to warm up. Not all the teams were at full strength, or even close to it, but all the players who participated in the double header would have gained much from the experience of playing in front of a 55 000 strong crowd in a electrifying atmosphere.

The Cape Town Stadium is host to a festive, almost carnival atmosphere, during the annual Cape Town Sevens, the South African leg of the World Sevens Series, but Sunday was proof that it can be transported to the 15-man code too.

Perhaps it is the way it has been constructed, with the concourses around the stadium, with their bars and eateries and clear standing room view of the field, that give the venue a feel good factor, and the Western Province bosses, faced with the question of whether to continue hosting Stormers matches at Newlands or making the move to Green Point, should take note.

Wracked as the union is with off-field tensions and power struggles, what should also be taken note of is what potential there is for mass local support of the Stormers when they are strong. It was a cosmopolitan kind of day, with fans from all the franchises present, but there was no denying the passion with which Chris van Zyl’s team were supported in their game against the Bulls. Not since the Men in Black year, 1999, has the atmosphere at a Stormers game been so embracing.

The message then to WP should be a simple one: Sort your problems out, ensure the preservation of professional status, for there are a lot of eyes that want to watch and hearts that want to support rugby in the region. Get it right, embrace a new venue and the Men in Black atmosphere of 20 years ago, which significantly was also a World Cup year, might become the way rather than the exception.

Not that the success of the day should necessarily be confined to Cape Town. There was even a suggestion from Bulls coach Pote Human that the double header concept should be employed in the Super Rugby season.

“I’d go for it if the double header was at Loftus,” joked Human when he was first asked the question.

But he was serious when he elaborated.

“I remember the old test Unions day we used to have once a season when I was a player (there were six test Unions so the days comprised six games). Where-ever the venue was, we had big crowds, with fans of all the teams pitching up, and it was exciting,” he said.

“It could be a good idea to try it (double header) in Super Rugby. It could certainly work on the highveld, where we have so many fans of the teams from the other regions living. There are a lot of Stormers and Sharks fans living in Johannesburg and Pretoria. It could work.”

What definitely does work, according to Stormers coach Robbie Fleck, is the SuperHero day concept as a build-up to the new season.

“I think this is the best ever preparation the teams would have had for a Super Rugby season,” said Fleck.

“Playing in front of such a large crowd would automatically lifted the level of the game, and the intensity was great as preparation for a new season. This was the perfect build-up, with some of our young players getting their first opportunity to play in front of a crowd of more than 50 000. Supersport and SA Rugby should be thanked and congratulated for coming up with the concept.”

The message is clear - do it again next year, and the year after that.

In terms of the rugby played, the late game between the Stormers and the Bulls, which was won late by the hosts, provided the sort of entertainment that the large crowd would have been looking for as it fed the festival atmosphere. There was plenty of skill, with some of the offloads being nothing short of stupendous, and clearly the teams have been hard at work in the off-season working on those all-important core skills. There was also impressive defence from both teams later in the piece.

The game was played at good tempo, and it also had the momentum shifts that the crowd would have wanted to keep them absorbed. Fleck had said beforehand that his team wanted to satisfy both the need to entertain the paying patrons and prepare for the new season, and he said afterwards that the twin goals were met.

Human, although disappointed that his team lost late in the game after being punished with clinical precision by the Stormers in the first half for the mistakes they made, would have agreed.

“We never like losing to the Stormers but we won’t be too concerned about the end result because I think we showed a lot out there,” said Human.

The coach added what should have been obvious to anyone watching when he said that his team was still using the John Mitchell template as their foundation and looking to add to it with a few tweaks. Although they lost, they showed much promise.

The Lions and Sharks played out a very different type of game, with defences dominating and line-speed very much to the fore, but although some described it as scrappy, it was no less constructive to the respective sides in terms of preparation for the new season.

For the Lions, who won 19-14, it was a case of the usual suspects coming to the fore. Skipper Warren Whiteley won the official man of the match but Malcolm Marx was certainly the most influential player. The Sharks, without several players who are being held back at this point (as was the case with the Stormers), will look to the second half for encouragement.

It was then that a clutch of young players came onto the field and although they never managed to pull it off, they spent most of the last quarter camped in Lions territory looking for the score that would win it for them. Before that though the Lions sent out the message, with their dominant scrumming display, that the concern that they have been weakened in that area by off-field player departures may be premature.

They may not be quite the force they were in the past but they still have enough all-round depth to challenge for the right to be considered South Africa’s best Super Rugby team.

SuperHero Sunday at a glance

First game: Emirates Lions (Spiderman) v Cell C Sharks (Black Panther)

Scores:

Emirates Lions (Spiderman) 19 - Tries: Malcolm Marx, Courtnall Skosan and Sylvian Mahuza; Conversions: Elton Jantjies 2.

Cell C Sharks (Blank Panther) 14 - Tries: Makazole Mapimpi, Akker van der Merwe; Conversions: Curwin Bosch 2.

Man of the match: Warren Whiteley (Lions).

Second game: DHL Stormers (Thor) v Vodacom Bulls (Captain Marvel)

Scores

DHL Stormers (Thor) - Tries: Seabelo Senatla, Josh Stander, SP Marais, Juarno Augustus and Chris van Zyl; Conversions: SP Marais 2, Josh Stander and Damian Willemse.

Vodacom Bulls (Captain America) - Tries: Handre Pollard, Ivan van Zyl, Warrick Gelant and Paul Schoeman; Conversions: Handre Pollard 3 and Manie Libbok.

Man of the match: Scarra Ntubeni (Stormers)