The fans are back, the banter’s back, the Stormers are on a hot streak and the Bulls are matching it.
Best of all? South Africa’s biggest rugby rivalry is coming to Cape Town Stadium on Saturday and you can be part of it. In fact, you can be a key player in the outcome of the match.
With Jake White calling on the Bulls “ondersteuners” to stiek uit in their hordes in the Mother City, rewind some 15-20 years ago and me and my army would have accepted this challenge.
Confession time - I used to be a hardcore Province fan. You see those ones with overalls painted in strepe, braaing at Groote Schuur and taking aim at anything Bulls-related.
Hiesa is hy. Or at least, hiesa was hy.
Back then, there was proper rivalry - not only on the field, but among the fans as well. It boiled over at times. But at the end of the day, you stood for your province.
Things aren’t the same anymore and, honestly, Covid-19, the move from Newlands, and all that truly killed the fan ‘wars’. When I say wars, please don’t interpret it literally. Good, clean banter among fans and a kykie na wie kan die hardste sing - that type of ding. Who can cheer on their team best.
I appreciate the effort from both camps to renew the off-field rivalry.
We saw how the rehab Bulls supporters video egged on the Stormers ahead of their trip to Loftus Versfeld in January.
The Stormers admitted afterwards that the video inspired them a bit, as they won the match 30-26.
And then the Cape team started the war of words this week, tweeting: “Hi @BlueBullsRugby, are you guys planning any more motivational videos this week? Would be great if you could put something together for us again.”
Hi @BlueBullsRugby, are you guys planning any more motivational videos this week? Would be great if you could put something together for us again. 😉 pic.twitter.com/DVRgyjGF4x
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) April 3, 2022
The tweet accompanied a pictured of the three “recovering” Stormers fans who walked over to the Bulls in the January video.
The Bulls replied a day later with: “Sorry for not responding sooner, we were still recovering from our unassisted win over Ulster. But, yes you can count on us for a video.”
Sorry for not responding sooner, we were still recovering from our unassisted win over Ulster. But, yes you can count on us for a video 😉 https://t.co/KXxHPLtWz5
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) April 4, 2022
The “unassisted” win over Ulster the Bulls refer to, is the Stormers’ win over Ulster in which they Irishmen had a last-minute try disallowed.
The Bulls then beat Ulster a week later.
So I appreciate the effort coming out of both camps, and with the stadiums now open to 50 percent capacity, I reckon it’s time for fans to dust off the old jersey, put on the overalls, and get to work - there is a derby to be won.
In matches like these, supporters can truly win it for you. Nothing gets the goosebumps going like hearing your mense sing for you. That’s when you want to perform - it’s almost like a performance-enhancement drug that they can’t test you for.
Fan power is real.
Of course, it’s just a klein bietjie of the overall battle. The match still has to be won on the pitch.
Apart from the tactics employed by the Stormers’ John Dobson and his Bulls counterpart White, there will be some interesting match-ups all over the pitch.
One of them will be at No.8, where Evan Roos and Elrigh Louw will go head to head for a Springbok berth, I believe. If you wake up a Loftus fan at 3am and ask him who should replace Duane Vermeulen as the Bok No.8, he’d say Louw, without doubt.
Duisende kilometers verder in the Mother City, and the answer will be Evan Roos.
The same goes for Madosh Tambwe and Leolin Zas, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Warrick Gelant en so kan ons aangaan.
Anyway, while we’ve been getting moeg of local derbies before the United Rugby Championship really kicked off, they are much more interesting now.
All our teams, including the Lions, are in top form and high on confidence after beating their European counterparts in Mzansi over the last few weeks.
And with the Springbok management team watching closely, it will be war in the middle of the pitch at Cape Town Stadium.
So while the players are gladiator-ing between the four white lines, don’t forget that you too have a role to play in winning this derby.
Nou waar het ek daai overalls gesit?