The Vodacom Blue Bulls retained their position at the top of the Vodacom Cup log despite a humiliating defeat at home to bottom of the log Border Bulldogs on Saturday.
Bulls coach Ashley Evert was worried about a possible upset against the team from Port Elizabeth and had his worst fears confirmed when the competition's pacesetters were beaten 33-26 despite leading 14-7 at halftime.
Bulldogs assistant coach Delarey du Preez ascribed the win to a case of sticking to the basics and doing them well.
"We really concentrated a lot on getting the basics right and ensuring our lineouts and scrums were solid," Du Preez said.
Du Preez said his squad had also visited a motivational speaker the Monday before their game and that inspired the team to perform better than they have all season.
"To be honest we didn't play well in the first two games of the season. Last week, I think, we showed what we can do when we took the Lions to within three points and now we proved a point to ourselves that we can win," Du Preez said.
Bulls coach Evert was understandably less excited about his team's performance, but gave credit to the visitors.
"They took their chances, they converted their kicks, and they really piled on the pressure in the second half. We lost a lot of players throughout the game and had all our reserves on the field at the end and we were really very disjointed," he said.
The Bulls/Bulldogs game was, however, only one of the matches ending in surprising results. The Cavaliers ran in five tries against Investec Western Province for a 40-32 victory.
Province have been inconsistent this season while the Cavaliers have only lost one from their first four games.
The ever-improving Pumas showed their class as they scored four times in their 34-30 victory over the struggling Lions.
In another upset, the struggling Eagles ran in four tries to win 38-28 against the Vodacom Cheetahs. The Cheetahs have been erratic this season and coach Helgaard Muller says it's time for his squad to start playing better rugby.
"It wasn't a difficult game for us. We just didn't play well at all and we made too many mistakes," Muller said.
A delighted Eagles coach, Johann Lerm said his forward pack won the game for them.
"We scrummed well and our lineouts were superb - we really got the basics right. There were a lot of hard words this past week and the way the guys picked up their game and their urgency to the point of breakdown impressed me immensely," Lerm said.
In Durban, the Natal Wildebeest expected to perform well against the Kimberley-based Wildeklawer Griquas. But the weekend's trend of the underdogs coming good continued when they trounced the Wildebeest 21-10.
About the only game that went according to the formbook was the match between the Falcons and Griffons in Brakpan. The Falcons, who have two wins, one draw and only one loss from their first four outings, impressed with their solid performance against the hapless Griffons, running out 40-12 winners.
The team secured a bonus point scoring five tries, and flyhalf Louis Strydom again proved his worth by adding 15 points with the boot.
"Our biggest strength was that we scrummed well and technically we were outstanding," said Falcons coach John Williams.
This defeat consigns the Griffons' to the very last place on the log as they are now the only team not to have recorded a victory from any of their first four games.
Scores:
Boland Cavaliers (19) 40 Tries: Warren Pietersen, Renfred Dazel (3), Solly Goosen. Conversions: Solly Goosen (2), Patrick Pietersen (1). Penalties: Solly Goosen (3).
Investec Western Province (20) 32 Tries: Peter Grant, Cleve Beukman, Gus Theron, Egon Seconds. Conversions: Marvin Swartbooi (3). Penalties: Marvin Swartbooi (2).
Golden Lions (17) 30 Tries: Gershom Ramazan, Jano Vermaak. Conversion: Clayton du Randt. Penalties: Clayton du Randt (6).
Atlantic Pumas (13) 34 Tries: Hyron Thysse (2), Neil Visagie, Tim Dlulane. Conversions: Casper Steyn (4). Penalties: Casper Steyn (2).
Vodacom Blue Bulls (14) 26 Border Bulldogs (7) 33 Tries: Drew Nash, Jonathan Kruger, Tiger Mangweni. Conversions: Reinhard Gerber (3). Penalties: Reinhard Gerber (3). Drop Goal: Rienhard Gerber.
Eagles (15) 38 Tries: Ricardo Peterson (2), Izak Saayman, Danie de Beer. Conversions: Danie de Beer (3). Penalties: Danie de Beer (3). Drop goal: Danie de Beer.
Vodacom Cheetahs (13) 28 Tries: Showan Smith, Philip Burger, Alwyn Hollenbach. Conversions: Willem de Waal (2). Penalties:
Willem de Waal (3).
Mighty Elephants (13) 21 Tries: Chris Jonck, Wayne van Heerden. Conversion: Justin Peach. Penalties: Justin Peach (3).
Leopards (20) 34 Tries: Anvor Schoony, Warren de Bruin, Naas Olivier, Andre Swanepoel. Conversions: Naas Olivier (4). Penalties: Naas Olivier (1), Anvor Schoony (1).
AMD Falcons (26) 40 Tries: Willem Slabbert, Riaan Hefer, Trevor Crouse, Nico Luus, Jacques Lombaard. Conversions: Louis Strydom (3). Penalties: Louis Strydom (2). Drop goal: Louis Strydom.
Griffons (0) 12 Tries: Isak Job, Jean de Witt. Conversion: Ossie Damons.
Natal Wildebeest (3) 10 Try: Brett Hennesey. Conversion: Herkie Kruger. Penalty: Herkie Kruger.
Wildeklawer Griquas (10) 21 Tries: Gareth Krause, Alshaun Bock. Conversion: Ederich Prinsloo. Penalties: Ederich Prinsloo, Braam van Straaten (2). - Sapa