Cape Town — They battled to get going in the opening 40 minutes, but the Bulls scored tries on either side of halftime to secure a hard-fought 21-13 United Rugby Championship victory over the Lions on Saturday.
The rainy conditions at Loftus Versfeld made the ball difficult to handle for both sides, but with all their possession in the first half, the Bulls should have put the Lions away much earlier in the game.
On the evidence of this performance, Jake White’s team still have a long way to go if they want to challenge the likes of Leinster, Ulster and even Edinburgh in the top half of the URC log.
There was certainly a visible attacking intent from Bulls, as they started the match in fine fashion by holding on to the ball and stretching the visitors’ defence.
Captain Marcell Coetzee also opted for touch instead of the posts from a few penalties to try and take the fight to the Lions’ forwards.
But it was the Lions who fed off the scraps from knock-ons and the like from the home side, with flyhalf Tiaan Swanepoel slotting two penalties within the first eight minutes.
The Bulls again made a number of entries into the Lions’ half, but a sloppy lineout delivery or handling errors out wide halted their momentum.
Loosehead prop Simphiwe Matanzima was also penalised in the scrums a few times by referee Aimee Barrett-Theron, although he was unlucky most of the time as it appeared as if Lions No 3 Carlu Sadie should’ve been blown up.
The Bulls were eventually rewarded for their endeavour in the 25th minute, with Coetzee forcing his way over after No 8 Elrigh Louw was stopped just short of the line from a tap-penalty charge.
That put the hosts 7-6 up, and they seemed to gain more confidence, although it proved to be their downfall as they lacked patience on attack by looking for ‘miracle’ passes instead of going through another phase.
Just before the break, though, hooker Johan Grobbelaar dotted down from a well worked lineout drive, and suddenly the Bulls were 14-6 up at halftime.
Swanepoel tried a shot at goal early in the second half, but pushed it wide, and the Bulls pounced soon after that.
The likes of Louw, Coetzee and Arno Botha made a number of carries inside the Lions 22, and eventually fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse beat the defender before he got the ball with a smart glide on the outside to cruise over the line.
With more than 30 minutes to go, White would’ve been confident that the Bulls would score a fourth try and claim a bonus point, and the players went close a few times as they played with much better rhythm on attack up to the hour mark.
But time and again, the last pass didn’t go to hand, and the men from Johannesburg were determined enough in defence to keep the Bulls at bay.
The Lions themselves also had a couple of lineout drives inside the opposition 22, and after being stopped short on a number of occasions, lock Ruben Schoeman managed to get the ball on the line with eight minutes to go.
Swanepoel’s angled conversion made it a tense finish, with the Bulls’ lead reduced to 21-13.
But while the home team did enough to hold on for a second consecutive victory, they would not have been happy about missing out on a bonus point, with even a last-minute attacking lineout being wasted with an overthrow.
There remains lots of hard work ahead for the Bulls to become serious title challengers in the coming months.
Points-Scorers
Bulls 21 – Tries: Marcell Coetzee, Johan Grobbelaar, Kurt-Lee Arendse. Conversions: Morné Steyn (3).
Lions 13 – Try: Ruben Schoeman. Conversion: Tiaan Swanepoel (1). Penalties: Swanepoel (2).
IOL Sport