Bulls: The good, bad and ugly
STAT ATTACK: In part three of our four-part series @rugby365com delves into three key areas of the Bulls’ game heading into the United Rugby Championship quarterfinals.
The Bulls cemented second spot on the table after their 55-15 dismantling of the bottom-placed Dragons in Round 18 of the URC.
This set them up for a mouthwatering home quarterfinal showdown against Edinburgh.
The fixture has all the ingredients to be a ‘grudge’ match after Sean Everitt’s side eliminated the Bulls in the EPCR Challenge Cup quarterfinal at Edinburgh Stadium in April.
The sides also met during the URC regular season where the Bulls pipped Edinburgh by six points (22-16) at Loftus Versfeld.
@rugby365com delved into some key stats of the Bulls’ season thus far to see which areas they’re dominating and which ones are areas of concern.
The good: Scrums
The Bulls dominated almost every single opponent this season up front with tighthead prop Wilco Louw the cornerstone of their success.
Bulls are second for scrum penalties won (43) and ranked third for scrums won (95 percent) and only conceded 29 scrum offences, the least of all.
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The bad: Line-outs
For a team that prides itself on set-piece, the Bulls’ line-out success rate is questionable as they are the favourites to beat Edinburgh and advance to the URC semifinals.
They are ranked 11th out of 16 teams with an 86 percent line-out success rate which has cost them at times during the season.
Ironically enough, they had only won 80 percent of their line-outs in their Challenge Cup quarterfinal loss to Edinburgh.
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The ugly: Defence
South Africa’s three sides in the URC quarterfinals have been lacking in the defensive department.
The Bulls have done the best between themselves and their counterparts the Sharks and Stormers but are still ranked 14th for their tackle success rate of 77 percent.
They are also ranked 11th for tackles missed.
Related articles
Stormers: The good, bad and ugly
Sharks: The good, bad and ugly
Lions: The good, bad and ugly
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