Bulls leave Griquas behind
The visitors scored the only tries – two of them – in the first half, to take a 12-6 lead into the half-time break.
However, after that they were overhauled by the Bulls, who hit their stride in the second half.
The hosts scored four tries and 30 unanswered points in the second half to canter away from the Kimberley side – with Dayan van der Westhuizen, Tian Schoeman, Francois Hougaard and Jamba Ulengo all crossing the whitewash to secure the bonus point.
Blue Bulls flyhalf Tian Schoeman also impressed, as he contributed 21 points off the kicking tee – slotting four penalties and two conversions to go with his try.
The first half proved to be an absolute dog fight as neither team gave an inch on defence.
Schoeman opened the scoring for the home side when he made easy work of his penalty attempt.
The Bulls showed their attacking intent by opting to swing the ball on many occasions.
South African Sevens flyer Ruhan Nel read one of the Bulls' attacks brilliantly to score an intercept try with three defenders hot on his heels. Fullback Gouws Prinsloo's conversion hit the uprights to leave the score at 5-3 in favour of Griquas.
The Bulls almost replied through fullback Warrick Gelant, but the TMO denied the try as the last pass was ruled to have been forward.
The teams continued their relentless attacks, with both defences holding strong.
Griquas wing Ntabeni Dukisa swivelled out of a weak tackle to score in the corner with half-time fast approaching. Prinsloo kicked the extras to allow the visitors to pull nine points clear.
Schoeman pulled three points back for the Bulls with a minute left on the clock, but the Griquas had the opportunity to nullify his gain through a Prinsloo penalty which went wide.
The teams headed back to the tunnel with the Griquas leading 12-6.
Schoeman was called upon early in the second half to punish the Griquas through a penalty, which he duly did. He added another penalty to level the scores with 20 minutes of the match remaining.
The Bulls kept the scoreboard ticking when replacement prop Dayan van der Westhuizen scored in the corner from broken play, but the angle proved too much for Schoeman – who missed the conversion.
Schoeman showed his twinkle toes as he danced his way past two would-be tacklers to score the Bulls' third try of the match minutes later and converted to give his team a 24-12 lead.
Bulls scrumhalf Francois Hougaard added his name to the scoresheet when he finished off a great team try, as the Pretoria outfit began to run away with the lead. Schoeman was successful with the conversion.
Wing Jamba Ulengo scored the Bulls' bonus-point try in the 77th minute.
Nel was denied a consolation try for the Griquas in the dying seconds of the match due to a knock-on, which allowed the Blue Bulls to take the 36-12 win
Man of the match: You could look at a handful of Griquas players based on the first half and several more from the Bulls squad as a result of the home team's second-half showing. However, our award goes to Blue Bulls flyhalf Tian Schoeman for his all-round showing and the near flawless kicking display.
The scorers:
For the Blue Bulls:
Tries: Van der Westhuizen, Schoeman, Hougaard, Ulengo
Cons: Schoeman 2
Pens: Schoeman 4
For Griquas:
Tries: Nel, Dukisa
Con: Prinsloo
Teams:
Blue Bulls: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 William Small-Smith, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Jamba Ulengo, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Pieter Labuschagne (captain), 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Jacques du Plessis, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 18 Rudolph Snyman, 19 Roelof Smit, 20 Ivan van Zyl, 21 Louis Fouche, 22 Dries Swanepoel.
Griquas: 15 Gouws Prinsloo, 14 Ruhan Nel, 13 Jonathan Francke, 12 Michael Van Der Spuy, 11 Ntabeni Dukisa, 10 Riaan Viljoen, 9 Tian Meyer (captain), 8 Carel Greeff, 7 Hilton Lobberts, 6 RJ Liebenberg, 5 Hugo Kloppers, 4 Jonathan Adendorf, 3 Stephan Kotze, 2 Abraham Le Roux, 1 Danie Mienie.
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Ewald Van Der Westhuizen, 18 Jaco Nepgen, 19 Leon Karemaker, 20 Rudi Van Rooyen, 21 Clinton Swart, 22 Jacquin Jansen.
Referee: Quinton Immelman
Assistant referees: Sindile Nqcese, Archie Sehlako
