Bristol Bears embarrass Bulls in remarkable Loftus try fest
MATCH REPORT: The Bulls suffered their seventh defeat in a row in all competitions after they went down 49-61 to Bristol in their Champions Cup Round Three clash in Pretoria on Saturday.
There were 16 tries in the match, with visitors from England scoring nine of them. At half-time, the score was 47-28 in Bristol’s favour.
Despite crossing the whitewash seven times, it was an erratic performance by Johan Ackermann’s side. He will be particularly disappointed with the performances by some of his senior players, including Handre Pollard.
The visitors had a 26-point lead with 20 minutes left on the clock before the Bulls added a bit more respectability to the scoreline with two tries.
The Bulls’ play-off hopes are now hanging by the thinnest of threads ahead of their final-round clash against Section Paloise in France next weekend.
It was the perfect start for the visitors as some clinical play with ball in hand led to Benhard Janse van Rensburg easing in for the opening try in the third minute.
Bristol were in again three minutes later with Max Lahiff powering over the Bulls’ tryline before Noah Heward scored his team’s third before the 10th minute mark after intercepting Willie le Roux’s pass.
After a rare entry in Bristol’s 22, Jeandre Rudolph scored the Bulls’ first points in the 14th minute with a try after a strong run by Stravino Jacobs from a scrum.
However, some more sloppy defending by the Bulls allowed Kalaveti Ravouvou to run in for Bristol’s bonus-point score in just the 16th minute.
The Bulls needed a spark, and it came from Rudolph again. The No.8’s slap pass out wide to Jacobs put the wing into space to score a try in the 19th minute.
But things fell apart for the Bulls a few minutes later with Heward producing a spectacular finish in the corner to score his second try of the match.
And some more great interplay between the Bristol backs sent Kieran Marmion into space to score his team’s sixth try.
Jacobs scored his second try in the 28th minute before the home side got a massive lifeline in the 39th minute when they were awarded a penalty try after Rich Lane was yellow-carded for slapping the ball into touch, which prevented Jacobs from going over again.
However, the Bulls suffered a hammer blow just before the break when Heward completed his hat-trick when he chased down a Marmion kick after a mistake by Pollard in the midfield.
The Bulls came out firing in the second half as they reduced the deficit with a David Kriel try in the 44th minute before things went pear-shaped.
Le Roux was given a yellow card for some cynical play at a ruck near his own tryline in the 57th minute before Pedro Rubiolo powered over for a try for Bristol.
Bristol rubbed salt into the Bulls’ wounds in the 60th minute after Ravouvou scored his second try, which all stemmed from an awkward bounce of the ball inside the home side’s half.
The Bulls scored another two tries in the final quarter, and things could have been interesting if Mpilo Gumede evaded Benhard Janse van Rensburg’s try-saving ankle tap late in the game.
Man of the match: The award goes to Bristol wing Noah Heward, who was sensational out wide. He scored three of his team’s nine tries.
The scorers:
For Bulls:
Tries: Rudolph, Jacobs 2, Penalty Try, Kriel, De Klerk, Le Roux
Cons: Pollard 6
For Bristol:
Tries: Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Lahiff, Heward 3, Ravouvou 2, Marmion, Rubiolo
Cons: Jordan 8
Yellow cards: Rich Lane (Bristol Bears, 39′ – deliberately slapping the ball into touch), Willie le Roux (Bulls, 57′ – cynical play at the ruck)
Teams:
Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 David Kriel, 12 Harold Voster, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Jeandre Rudolph, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje (captain), 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Replacements: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Mornay Smith, 19 Ruan Vermaak, 20 Mpilo Gumede, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Stedman Gans, 23 Sergeal Petersen.
Bristol: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Noah Heward, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 James Williams, 11 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 10 Tom Jordan, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Bill Mata, 7 Fitz Harding (captain), 6 Santiago Grondona, 5 Joe Batley, 4 Pedro Rubiolo, 3 George Kloska, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1. Max Lahiff.
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Jimmy Halliwell, 19 Joe Owen, 20 Benjamin Grondona, 21 Harry Randall, 22 Sam Worsley, 23 Matias Moroni.
Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)
Assistant referees: Jeremy Rozier (France), Benjamin Hernandez (France)
TMO: Denis Grenouillet (France)
