Bulls add to Stormers' misery
MATCH REPORT: The Stormers suffered their second consecutive Rainbow Cup defeat at Cape Town Stadium.
*As if happened: Stormers v Bulls
The Stormers put in a brave fight however in the end the Bulls showed their experience for the 20-16 win on Saturday.
Jake White’s team notched up their second successive win of the campaign while at the same time handing John Dobson’s charges a second defeat at their new home ground.
The men from Pretoria enjoyed a 14-10 halftime lead courtesy of two converted tries by Madosh Tambwe (right wing). No.8 Evan Roos (try) and flyhalf Abner van Reenen (conversion and a penalty goal) replied for the home side.
The two teams traded more penalty goals in the second half, however, the visitors were clearly the best side in the second stanza.
The Stormers, sporting an all-Springbok front row in skipper Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe (props) and Bongi Mbonambi (hooker), had the upper hand in the scrums but they struggled to control their own lineout where they missed their injured lock pairing of JD Schickerling and Salmaan Moerat.
To compound matters, new lock recruit Marvin Orie left the field early after taking a blow to the head.
After a tense opening quarter, it was the Bulls who drew first blood when Tambwe scored a superb try after they had managed to turn defence into attack.
The visitors forced a turnover from a quick tap penalty by the Stormers and when the ball went through hands out wide, Tambwe showed some wonderful sidesteps to score under the posts.
The hard-running speedster had an opportunity to score a second try just a few minutes later, but spilled a Steyn cross-kick with an open tryline beckoning.
Roos, who replaced Willie Engelbrecht in the side, forced his way through the Bulls defence to level matters with his converted try for the Cape side.
Kitshoff was yellow carded four minutes before halftime because of a leading arm charge, drawing a successful captains’ challenge from Duane Vermeulen.
A brilliant passage of play at the end of the half resulted in other converted try for Tambwe, enabling the Pretoria outfit to finish the first half in the ascendancy. They kept the ball alive through numerous passes, with Steyn pulling the trigger with another pinpoint kick pass out wide to Tambwe.
The Bulls deservingly went into the break with a four point advantage.
Steyn started to pull the strings more often in the second half, winning territory with his field kicks and slotting a penalty goal to stretch their lead to 17-10 before being replaced by Chris Smith.
Van Reenen brought the home side to within four points when he slotted his second penalty of the match (17-13) with just under twenty minutes of play remaining. Smith replied almost straight away with a beautifully struck penalty goal to restore the seven point lead (20-13).
Van Reenen was on target once more, barely minutes after Smith’s effort, to cut the Bulls’ lead back to four points again, to set up the prospects of an exciting final 10 minutes.
Kitshoff was once more successful with a captains’ challenge, gaining a penalty for a high tackle by Nizaam Carr (replacement No 8) and handing the home side a final chance to steal the win.
But it wasn’t to be for the Stormers as the Bulls brilliantly contested to steal yet another lineout right at the end, which brought the match to end, giving the Pretoria outfit their second win in as many weeks.
Man of the match: For Stormers Pieter-Steph du Toit and Evan Roos was their side’s standout performers. While the Bulls captain Duane Vermeulen produced a noteworthy performance. However, our nod goes to Bulls wing Madosh Tambwe, who was constantly looking for work and scored a brace of tries.
The scorers:
For Stormers:
Try: Roos
Con: Willemse
Pens: Van Reenen 3
For Bulls:
Tries: Tabwe 2
Cons: Steyn 2
Pens: Steyn 2, Smith
Yellow card: Steven Kitshoff (Stormers, 36 – dangerous tackle to the head)
Teams
Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Abner van Reenen, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 David Meihuizen, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements – from: 16 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Ernst van Rhyn, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Cornel Smit, 23 Edwill van der Merwe, 24 Andre-Hugo Venter, 25 Adre Smith.
Bulls: 15 David Kriel, 14 Madosh Tambwe, 13 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 12 Cornal Hendricks, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Duane Vermeulen, captain), 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements – from: 16 Schalk Erasmus, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Jacques van Rooyen, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Chris Smith, 23 James Verity-Amm, 24 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 25 Reinhardt Ludwig, 26 Arno Botha, 27 Keagan Johannes, 28 Janco Uys.
Referee: Stuart Berry
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper, Aimee Barrett-Theron
TMO: Marius Jonker
