Blues edge blunder-Bulls

The Blues eased the troubles of under-fire coach John Kirwan with a 23-18 win over the Bulls in a scrappy match in a wet Auckland on Friday.

It is only their third win of the season and while they remain third from bottom, the Blues have at least put some space between themselves and the two Australian sides below them – the Western Force and Reds.

They also will not care that on occasion they may have been allowed a bit too much leeway by New Zealand referee Mike Fraser.

For them it was about eeking out a win, whatever it took and the men from Auckland deserve credit for the heart and tenacity they showed.

The Bulls can take some consolation from the game – the losing bonus point putting them back at the top of the South African conference.

Other than that, there wasn't much too enthuse about from the Pretoria-based franchise.

The Bulls dominated territory and possession, but could not convert it into points against the unfancied Blues – denting their chances of making the play-offs.

Two tries to centre Jan Serfontein were not enough in a tight match – where the lead changed five times, but the bulk of chances fell to the South Africans.

"We made too many mistakes," captain Pierre Spies said, adding that the Bulls were determined to bounce back on a tough road trip featuring the Chiefs, Brumbies and Rebels.

For the Blues, whose finals hopes are long gone, the win salvaged some pride amid a dismal season and retained their unbeaten record at Eden Park this year.

"We've had our backs against the wall for most of the year and to see the boys come out with a performance like this shows we've got a real strong backbone," Keven Mealamu said.

The Bulls exerted immense pressure from the outset through their line-out drive, creating two clear chances in the first five minutes.

The first was disallowed when they were held up over the tryline and the second was ruled out due to obstruction in the lead up.

The home side were lucky to be level pegging at 3-all, before Lolagi Visinia sent them ahead with a spectacular individual try.

The Blues fullback picked up a clearing kick from Handré Pollard near the half-way line and raced past four defenders to score between the posts.

The Bulls hit back through Serfontein, after Pollard found a gap and offloaded to the centre as he stormed towards the line at full pace.

Yet the Pretoria-based side went into the break down 13-16, despite enjoying 72 percent of territory and 58 percent of possession in the first 40 minutes.

They were less wasteful after the re-start, breaking down the left wing at lighting speed as the ball passed through six pairs of hands for Serfontein to get his second try.

But they were forced into desperate defending as the Blues regrouped, eventually conceding when George Moala powered over.

Down 18-23 in the final minutes, the Bulls worked the ball into a good attacking position but threw away their momentum, and the game, through a questionable penalty.

Man of the match: Jesse Kriel had his good moments, but simply too many shockers. Jan Serfontein was all brute force in midfield and Handré Pollard was more good than bad. Pierre Spies, Arno Botha and Pieter Labuschagne were very productive. The Bulls best players was also the oldest, lock Victor Matfield – who made the most tackles and also dominated the line-outs. Lolagi Visinia showed just how dangerous he can be with ball in hand, while Ihaia West produced another mature performance. Steven Luatua was a valuable asset before he left the field injured in the second half, while James Parson was also very busy. Another productive forward was one of the youngsters, flank Akira Ioane. However, our award goes to Blues centre George Moala, who showed up the Bulls' defence and scored the match-winning try.

The scorers:

For the Blues:

Tries: Visinia, Moala

Cons: West 2

Pens: West 3

For the Bulls:

Tries: Serfontein 2

Con: Pollard

Pens: Pollard 2

Teams:

Blues: 15 Lolagi Visinia, 14 Ben Lam, 13 Francis Saili, 12 George Moala, 11 Melani Nanai, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Steven Luatua (captain), 7 Brendon O'Connor, 6 Akira Ioane, 5 Culum Retallick, 4 Josh Bekhuis, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 James Parsons, 1 Tony Woodcock.

Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 18 Sam Prattley, 19 Will Lloyd, 20 Blake Gibson, 21 Jimmy Cowan, 22 Simon Hickey, 23 Matt Vaega.

Bulls: 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Pierre Spies (captain), 7 Arno Botha, 6 Pieter Labuschagne, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Flip van de Merwe, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Trevor Nyakane.

Replacements: 16 Callie Visagie, 17 Dean Greyling, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Jacques du Plessis, 20 Deon Stegmann, 21 Burger Odendaal, 22 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 23 Travis Ismaiel.

Referee: Mike Fraser

Assistant referees: Nick Briant, Aki Aso

TMO: Glenn Newman