Bulls ease past Sunwolves
The bonus-point win kept the Bulls' play-off hopes alive in this year’s competition, but they will still need the Sharks to slip up in the run in to the quarterfinals.
The Bulls were camped in the Sunwolves' half in the opening 10 minutes of the game, but poor execution let them down on a few occasions in the strike zone.
However, the home side eventually made the passes stick in the 11th minute when a great break by Jamba Ulengo down the touchline resulted in a try for flank Pieter Labuschagne. Flyhalf Francois Brummer added the extras.
The Sunwolves did not have to wait long to hit back – flyhalf Yu Tamura reduced the deficit to four points four minutes later when he converted a penalty from a tough angle.
The Bulls lead was then stretched to seven once again a few minutes later when Brummer knocked over a penalty as the home side tried to stamp their authority on the game.
Not long after that penalty the Bulls were further in front when centre Dries Swanepoel scored the Bulls second try after a fantastic break by scrumhalf Piet van Zyl. Brummer converted and the home side was leading by 14 points after 20 minutes.
It was all Bulls from then on as the continued to put the visitors under immense pressure. In the 27th minute it was the turn of Jannes Kirsten to dive over for a score after some great build up play.
Things then got worse for the Sunwolves when Brummer captilised on a mistake in the Sunwolves' 22 to race away for a try under the polls. Brummer converted and the score was 31-3 in favour of the home side after 33 minutes.
The Sunwolves finished the first half better than they started it, but they will still unable to cross the whitewash despite stretching the Bulls on defence. In the end the Bulls took their 28-point lead into the break.
It was more of the same from the Bulls at the start of the second half when captain Adriaan Strauss bulldozed his way over in the 43rd minutes after some good phase play by the home side. Brummer could not convert, but it did not really matter as the Bulls were in full control.
The game then reverted into a bit of an arm-wrestle with both teams testing each other's defences, but with little success. The Sunwolves also started to look more dangerous with ball in hand.
A try eventually came in the 73rd minute when Travis Ismaiel sprinted in after some poor defending by the Sunwolves.
A few minutes later, Ismaiel was again put into space to run in for his team's seventh try of the game, which was also the final nail in the coffin for the struggling Sunwolves.
Man of the match: Jamba Ulengo looked dangerous every time he got the ball, while Piet van Zyl kept the Sunwolves defence guessing with his sniping runs. However, the award goes to Pieter Labuschagne who was devastating with ball in hand. He crossed the advantage line on a number of occasions and scored a try as well.
The scorers:
For Bulls:
Tries: Labuschagne, Swanepoel, Kirsten, Brummer, Strauss, Ismaiel 2
Cons: Brummer 4, Schoeman 2
Pen: Brummer
For Sunwolves:
Pen: Tamura
Teams:
Bulls: 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Burger Odendaal, 12 Dries Swanepoel, 11 Jamba Ulengo, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Renaldo Bothma, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Pieter Labuschagne, 5 Jason Jenkins, 4 Marvin Orie, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Nqoba Mxoli, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Hanro Liebenberg, 20 Grant Hattingh, 21 Arno Botha, 22 Rudy Paige, 23 Tian Schoeman.
Sunwolves: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Hajime Yamashita, 13 Derek Carpenter, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa (captain),11 Yasutaka Sasakura,10 Yu Tamura, 9 Yuki Yatomi, 8 Edward Quirk, 7 Taiyo Ando, 6 Liaki Moli, 5 Naohiro Kotaki, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 2 Takeshi Kizu, 1 Keita Inagaki.
Replacements: 16 Futoshi Mori, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Faatiga Lemalu, 20 Yoshiya Hosoda, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Mifiposeti Paea, 23 Shokei Kin.
Referee: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jaco van Heerden (South Africa), AJ Jacobs (South Africa)
TMO: Willie Vos (South Africa)
