Bulls overtake Stormers in Africa One
The Bulls and Stormers are level on 32 points each, but the Bulls go ahead by virtue of having won one more match.
That sees the Stormers drop out of the top eight – with the Africa wildcard going to the Sharks after their bonus-point win over the Southern Kings earlier in the day.
This was North-South as ever it was. This was hard – Test-match hard, relentlessly hard for every one of the 80 minutes. Being hard in that fashion makes for an absorbing match, but not without a gripe.
The scrums. Worse in the first half than in the second half. In the first half there were seven scrums which produced the following outcomes: seven collapses, six resets and three penalties. They were a blight on the game and it seems that the Stormers were to blame, for the three penalties were against them.
It may not have helped that the field cut up. Scrums that collapse are dangerous. If the playing surface is part of the cause of collapsing, it is contributing to the danger of playing on it. That is a frightening thought.
The second half – on the same playing surface – was better – six scrums, one collapse, one penalty, two free kicks. The second half was far better to watch. So maybe it was not the fault of the field but of the players.
Let's leave that.
This match proved yet again that defence can win matches. The Stormers enjoyed 65% of possession, but the Bulls won.
No pasarán. It was used as a slogan in time of war in Spanish-speaking lands. They shall not pass. It could have been the motto of the Bulls in this match. How they tackled! Despite the Stormers' copious possession, they only once looked like scoring a try and then they did not by beating at the Blue defence, but with a bit of direct running where the blue line was thinnest.
One try each in the match, both of them in the second half. The first half ended 6-all, two penalties each. Jean-Luc du Plessis kicked the Stormers' penalties, Francois Brummer the Bulls' Each kicker also missed a penalty kick at goal.
Du Plessis kicked a penalty when Jan Serfontein was penalised at a tackle. 3-0 after 2 minutes.
Brummer kicked a penalty when Olly Kebble was penalised at a scrum. 3-3 after 7 minutes.
Du Plessis kicked a penalty when Arno Botha was penalised at a tackle. 6-3 after 9 minutes.
Brummer kicked a penalty when Leolin Zas was penalised at a tackle. 6-6 after 13 minutes.
The Stormers had a chance to score when Du Plessis chipped off the outside of his boot and Cheslin Kolbe got to the ball but so did three Bulls, and Kolbe was held up.
The Stormers attacked but Johnny Kotze lost the ball and the Bulls hammered it downfield. The Stormers were forced to defend on their line and Nic Groom kicked out for half-time.
The Stormers were freekicked at a scrum and Brummer kicked a high up-and-under. Kolbe caught the ball but was flattened by Travis Ismaiel. Arno Botha won a turnover off Kolbe and the Bulls attacked. With his left foot Serfontein chipped ahead. The ball bounced eccentrically but SP Marais got the ball and passed it quickly to Piet van Zyl who sprinted the 10 metres to score as Pieter-Steph du Toit tackled him. 11-6 to the Bulls after 47 minutes, the first time that they had had the lead.
Five minutes later Nizaam Carr was penalised at a tackle and Brummer increased the lead to 14-6., and so it stayed for well over 20 minutes of unrelenting confrontation.
The Stormers went through 12 phases but there was no chink in the blue line but then the Bulls were penalised and Du Plessis kicked a brilliant, long penalty that produced a line-out five metres from the Bulls' line. From the line-out the Stormers bashed and bashed and bashed, and still the defence held firm. Then suddenly De Allende found the breach and burst through it, racing round behind the posts. 14-13 with 12 minutes to play.
Tian Schoeman came on as a substitute for Brummer and the Bulls went through a series of phases, keeping the ball but not making progress till Van Zyl passed the ball back deep to Schoeman who dropped a goal. 17-13 with five minutes to play.
The Bulls had the better of the five minutes and in fact nearly scored again when they worked an overlap for speedster Jamba Ulengo who chipped over Kolbe's head and chased after it. Just before the Stormers' line there were three Bulls and only Huw Jones. The ball was playing tricks and in his eagerness to get it Van Zyl knocked on and the Stormers came out of the predicament but did not threaten to take the game from the Bulls, who are thus the only Super Rugby team to win all their home matches.
Man of the Match: It had to be a forward – a Bulls' forward to boot. Much penalised Marcel van der Merwe whose scrumming this week got the opposition penalised and who tackled with power, cunning Adriaan Strauss, big lock Rudolph Snyman, relentless Pieter Labuschagne and our choice, big all-action flank Jannes Kirsten for his tackling and much besides.
The scorers:
For the Bulls:
Try: Van Zyl
Pens: Brummer 3
DG: Schoeman
For the Stormers
Try: De Allende
Con: Du Plessis
Pens: Du Plessis 2
Teams:
Bulls: 15 SP Marais, 14 Jamba Ulengo, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Travis Ismaiel, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Pieter Labuschagne , 5 Rudolph Snyman, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Pierre Schoeman, 19 Grant Hattingh, 20 Deon Stegmann, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Dries Swanepoel.
Stormers: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe (captain), 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Oliver Kebble.
Replacements: 16 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 17 Alistair Vermaak, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Rynhardt Elstadt, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Huw Jones.
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe
Assistant referees: Glen Jackson, AJ Jacobs
TMO: Johan Greeff
