Bulls win try-fest in Pretoria
Comments
0
The Bulls ran in six tries to beat the Reds 43-22 in a high-scoring Super Rugby game at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The victory allowed them to stay at the top of the South African Conference.
As SA conference leaders they occupy a top-three spot on the overall standings.
The Reds scored four tries – half their tally in seven previous games this season – but produced only one other score, a conversion from the misfiring boot of wing Lachlan Turner.
Wing Francois Hougaard scored twice in the first half, along with captain Pierre Spies – as the Bulls opened up a comfortable 24-5 half-time lead.
However, the Reds bounced back quickly with a try from Will Genia early in the second half.
The scrumhalf then quickly followed up his score with an audacious grubber kick that put Nick Frisby in for another Reds try, as the score closed to 17-24.
The Reds lost momentum, however, when flank Adam Thomson was yellow-carded for illegally collapsing a maul.
The one-man advantage enabled the home side to re-establish dominance – with tries from Marcel van der Merwe and Burger Odendaal.
Those two tries were split when the bottom-placed Reds managed another try from Marco Kotze, their South African import.
The Bulls completed the big win when replacement scrumhalf Piet van Zyl went over 10 minutes from full-time.
Man of the Match: Will Genia looked a threat again for the Reds, as did Liam Gill – who was busy all over the park. For the Bulls Francois Hougaard showed his killer instinct in picking up a brace, but it was Bulls fullback Jesse Kriel who showed he could well be a Springbok bolter for the World Cup.
Scorers:
For the Bulls:
Tries: Hougaard 2, Spies, Van der Merwe, Odendaal, Van Zyl
Cons: Potgieter 3, Schoeman 2
Pen: Potgieter
For the Reds:
Tries: Turner, Genia, Frisby, Kotze
Con: Turner
Yellow card: Adam Thompson (Reds, 47 – cynical play, collapsing the maul)
Teams:
Bulls: 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Pierre Spies (captain), 7 Arno Botha, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Jacques du Plessis, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Morné Mellett, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20 Hanro Liebenberg, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Jurgen Visser.
Reds: 15 Karmichael Hunt, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Anthony Fainga'a, 11 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 10 Nick Frisby, 9 Will Genia, 8 Adam Thomson, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Curtis Browning, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Dave McDuling, 3 Greg Holmes, 2 Saia Fainga'a, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Ben Daley, 18 Sef Faagase, 19 Marco Kotze, 20 Tom Murday, 21 Adam Korczyk, 22 Ben Tapuai, 23 Chris Kuridrani.
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Quinton Immelman (South Africa), Lesego Legoete (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
ADVERTISEMENT
