Rebels pile more misery on Bulls
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The Bulls saw their play-off hopes disappear with a 21-20 defeat against the Rebels in Melbourne on Saturday.
The Bulls have not won a match overseas since 2013, and the defeat to the Rebels sealed a second consecutive whitewash on tour for the three-times champions.
The three-time winners led the Rebels until the 59th minute but could not score in the final 20 minutes, bowing out of play-off contention with one regular round left.
The Rebels scored three tries to two in their first win in seven matches against South African opposition and it was their seventh win of a much improved season.
There was some controversy with the Bulls denied a try by centre Burger Odendaal in the 61st minute after adjudication by the television match official in the stands.
Odendaal appeared to ground the ball over the tryline but the TMO thought otherwise after video replays and disallowed the try.
The early exit from the Super Rugby season will increase pressure on coach Frans Ludeke after a second straight season where the Bulls have missed out on the finals.
The Bulls began strongly with prop Dean Greyling scoring in the fifth minute only for the Rebels to hit back with a well-worked try off a scrum win for No.8 Sean McMahon.
The South Africans kicked away to a 17-7 lead in the 30th minute with a try to flank Pieter Labuschagne off the back of a rolling maul.
But flyhalf Jack Debreczeni scored right on half-time for the Rebels to get within three points of the Bulls.
Flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter kicked the Bulls to a 20-14 lead with a penalty just after the resumption, but that was to prove the South Africans' last points of the match as the Rebels began to dominate possession and territory.
Giant lock Lopeti Timani crashed over in the 59th minute and Mike Harris converted the try to edge the Rebels into a 21-20 lead heading into the final quarter.
The Rebels had the ball deep in Bulls' territory when the clock wound down to see out a tenacious win.
"We've worked hard and we've given it our all, but obviously not enough so we have to work in this last week to get some results out of this competition," Bulls skipper Pierre Spies said.
"I must give credit to the Rebels, they kept pressure on us and we couldn't get out of our half for a very long time and they also put pressure on our scrum."
The Bulls will finish their season next week against the Cheetahs at home, while the Rebels finish at home against Western Force.
Man of the match: For the Bulls Victor Matfield was impressive until he was taken off and inside centre Burger Odendaal stood out, but the most influential player on the pitch was hard-working Rebels flank Sean McMahon.
The scorers:
For the Rebels:
Tries: McMahon, Debreczeni, Timani
Cons: Harris 3
For the Bulls:
Tries: Greyling, Labuschagne
Cons: Potgieter 2
Pens: Potgieter 2
Yellow card: Dean Greyling (Bulls, 53 – Repeated breakdown infringements)
Teams:
Rebels: 15 Mike Harris, 14 Dom Shipperley, 13 Tamati Ellison, 12 Mitch Inman, 11 Cam Crawford, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 9 Nic Stirzaker, 8 Scott Higginbotham (captain), 7 Colby Fainga’a, 6 Sean McMahon, 5 Lopeti Timani, 4 Luke Jones, 3 Paul Alo-Emile, 2 Pat Leafa, 1 Toby Smith.
Replacements: 16 Tom Sexton, 17 Cruze Ah-Nau, 18 Tim Metcher, 19 Sam Jeffries, 20 Jordy Reid, 21 Ben Meehan, 22 Bryce Hegarty, 23 Tom English
Bulls: 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Travis Ismaiel, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Pierre Spies (captain), 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Pieter Labuschagne, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Flip van de Merwe, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Grant Hattingh, 20 Arno Botha, 21 Tian Schoeman, 22 Bjorn Basson, 23 Jurgen Visser.
Referee: Nick Briant
Assistant referees: James Leckie, Michael Hogan
TMO: Ian Smith
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