VIDEO: Bulls beat Sharks...again

SUPER RUGBY REPORT: The Bulls secured a home and away double over the Sharks this season with a 19-16 win at Kings Park on Saturday.

With the scores level 16-16 in the final minute, flyhalf Handre Pollard stepped up to the plate to convert the winning penalty.

The win stretched the Bulls’ winning streak over the Sharks to nine matches.

The game was littered with errors throughout the match and there was really nothing to choose between the two teams throughout the 80 minutes.

It was a morale-boosting win for the Bulls after their 20-56 defeat to the Chiefs last weekend.

It was not a game to make South African rugby proud or Super Rugby pleased. It was a mess of poor handling, especially in the first half, in hot, sweaty Durban. And then there was the disgrace of two hookers, both occasional Springboks, fighting on the ground and sent off.

The handling could have been excused but not the fighting, not that uncontrolled anger.

Mind you, the handling of top professional players was hard to excuse, sweaty heat or not. To see a Springbok flyhalf firing a torpedo at a centre is hardly sensible when the call should have been for shorter, simpler passes in front of the recipient’s waist.

Too often, the referee’s plaintive cry of “Use it” was heard with the eventual response of another box kick.

All that saved the game from complete ennui was the closeness of the score in which the winner was decided with just about a minute to play, the winning of it decided by more successful goal-kicking.

It was a match when just about the best applause was reserved for crowd favourite Tendai Mtawarira who was playing his 156th Super Rugby match, equalling Adriaan Strauss’s South African record.

The Sharks had the better of territory and possession in the whole match – roughly 60% to 40%. That was true of the first half when they found themselves three points behind and it happened again in the second half, which they ended three points behind.

After just four minutes, the score was 3-all. Handré Pollard kicked a penalty when Akker van der Merwe was penalised at a tackle and Robert du Preez levelled the scores when Hanro Liebenberg was offside.

There was almost a try. The Bulls were trying to attack on their right but Cornal Hendricks threw the ball infield and the Sharks got it. Louis Schreuder kicked a box kick whose wicked bounce beat Pollard and presented Makazole Mapimpi with the ball. Caught by Pollard, the wing popped a pass to Dan du Preez who “scored”. But a consultation with the TMO ended with a decision that the ball, when it bounced, had touched a sliver of the touchline. And so there was a lineout instead of a try.

The other score in the half was a Pollard penalty when Dan du Preez was penalised for being offside.

Half-time came with the Sharks on the attack.

The Sharks enjoyed a brilliant start to the second half. Robert du Preez kicked off high to his right. The Bulls’ fullback Divan Rossouw leapt for the ball but knocked it forward to the Sharks who attacked down the right and then went left where Dan du Preez scored with unmarked Mapimpi an extra on his left. 8-6 to the Sharks after 41 minutes.

Ten minutes later, from a scrum on the Bulls left, scrumhalf Embrose Papier passed straight to inside centre Burger Odendaal who burst straight through Robert du Preez and gave a pass to Jesse Kriel on his right, and Kriel raced over for a try under the posts. Pollard converted and the Bulls had the lead back at 13-8.

Mapimpi charged down a Kriel clearance from the Bulls’ goal-line and the Sharks had a five-metre lineout. There was a maul and this is where Akker van der Merwe and Schalk Britz enganged in uncontrolled fighting on the ground. Both were sent from the field as the referee brandished inevitable red cards.

There were four scrum penalties in the match. The third was against Trevor Nyakane of the Bulls and Robert du Preez, who had missed an earlier penalty, goaled this one. 13-11 after 61 minutes.

Jacques Vermeulen was penalised for going into the side of a Bulls’ maul, and Pollard increased the lead to 16-11.

With 10 minutes to play, Lukhanyo Am broke through Rosko Specman and seemed about to score at the posts when Pollard hauled him down. But the Sharks were bashing at the line and eventually burly André Esterhuizen burst through Specman to score. The conversion narrowly missed and the score was 16-all with nine minutes to play, the most exciting part of the match as both sides sought victory.

The Bulls knocked on inside the Sharks’ half. Replacement scrumhalf Grant Williams put the ball into the scrum, and a Bulls’ surge of enormous power destroyed the Sharks’ scrum. The Sharks were understandably penalised and Pollard kicked the winning goal with less than a minute to play.

Man of the Match: Not easy but there was a controlled power of the Bulls’ Duane Vermeulen, and the vigour, skill-set and strength of the Sharks’ inside centre, André Esterhuizen, who gets our vote.

The scorers:

For Sharks:
Tries: D du Preez, Esterhuizen
Pens: R du Preez 2

For Bulls:
Try: Kriel
Con: Pollard
Pens: Pollard 4

Red cards: Schalk Brits (Bulls, 57 – foul play, punching); Armand van der Merwe (Sharks, 57 – foul play, punching)

SUPER RUGBY LIVE: Sharks v Bulls

Our live blog will appear below, it might take some time to load. Please allow a few seconds. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Teams:

Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Lwazi Mvovo, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Louis Schreuder (captain), 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Luke Stringer, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Armand van der Merwe, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Khutha Mchunu, 19 Gideon Koegelenberg, 20 Philip van der Walt, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Kobus van Wyk, 23 Curwin Bosch.

Bulls: 15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Handre Pollard (captain), 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Hanro Liebenberg, 6 Ruan Steenkamp, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Lizo Gqoboka
Replacements: 16 Corniel Els, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Jannes Kirsten, 20 Tim Agaba, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Johnny Kotze.

Referee: Mike Fraser
Assistant referees: Brendon Pickerill, Rasta Rasivhenge
TMO: Christie du Preez

Photo by: Wayne Seagreen