Bulls bounce back to thrash Cardiff
MATCH REPORT: The Bulls boosted their play-off hopes with a valuable 40-7 bonus-point win over Cardiff in their United Rugby Championship Round 13 clash in Pretoria on Friday.
Johan Ackermann was looking for a big response from his side after last weekend’s 19-32 defeat to the Stormers, and they produced the goods in the first half as they scored five tries on their way to a 33-7 half-time lead.
It was a sloppy affair in the second half with the Bulls only adding one more try, but the win allows them to carry some momentum in their next fixture against Munster at Loftus Versfeld.
There was also an encouraging cameo from Springbok Cameron Hanekom off the bench after a lengthy injury lay-off.
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The visitors punished the Bulls in the third minute when they pounced on a loose ball in the midfield, and it resulted in Harri Millard running in for the first try of the game.
However, a few minutes later, they were down to 14 men after Alun Lawrence was yellow-carded for playing the ball on the ground.
The Bulls took full advantage of the penalty with Marcell Coetzee going over for a try from a maul.
It was more of the same in the 14th minute. This time, Johan Grobbelaar found his way to the tryline from another maul. After converting the first try, Handre Pollard found the upright with his second attempt.
The Bulls thought they scored their third in the 24th minute when Cobus Wiese crashed over. However, there was some obstruction by Embrose Papier in the build-up.
They eventually got another score a couple of minutes later with Kurt-Lee Arendse sprinting through the Cardiff defence before feeding the ball to David Kriel, who finished things off.
Some more magic from Arendse on the counterattack sent Papier sprinting down the touchline to score the Bulls’ bonus-point try in the 35th minute.
The Bulls wrapped up the first half with a great piece of opportunistic play by Nizaam Carr. It all started after the ball went loose from an attack before the flank booted the ball across the field into Elrigh Louw’s hands, and he powered over for the fifth try.
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It took a bit of time, but the Bulls eventually scored their sixth try in the 57th minute after Ruan Vermaak powered over from close range.
It was scrappy by both teams in the final quarter, and no one added to the scoreline in that period.
Man of the match: Embrose Papier showed why he was missed last week as he kept Cardiff’s defenders busy. However, the award goes to wing Kurt-Lee Arendse, who was a constant threat out wide. He scored a try and created another in the 80 minutes.
The scorers:
For Bulls:
Tries: Coetzee, Grobbelaar, Kriel, Papier, Louw, Vermaak
Cons: Pollard 4, Kriel
For Cardiff:
Try: Millard
Con: Sheedy
Yellow card: Alun Lawrence (Cardiff, 8′ – cynical play, playing the ball on the ground.
Teams:
Bulls: 15 David Kriel, 14 Cheswill Jooste, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Stedman Gans, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Francois Klopper, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: 16 Marco van Staden, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Khuta Mchunu, 19 Ruan Vermaak, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Jeandre Rudolph, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Willie le Roux.
Cardiff: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Mason Grady, 13 Harri Millard, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Jacob Beetham, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Taine Basham, 7 Dan Thomas, 6 Alun Lawrence, 5 George Nott, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Javan Sebastian, 2 Liam Belcher (captain), 1 Rhys Barratt.
Replacements: 16 Daf Hughes, 17 Danny Southworth, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 James Botham, 21 Taulupe Faletau, 22 Ellis Bevan, 23 Ioan Lloyd.
Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Griffin Colby (South Africa), Jonathan Lottering (South Africa)
TMO: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
