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VIDEO: The 'magic-makers' that drive the Bulls

The Bulls still pride themselves on their brutal forward power, but they have added some sublime attacking skills to an impressive team.

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Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White, speaking after their 45-9 United Rugby Championship demolition job on Cardiff, said his team has plenty of room for improvement.

However, in the Round Nine victory at Loftus Versfeld, they showed a side of the Bulls not often talked about.

Springbok speedster Canan Moodie crossed for two of his team’s six tries, while fellow Boks Kurt-Lee Arendse and Johan Goosen were also in superfluous form against a dangerous Cardiff outfit.

Dai Young’s men had already beaten the Stormers and Sharks this season – pulling off a stunning 35-0 victory in Durban the week before.

However, they found the Bulls’ ‘double-barrel’ approach too much.

In Pretoria, the back three of Kurt-Lee Arendse, Cornal Hendricks (who moved from outside centre to wing after David Kriel’s injury) and Canan Moodie were a handful for the dangerous Cardiff visitors.

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“Every time they [Cardiff] kicked the ball, with Kurt-Lee or Canan catching it, you sensed that something would happen,” White told @rugby365com.

“When you combine them with Cornal [Hendricks], Lionel [Mapoe], Harold [Vorster] and [Johan] Goosen, when he is on song – like he was in this game – it is fantastic,” the Bulls’ boss added.

He said the key is to give those backs ‘good ball on the front foot’.

(Continue below Jake White’s interview …)

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“As soon as we got on the front foot, Goosen could run onto the ball. He then opened up holes, scored or put people away.

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“It is very pleasing.

“That’s wonderful Bulls rugby,” White quipped.

Cardiff coach Dai Young spoke of the ‘massive amounts of power’ the Bulls forwards have, which remains a part of the Bulls’ game.

“The subtleties of our attack and the opportunities we create with our backs is also pleasing for me as a coach.”

White spoke of the variations of Moodie and Arendse, with two sublime chip-kicks – one which resulted in a try and another which narrowly evaded the grasp of Moodie that could have been another five-pointer.

“That [quality of play] is from a relatively short time together as a combination.

“It is going to get better and better.

“Johan Goosen hasn’t played much rugby. The more he plays, the more they get to play around him And the better it will get.

“I am really excited. We are not even halfway in the season and we already scoring lots of tries,” he said of his team’s 38 tries from nine matches – an average of just over four tries per match.

“We look dangerous every time our backs get the ball.

“Hopefully we will just keep building on that.”

But it wasn’t just on attack that they were impressive.

Preventing Cardiff from scoring any tries speaks volumes of their defence.

The Bulls’ Director of Rugby was full of praise for two-try hero Canan Moodie, the Springbok who is also brilliant on defence.

“It is unbelievable that he shows the maturity that he does on defence,” Whiter said of the 20-year-old flyer.

“Those tackles he makes when he closes the gate and [knows] when he has to wait – making the right call when he sees they have numbers on him.

“Him and [fellow Bok try-scoring machine] Kurt-Lee [Arendse] understand each other well. They play well together and cover that section of the field,” he added about their defensive capabilities where the Bulls shut the opposition out – with Cardiff’s only points coming from three penalties.

@king365ed
@rugby365com

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