Pollard the hero as Bulls edge Scarlets in tense URC clash
MATCH REPORT: Springbok star Handre Pollard showed off his match-winning pedigree with the kicking tee as the Bulls edged the Scarlets 23-21 in a tense United Rugby Championship Round 16 clash in Llanelli on Saturday.
After going into the break 14-10 ahead, the Bulls relied on their powerful pack and Pollard’s boot to get them over the line. The double World Cup-winning flyhalf landed three tricky second-half penalty goals, one of which came a minute before the full-time whistle.
The result means the Bulls will head back to South Africa with nine log points from their tour. They recorded a 47-7 victory over the Dragons in Newport a week earlier.
Johan Ackermann’s side moved up to seventh position in the standings ahead of their final league games against Zebre and Benetton in Pretoria.
It was a brilliant start for the Bulls with Cheswill Jooste running onto an inside pass from Harold Vorster before racing away for a try in the third minute.
However, the home side grew in confidence with ball in hand after that, and with some patience on attack, it went wide to Callum Woolley, who eased in for a five-pointer.
The hosts found themselves in front in the 20th minute after Eddie James ran onto a pass at full speed from line-out before going into space to score.
Just when you thought the Scarlets were going to score again, the Bulls hit back. After Embrose Papier was put into space by Vorster to race away from defenders, the ball went through the hands, and it eventually found Pollard, who finished off a great piece of play with a try.
With Pollard landing his conversions, the Bulls had a four-point lead at the break.
It wasn’t the best start to the second half for the visitors, with Stedman Gans getting a yellow card for holding a Scarlets player back without the ball.
The Bulls were down to 13 men in the 50th when Francois Kloppers also saw yellow for a cynical offside, which prevented an almost certain try.
Moments later, captain Fletcher Anderson powered over to put his side in front. Joe Hawkins missed his third conversion, which meant it was only a one-point lead.
Pollard showed his pedigree in the 57th minute after landing a long-range penalty to put his side in front by two points. However, Hawkins finally found his direction off the kicking tee in the 64th minute when he converted a penalty into three points to put the hosts back in front.
After a huge scrum, the Bulls were awarded another penalty, and from a tricky angle, Pollard was able to regain the lead for his team a few minutes later.
It was almost deja vu in the 74th minute, but this time it was the Scarlets who won the scrum penalty. From an almost identical angle and distance, Hawkins landed his penalty goal attempt to give his side a one-point lead again with less than seven minutes left on the clock.
The Bulls thought they had taken a huge step to victory when David Kriel pounced on the ball after a Willie le Roux grubber to sprint in for a try in the 76th minute. However, the TMO spotted a forward pass earlier in the build-up, and the try was disallowed.
With the clock approaching full-time, the Bulls managed to win another penalty after a powerful driving maul inside the Scarlets’ half, and Pollard was on target to score the winning points.
Man of the match: The award goes to Handre Pollard for his match-winning performance. He scored 18 points, which included a try and some tricky penalty goals.
The scorers:
For Scarlets:
Tries: Woolley, James, Anderson
Pens: Hawkins 2
For Bulls:
Tries: Jooste, Pollard,
Cons: Pollard 2
Pens: Pollard 3
Yellow cards: Stedman Gans (Bulls, 45′ – cynical play, playing an opponent without the ball); Francois Kloppers (Bulls, 50′ – cynical offside)
Teams:
Scarlets: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Callum Woolley, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Eddie James, 11 Macs Page, 10 Joe Hawkins, 9 Dane Blacker, 8 Fletcher Anderson (captain), 7 Jarrod Taylor, 6 Taine Plumtree, 5 Max Douglas, 4 Sam Lousi, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Kemsley Mathias.
Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Josh Morse, 18 Harri O’Connor, 19 Jac Price, 20 Dan Davis, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, 23 Ioan Jones.
Bulls: 15 David Kriel, 14 Cheswill Jooste, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: 16 Marco van Staden, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Francois Kloppers, 19 Cobus Wiese, 20 Mpilo Gumede, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Willie le Roux, 23 Jeandre Rudolph.
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales), Lloyd Edwards (Wales)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)
