The Bulls beat the Stormers 17-13 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night in a bruising Super Rugby match.

The Bulls have now progressed to the top of the first group in the African conference of the tournament.

The game started like a typical tough north-south derby. It was intense and neither team gave the other much room.

Both teams showed they wanted to attack and the Stormers especially tested the Bulls’ defenders from the start.

Both teams however, had to settle for a few penalties to get the scoreboard going.

One of the surprises of the game was the way the Bulls dominated the scrums in the first half.

Oli Kebble especially, had a tough time against Marcel van der Merwe.

The Stormers, with their three loose forwards who all played towards the ball, had a slight advantage at the breakdown and it provided enough possession to their backs to attack.

The Bulls’ backline defense however, was rock solid while their loose forwards were everywhere to plug the holes.

At half-time the score was tied (6 each) and each team only managed to get two penalties in the first 40 minutes.

The first try of the match came after six minutes of play in the second half. A kick by Jan Serfontein was picked up by SP Marais, who passed to Piet van Zyl to finish off.

The Stormers later spent a few minutes on the Bulls’ goal line, but excellent defense prevented them from breaking through.

Only after half an hour’s play in the second half, when the Cape side visited the Bulls territory for a second time, the dam wall broke and Damian de Allende slipped through a gap for his team’s first try.

A few minutes later however, the Bulls forwards confirmed their dominance when they walked a few meters with the visitors during a drive movement. This gave Tian Schoeman, who had replaced Brummer, the space to pursue a neat drop goal through the posts.

With a few minutes remaining, the Bulls nearly scored again after a short kick by Jamba Ulengo. Piet van Zyl could just not reach the goal line this time.

But the Bulls dominated the final minutes of the match completely and when the final whistle blew the Stormers were clearly a defeated team.

SCORERS:

BULLS: 17 Tries: Piet van Zyl.  Penalties: Francois Brummer (3). Drop goals: Tian Schoeman (1).

STORMERS: 13 Tries: Damien de Allende. Penalties: Jean-Luc du Plessis (1). Drop goals: Jean-Luc du Plessis (1).

Bulls: 15 SP Marais, 14 Jamba Ulengo, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Travis Ismaiel, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Pieter Labuschagne, 5 Rudolph Snyman, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Pierre Schoeman, 19 Grant Hattingh, 20 Deon Stegmann, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Dries Swanepoel.

Stormers: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe (captain), 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Oliver Kebble.
Replacements: 16 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 17 Alistair Vermaak, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Rynhardt Elstadt, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Huw Jones.

Referee: Ben O’Keeffe
Assistant referees: Glen Jackson, AJ Jacobs
TMO: Johan Greeff