Blue Bulls under-21’s through to final
Although the young Sharks gave the Blue Bulls under-21 team a fright in the final moments of last week's semi-final of the national under-21 league, the young men in Blue managed to qualify for the final this coming Saturday in Bloemfontein.
The Blue Bulls under-21 team defeated their counterparts from the Sharks (42-41) last week at Loftus Versfeld in the semi-finals of the national under-21 league to qualify for this coming weekend’s final.
However, as the score indicates, Nollis Marais‘s team made things difficult for themselves.
Throughout the season this young Blue Bulls team was by far the best team in the league. They suffered only two narrow defeats during the league phase of the competition, finishing comfortably at the top – nine points ahead of Western Province (WP), their closest opponent.
To emphasize the team’s dominance in the league phase, one can look at their points difference after completing two rounds in the league. Marais’s men ended the league phase with a points difference of 250, while WP – who will also be their opponent in Saturday’s final after beating the Free State in the other semi-final – had the second-best points difference with 57.
After easily beating the Sharks twice during the season in the league games, they so nearly allowed the young men from Durban to cause a huge upset in Friday’s semi-finals.
It was clear from the start that the young Sharks team came to Pretoria to surprise the Bulls, but Muller Uys and his teammates took charge of affairs for the most part of the game.
With only ten minutes left, the young Blue Bulls were still comfortable leading by 42-27. However, the visitors caught them asleep and after a blitzkrieg of 14 points (two converted tries) in three minutes, the game was suddenly in the balance.
However, the young Blue Bulls showed character in the final few minutes and averted one fierce attack after another from the Durbanites to clinch victory and book their place in the final.
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