With the sudden departure of Springbok Trevor Nyakane, as well as injuries to men such as Morné Smith and Jacques van Rooyen, the Bulls’ strength so far this year, their scrumming, suddenly became their biggest weakness and the main aspect that led to the hiding they got from Sharks in Durban this past weekend.

The men from Durban turned a 9-13 deficit at half-time into a fairly convincing 30-13 victory in the two teams’ United Rugby Championship match on Friday night.

After the disruption of having two rounds of action postponed recently, the four local franchises had no other choice but to change the program and move certain games, which would be played only in January, back to December to be able to get gametime.

The Sharks dominated the second half of their clash as their scrum punished the Bulls, setting the tone for what was essentially a rather one-sided 40 minutes.

While their pack laid the foundation, Boeta Chamberlain kept the scoreboard ticking over with penalty kicks. The Durbanites were on the front foot and used their opportunities, with Chamberlain slotting six penalty goals and a conversion for a personal haul of 20 points in the process.

This defeat means that the Bulls can now, after five games, boast only one victory in the United Rugby Championship and that they have to resume the season in early January from the second last place on the log.

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