Bulls shoot themselves in the foot with unnecessary defeat at Loftus
The Bulls made it even harder for themselves to reach the quarter-finals of the United Rugby Championship later this year, when they lost at home for the second time in three weeks – this time against the Sharks.
The Stormers and Sharks reaffirmed their status as South Africa’s leading teams in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday as they registered valuable away wins in Gauteng against the Lions and Bulls respectively.
The Sharks and Bulls scored four tries apiece in Pretoria, despite the hosts being reduced to 14 men for 70 minutes.
In the end, it was Durbanites’ superior goal kicking with two conversions and a penalty goal to the hosts’ solitary conversion have them the upper hand for a 29-22 victory.
Bulls’ veteran flyhalf Morné Steyn was ordered off the field with a red card for a needless tackle that was high and late on Sharks captain Lukhanyo Am (centre) in the 11th minute of the match.
The men from Durban were full value for the win, making the most of their opportunities to score four tries at Loftus Versfeld even though the home team dominated territory and possession.
However, the Bulls could not take advantage of their opportunities on several occasions. A forward pass by captain Marcell Coetzee prevented a certain try, while several other handling errors cost the men in Blue dearly.
After the Cell C Sharks took a 14-0 lead courtesy of tries by Henco Venter (flank) and Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi, the hosts fought back bravely and were rewarded for their resilience when Cornal Hendricks (right wing) touched down in the right-hand corner.
Shortly after their first try late in the first half, the Bulls were caught asleep by Springbok centre Lukhanyo Am, who mastered a kick-off against the side-line and then followed up his own kick to score. However, the match officials failed to notice during the review of this thy that at least one Sharks player was in front of the kicker during the kick-off.
After the Bulls reduced the deficit early in the second half when their captain and flank, Marcell Coetzee, scored a power-try, the Sharks’ lead was back at 14 points when Springbok speedster Makazole Mapimpi scored the easiest of tries from an attacking scrum.
The men from Pretoria kept hammering away, especially after Grant Williams (scrumhalf) was red carded for the visitors for a dangerous tackle on Chris Smith (flyhalf), and with playing numbers even, Simphiwe Matanzima (replacement prop) and Madosh Tambwe (left wing) found holes in the visitors’ defence.
Although it ensured they got two bonus points from the game, it was too little, too late for the Bulls.
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