The Bulls have moved down to seventh place in the United Rugby Championship log, after ending their 4-week European tour with a defeat against Scotland’s Edinburgh last weekend.

Three cards, including red, cost the Bulls dearly as they were beaten by 31-23 by Edinburgh in the final match of their early-season URC tour in the Scottish capital on Friday night.

The infamous new rules regarding contact with an opponent’s head and neck area caused controversy again during the Bulls’ battle with Edinburgh. The men from Loftus had to do without their captain, Marcell Coetzee, for 40 minutes, after he was sent off with a red card in terms of this new regulation. When an almost identical incident later took place, with Edinburgh number eight, Bill Mata, hitting Stedman Gans’ head in a tackle, the referees decided on a yellow.

There is currently a consensus among rugby enthusiasts that this new regulation will cause great damage to the game in general and World Rugby will have to come up with a plan quickly.

The visitors led by 13-11 at the break, but when Coetzee was sent off for a dangerous tackle, with Cameron Hanekom yellow carded shortly thereafter for a cynical infringement, Edinburgh grabbed the advantage with two quick tries to take control of the match.

Edinburgh stretched their lead to 28-13, but the Bulls refused to give up and fought back to within five points with a try by Elrigh Louw and a Jaco van der Walt penalty goal.

However, the hosts had the final say when Ben Healy landed his third penalty goal at the death to deny the team from Pretoria a losing bonus-point.

Although the Bulls will be disappointed that they could not collect any league points against Edinburgh, the tour can still be considered a success, having achieved two victories on tour.

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