The Bulls strengthened their position on the United Rugby Championship (URC) log this past weekend with their 35-22 bonus point victory over the Lions, while in the process they also had to pass a thorough character test, following injuries to key players during the match.

Jake White’s men are now third on the log after the weekend’s action, while enjoying the advantage of having played two games less than Leinster (first) and the Glasgow Warriors (second), the two teams above them.

The first half was a tight affair as both teams tried hard to breach the defence and make their presence felt, but a combination of penalties conceded and mistakes saw each team only cross the tryline only once.

Such was the competitiveness of the first half, either team could have entered the break in the lead as the Bulls failed to capitalise on two realistic try-scoring chances, while the Lions knocked on the ball on inches from the tryline and missed two crucial goal kicks.

However, the visitors from Pretoria gradually gained the upper hand in the second half and over time the tries began to materialise, while the home team had to try to play catch-up rugby.

Unfortunately, the victory came at a cost for the team as two of the Bulls’ Springbok forwards, lock Ruan Nortje and loose forward Elrigh Louw, left the field with serious injuries.

While the severity of Nortjé’s injury will only be determined this week, Louw’s knee injury has already been confirmed as serious and he also underwent surgery later during the weekend.

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