Match Details
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28 |
Kick off times:
7:10pm
(Local) Fri 9 May
3:10am
(AEST) Sat 10 May
|
17 |
|
The Bulls won their third match in a row with a comprehensive 28-17 victory over the Brumbies at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday morning.
The victory was all the more remarkable as the home side were forced to play with 14 men for 20 minutes after it received two yellow cards, but even came out on top in the scoring stakes in that period.
The Bulls opened their account early on after their forwards rumbled into the 22, and the recycled ball left a two-on-one situation for defender Stirling Mortlock.
He chose to cover IRB Player of the year Bryan Habana and thus gave midfielder JP Nel the inside track to the goalline.
Morne Steyn failed to convert the try, but added a penalty shortly afterwards before the Brumbies came storming back into the match.
A break by the Brumbies brought the ball to Afusipa Taumoepeau, who was picked up in the tackle by Zane Kirchner and then dropped on his back.
The Bulls seemed stunned by this and stopped for a brief second, enough to let Alister Campbell through a gap, where he seemed to crawled over the line for the try.
While Mortlock converted to bring the deficit to one point, the Bulls were dealt their first blow when referee Steve Walsh gave Kirchner a yellow card for the incident.
The Bulls won a crucial lineout minutes later and a break by hooker Derick Kuun surged them up to the line.
Wikus van Heerden managed to burrow his way through the ruck to plant the ball over the chalk for the try.
A penalty each by Mortlock and Steyn took the sides into the break at 18-10, but Steyn quickly increased that early in the second half with another penalty to take his side to 21-10 up.
The Bulls managed an excellent lineout ball to Kuun, who went right and beat two tackles.
The recycled ball was sent to Wynand Olivier, who, with Habana on his outside, broke inside and took two tackles to surge over the line.
The Brumbies made far too many mistakes in the last quarter to come close to a bonus point, but were given a consolation when George Smith picked up the ball in broken play and rounded three tackles to offload to Peter Kimlin to score.
The Bulls also had several chances, but mistakes and over-eagerness failed to trouble the scorers more.
Scorers:
Bulls 28
Tries: Nel, van Heerden, Olivier
Con: Steyn 2
Pen: Steyn 3
Brumbies 17
Tries: Campbell, Kimlin
Con: Mortlock 2
Pen: Mortlock
