Bulls edge north-south face-off in Cape Town monsoon
MATCH REPORT: On Sunday, the Bulls got their Currie Cup campaign underway with a 30-25 win over Western Province in a scrappy match in monsoon-like conditions in Cape Town.
The Bulls, while pleased with the win, may come to regret that they took their collective feet off the pedal in the final 10 minutes and allowed the home team to sneak two late bonus points.
Trailing 13-30 with five minutes remaining, Angelo Davids and Wandisile Simelane sneaked over for tries to secure a four-try and losing (by seven points or less) bonus points.
Their set pieces - a powerful scrum and solid line-out - set up the win for the visitors.
* To recap all the drama, CLICK HERE!
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Despite outscoring the Pretoria outfit by four tries to three, it was a frustrating defeat at home for Western Province.
The visitors opened the scoring with a long-range penalty from flyhalf Jaco van der Walt and WP responded with the opening try.
Following a powerful maul in the corner, Jean-Luc du Plessis took a quick tap and slid over to put his side 5-3 up.
The Bulls hit back with a maul try and a second penalty from Van der Walt, which saw them take a 13-5 advantage into the half-time break.
The Pretoria side were first to score in the second half with another Van der Walt penalty, but WP responded with a try and a penalty of their own to bring them right back into it.
Gary Porter forced his way over from close range and they stormed back into the 22 immediately, with Jurie Matthee kicking an easy penalty to make it 13-16 after 55 minutes.
The Bulls, with the bulk of their bench on, were back out to a 10-point lead when wing Devon Williams scored in the corner on the hour mark, with Chris Smit adding the touchline conversion.
They followed that up with a third try shortly afterwards to make it 30-13 and the game seemingly secure.
However, taking their collective feet off the gas cost them, as the home side finished strongest with two late tries securing two bonus points.
Angelo Davids got on the end of a grubber from Du Plessis to score in the corner and Wandisile Simelane forced his way over for the fourth try just before the hooter.
The scorers
For Western Province
Tries: Du Plessis, Porter, Davids, Simelane
Con: Du Plessis
Pens: Matthee
For the Bulls
Tries: Van Zyl, Williams, Gumede
Cons: Van der Walt, Smith 2
Pens: Van der Walt 3
Teams
Western Province: 15 Luke Burger, 14 Courtnall Skosan, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Willie Engelbrecht (captain), 7 Connor Evans, 6 CJ Velleman, 5 Gary Porter, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Replacements: 16 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 17 Vernon Matongo, 18 Corne Weilbach, 19 Hendré Stassen, 20 Paul de Villiers, 21 Louw Nel, 22 Labib Kannemeyer, 23 Damian Markus.
Bulls: 15 Boeta Chamberlain, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 12 Chris Barend Smit, 11 Devon Williams, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Bernard van der Linde, 8 Nizaam Carr (captain), 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Corné Beets, 5 Sintu Manjezi, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Francois Klopper, 2 Jope van Zyl, 1 Dylan Smith.
Replacements: 16 Juann Else, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Khutha Mchunu, 19 Merwe Olivier, 20 Celimpilo Gumede, 21 Izak Burger, 22 Chris Smith, 23 Cornal Hendricks.
Referee: Griffin Colby
TMO: Egon Seconds
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