Bulls trample Kings in spiteful scrap
The Blue Bulls continued their match up the Currie Cup rankings with an emphatic 28-13 win over the Eastern Province Kings in Port Elizabeth on Friday.
Outscoring the Kings by three tries to one - the home team's only five-pointer coming well after the full-time hooter - the Bulls are back in the play-off race after a slow start to the season.
It was also the first time this year - Currie Cup and Super Rugby - that a Bulls team won away from home.
However, it was game that will most likely be remembered more for a number of spiteful incidents - one which saw Bulls captain Deon Stegmann red-carded for striking an opponent with an elbow in the face and resulted in a try being overturned - rather than some sublime patches of play.
The Kings dominated possession and territory in the first half, but still trailed 6-11 at the break.
In a dominant second-half display the Bulls scored two tries, to add to their first-half effort, and raced clear - leading 28-6 with more than 15 minutes on the clock remaining.
They would have had their four-try bonus point in the 70th minute - after flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter launched a sublime crossfield kick for wing Akona Ndungane to go over - but for the brain explosion of their captain Deon Stegmann.
He was spotted striking an opponent with an elbow in the face while on the ground. The try was overturned and Stegmann spent the rest of the game on the sidelined, after being showed a deserved red card.
The Kings were eventually rewarded for their endeavours when, after a series of attacks, lock Darron Nell barged over for a try next to the posts well after the hooter for full-time had sounded.
Man of the match: Fullback Ulrich Beyers had a few decent runs, wing Akona Ndungane scored a great try that was overturned in the wake of a brain explosion by his captain and Bjorn Basson showed even greater skills on the other wing in getting the Bulls' second try. Hooker Mbongeni Mbonambi was also full of energy. However, our award goes to Bulls lock Grant Hattingh - who provided the grunt that was missing from the Bulls pack earlier in the season.
The scorers:
Eastern Province Kings:
Try: Nell
Con: Botes
Pens: Van Breda 2
Blue Bulls:
Tries: Small-Smith, Basson, Stegmann
Cons: Potgieter 2
Pens: Potgieter 3
Yellow cards: Mbongeni Mbonambi (Blue Bulls, 12 - foul play, dangerously charging into a ruck), David Bulbring (Eastern Province Kings, 68 - cynical play, collapsing the maul)
Red card: Deon Stegmann (Blue Bulls, 70 - foul play, elbow to the face)
Teams:
Eastern Province Kings: 15 Scott van Breda, 14 Ronnie Cooke, 13 Tim Whitehead, 12 Shane Gates, 11 Siviwe Soyizwapi, 10 Gary van Aswegen, 9 Kevin Luiters, 8 Paul Schoeman, 7 Devon Oosthuizen, 6 Shaun McDonald, 5 Steven Sykes (captain), 4 David Bulbring, 3 Christoffel van der Linde, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Replacements: 16 Mike van Vuuren, 17 Simon Kerrod, 18 Bennie Uys, 19 Darron Nel, 20 Stefan Willemse, 21 Tobie Botes, 22 Ntabeni Dukisa.
Blue Bulls: 15 Ulrich Beyers, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 William Small-Smith, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Jono Ross, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Deon Stegmann (captain), 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Basil Short, 18 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 Rudi Paige, 21 Tian Schoeman/Tony Jantjies, 22 Ryan Nell.
Referee: Quinton Immelman
Assistant referees: Christie du Preez, Vusi Msibi
TMO: Jason Jaftha