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Bulls set new benchmark for attack

By Annemie Bester
Wednesday 5 Jun 2024

NEWS: The Bulls secured a United Rugby Championship home quarterfinal this season and also quietly surpassed Leinster as the top try-scoring team.

The Bulls host Benetton at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday when the knock-out stages commence.

The Pretoria-based franchise is now top of the try-scoring list after surpassing Leinster over the weekend with the four tries they scored against the Sharks in the last round of the regular season.

They scored a massive 85 tries in the competition - an average of almost five tries per match.

Leinster is in second place with 81.

The Bulls also hold the record for the most points scored in the competition (639 - 35 points per match), with the Irish (Leinster) again in second spot on 554 points.

These are not the only records Jake White’s charges have been racking up this season.

Kurt-Lee Arendse has carried for 726 metres from his 53 carries in the URC this season, with his average of 13.7 metres per carry being over two metres more than any other player to make 50+ carries in the competition.

In the Bulls’ 26-14 victory over the Sharks in Durban, hooker Akker van der Merwe took his try tally for the season up to 12, the second most in the URC and just two behind frontrunner and fellow hooker Johnny Matthews (14, Glasgow Warriors).

Benetton, the Bulls’ opponents in the quarterfinal, have scored 41 tries (ninth) with 411 points scored.

The Italians might not be at the top of the attacking statistics in the URC, but they are the team with the second-most tackles in the competition.

Benetton has an 87 percent tackle success rate (2978), but also missed the second-most tackles (344) in the competition.

Benetton and Italy's inspirational captain Michele Lamaro was amongst the top performers in Six Nations as he powered his team to a memorable campaign that finished with two wins.

Lamaro notched up a ridiculous 103 tackles during the Six Nations, a new record, at an average of over 25 per game as he led the Azzurri to an outstanding campaign and overtook the previous record of 100 set by Jonny Gray in 2018.

Lamaro is an inspirational player and his leadership will be vital in the quarterfinal.

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