Bulls survive Edinburgh scare
MATCH REPORT: The Bulls survived a plucky Edinburgh side to claim a 22-16 victory in the United Rugby Championship at Loftus Versfeld.
The Bulls' scrum was shaky in the first-half, with Edinburgh getting the ascendency for the most part - despite that, the Bulls had attacking opportunities they couldn't round off and conceded the first points of the match when Ross Thompson slotted a penalty in the 15th minute to give the visitors an early lead.
The Bulls got over the line off a great attacking display from halfway that lead to Jannes Kirstin getting the try in the 29th minute to take the lead for the first time in the clash - which gave the Bulls new life as they started to click and Jaco van der Walt going over three minutes later for a nine point lead.
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Things seemed to go from bad to worse for Edinburgh when Thompson's restart went out on the full, but then Edinburgh got the scrum penalty on the Bulls' feed to give Thompson a chance to redeem himself when he gave his side a lineout inside the Bulls' 22 metre area.
Edinburgh got a free-kick and went with the tap-kick and worked their way towards the Bulls' line before Duhan van der Merwe got centimetres short of the line with a good carry and brought down by Hanekom but from an offside position which lead to him being yellow carded.
Schoeman took the tap penalty and Duhan van der Merwe tried to force his way over the line but got the ball stripped in the tackle by his brother Akker van der Merwe, as Van der Walt cleared it only as far as his own five metre line which led to an Edinburgh maul try for replacement hooker Ewan Ashman just before half-time which Thompson converted to go into the break with only two points down.
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Edinburgh missed a couple of scoring opportunities with Hanekom in the sin-bin as the ball was knocked on while attacking inside the Bulls' 22 metre area, but as the match trend went the Bulls conceded another penalty on their own feed that Thompson slotted to reclaim the lead for Edinburgh.
Edinburgh's scrum dominance saw Simphiwe Matanzima yellow carded for repeated scrum infringements in the 60th minute - with Edinburgh setting a lineout maul which they attacked off, but losing the ball and Johannes kicking the ball ahead which led to a 50/22 that was taken quickly to see Moodie get the try in the 64th minute.
More points were accumulated by the Bulls due to a Chamberlain penalty in the 68th minute before Ewan Ashman was yellow carded two minutes later for a late shoulder charge.
The final 10 minutes seemed as if the Bulls would close the game out before Graham's interception got Edinburgh into the Bulls' 22 metre area and a penalty - which Thompson took to reduce the deficit to six points.
Chamberlain's restart went out on the full and Edinburgh opted for the scrum but after their attack conceded a penalty for a tackle off the ball on De Klerk, off which the Bulls secured the lineout and got a penalty for offside with seconds to spare that secured the result for the home side.
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Scorers:
For the Bulls:
Tries: Kirstin, Van der Walt, Moodie
Cons: Van der Walt, Chamberlain
Pen: Chamberlain
For Edinburgh:
Try: Ashman
Con: Thompson
Pens: Thompson 3
Yellow cards: Cameron Hanekom (Bulls - 35th minute: Cynical - offside), Simphiwe Matanzima (Bulls - 60th minute: repeated scrum infringements), Ewan Ashman (Edinburgh - 68th minute: late shoulder charge)
Teams:
Bulls: 15 David Kriel, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Barend Smit, 11 Sebastian de Klerk, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 Cobus Wiese, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Armand van der Merwe (captain), 1 Alulutho Tshakweni.
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Francois Kloppers, 19 JF van Heerden, 20 Marcel Coetzee, 21 Keegan Johannes, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Aphiwe Dyantyi.
Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Boan Venter, 18 D’arcy Rae, 19 Jamie Hodgson, 20 Tom Dodd, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Ross McCann.
Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wales)
Assistant referees: Griffon Colby (South Africa)