Bismarck sees red as Bulls hang on to beat Munster

URC REPORT: It was a game of two halves at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday as the Bulls survived a nervy finish to beat Munster 29-24.

Johann van Graan’s men were 26 points behind as late as the 53rd minute before tries from Alex Kendellen, Damian De Allende and Jack O’Donoghue had them within a try for the last six minutes of the contest.

The Bulls had dominated up to that point, scoring tries through Madosh Tambwe and Walt Steenkamp and making good use of the penalty count as Chris Smith racked up 19 points with the boot.

However, they allowed Munster back into the match and a red card for Bismarck du Plessis 10 minutes from time – prior to O’Donoghue’s touchdown – made it a nervy end for the home side.

The Bulls were 6-3 up following an exchange of kicks between Smith and Ben Healy when Munster had an O’Donoghue try ruled out for obstruction.

Tambwe then showed his pace to run for the line after an attempted Simon Zebo rip on Marcell Coetzee sent the ball into his grasp in the 17th minute, with Smith on hand to convert the game’s first try and a subsequent penalty as the hosts opened up a 16-3 lead.

Munster were reduced to 14 men when Kendellen saw yellow for a no-arms tackle after 28 minutes and Smith continued to punish the visitors’ indiscipline, splitting the posts with another penalty.

The Bulls capitalised on the man advantage when Steenkamp picked up the pieces from a Kurt-Lee Arendse spillage to dive for the line. Smith again made no mistake, and added yet another penalty after the interval.

Kendellen atoned for his earlier misdemeanour by touching down next to the posts in the 53rd minute, with Healy adding the extras before Tambwe had a try ruled out for a knock-on by Embrose Papier in the build-up.

Replacement De Allende – making his first appearance since January following an abdominal injury – pounced on a loose ball to keep Munster alive in the contest and O’Donoghue burrowed over after Du Plessis had been sent off for a reckless manoeuvre that dumped Kendellen on his head.

Healy converted both tries to bring Munster within five, but the Bulls held on for victory despite Morne Steyn missing the target with two late attempts to put the result beyond doubt.

Man of the Match

Madosh Tambwe is always a persistent threat on the Bulls wing and it was no different today.

He scored one try and had another chalked off, while he made more successful carries (11), beat more defenders (9), carried for more metres (117) and produced more offloads (4) than anyone else on the pitch.

Play of the match

It's a tight call but it was great to see De Allende back from injury and he proved his match sharpness with his quick reactions and determination to score Munster's second try.

The Bulls stole a Munster line-out on the hosts' five-metre line, but the ball went loose after being knocked back and - after Zak Burger failed to get his hands on it - De Allende grounded for a try that was confirmed following a trip to the TMO.

The scorers:

For Bulls:

Tries: Tambwe, Steenkamp

Cons: Smith 2

Pens: Smith 5

For Munster:

Tries: Kendellen, De Allende, O’Donoghue

Cons: Healy 3

Pen: Healy

Red card: Bismarck du Plessis (Bulls, 70 - dangerous play, lifting an opponent and dropping dangerously)

Yellow card: Alex Kendellen (Munster, 29 - foul, tackle without arms)

Teams:

Bulls: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Madosh Tambwe, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Arno Botha, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Jacques van Rooyen, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.

Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Robert Hunt, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 WJ Steenkamp, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Canan Moodie.

Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Ben Healy, 9 Neil Cronin, 8 Alex Kendellen, 7 Chris Cloete, 6 Jack O’Donoghue (captain), 5 Fineen Wycherley, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Josh Wycherley.

Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 Mark Donnelly, 18 John Ryan, 19 Eoin O’Connor, 20 John Hodnett, 21 Paddy Patterson, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Damian de Allende.

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)

Assistant referees: Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa), Griffon Colby (South Africa)

TMO: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)

Additional source: @URCOfficial