Bulls hold on against plucky Lions
URC REPORT: The Bulls made it back-to-back wins over the Lions with a 21-13 victory in their Round Nine encounter in Pretoria on Saturday.
The Loftus Versfeld faithful expected much of the same as last week, when the Bulls scored at will at Ellis Park, but the Jozi side came to Loftus Versfeld far more willing for a fight, and scrap they did, conceding three tries in the match - two of those in the first half, with the Bulls leading 14-6 at the break.
The home side will lament the missed bonus point and spilled chances, especially in the first half where their backs fluffed a number of opportunities.
The opening points belonged to the Lions, with the return of Tiaan Swanepoel a clear boost to their effort. In his first start in months, Swanepoel looked sharp and did not disappoint with his efforts.
He slotted his first penalty goal of the match after three minutes when Madosh Tambwe (wing) tried to run a Lions kick into his 25m area back at the visitors, but was caught in possession and held onto the ball.
That Swanepoel effort was from straight in front, but his second three minutes later was a much more challenging one.
The Bulls pulled down a Lions line-out drive just inside their half and this time the flyhalf had 55 meters to cover his kick and nailed it to put his side 6-0 up.`
The next quarter turned out to be a real local derby tussle with errors and determined tackling being the main ingredients of the clash, but there was always a feeling that a try was coming, especially as the Pretoria pack started to look more dangerous.
That happened 25 minutes in with Marcell Coetzee (flank) driven over the line by his pack from a tap penalty, and when Morne Steyn converted the hosts took a one point lead, deserving of their territorial advantage.
The home side clearly saw this as the best way to get across the advantage line, switching their attack to their pack, as the Pretoria side could not find any cohesion at the back.
This worked well and it became a matter of time before the Bulls’ pack slow grind of their opponents would bring results.
That happened on the stroke of half-time when the home side managed another well-set line-out maul and hooker Johan Grobbelaar was rewarded with the try when a mass of Bulls bodies crashed over the tryline. Steyn converted to ease the Bulls into a 14-6 lead, with clear danger signs to the Johannesburgers’ forwards that more was to come in the second half.
Swanepoel had the first scoring opportunity in the second half though, but pulled his kick from 50 meters out to the right. The visitors clearly came to play, but just lacked the big plays to stop the momentum created by the Bulls pack.
The Bulls’ third try came nine minutes after the second half restart as the ball was sent wide, with Kurt-Lee Arendse running onto a drift pass to round the Lions defence and score in the corner, allowing the fullback to make up for some earlier mishaps.
Steyn converted from wide out and suddenly the gap looked ominous for the visitors.
Credit to the Lions pack though as they refused to give up, and slowly but surely found their way back into the match. More importantly, when given the chance to pounce they did, and Ruben Schoeman (lock) was at the end of a hard-working maul try with ten minutes to play.
Swanepoel kicked a peach from a tight angle to convert and suddenly there was something to play for the visitors again, trailing 13-21.
Alas, in a match where both teams were penalised heavily for set-piece offences, a dramatic end was not to be.
Man of the match: The award goes to Bulls wing Madosh Tambwe, who ran the Lions ragged on a few occasions. He also did the basics well and his covering at the back was excellent.
The scorers:
For Bulls:
Tries: Coetzee, Grobbelaar, Arendse
Cons: Steyn 3
For Lions:
Try: Schoeman
Con: Swanepoel
Pens: Swanepoel 2
Teams:
Lions: 15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Matt More, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Tiaan Swanepoel, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Francke Horn, 7 PJ Steenkamp, 6 Jaco Kriel (captain), 5 Ruben Schoeman, 4 Ruhan Straeuli, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Pieter Botha, 1 Sithembiso Sithole.
Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Ruan Venter, 20 Sibusiso Sangweni, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 EW Viljoen, 23 Quan Horn.
Bulls: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Madosh Tambwe, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Arno Botha, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Jacques van Rooyen, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Simphiwe Matanzima.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Robert Hunt, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 Muller Uys, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Chris Smith, 23 Cornal Hendricks.
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa), Ashleigh Murray (South Africa)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuisen (South Africa)
Source: SA Rugby