Bulls 62
Leinster 7
Morgan Piek reports from Loftus Versfeld Stadium
THE BULLS RAN riot at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday after they convincingly beat Leinster 62-7 in their final regular-season match to take some good momentum into the United Rugby Championship play-offs.
In the first half, the hosts simply bullied Leinster — who were in South Africa without their best players — to lead the encounter 31-0 at the break. In the second half, Jake White’s charges played with a lot more flair in a style of play one could describe as ‘champagne rugby’ — normally not really associated with the Bulls.
The scoring was opened in the seventh minute with the Springbok out-half, Johan Goosen, slotting a penalty. It took a further eight minutes on the highveld to the Bulls to score a try with the captain and lock, Ruan Nortje, crossing the whitewash.
The Bok winger and man of the match, Kurt-Lee Arendse scored a brace of tries in the space of eight minutes, while the hooker, Johan Grobbelaar, dotted down on the stroke of half time for a solid lead at the interval.
Grobbelaar struck for the Bulls minutes into the second forty minute period to complete his brace. The in-form winger, Canan Moodie, scored his first try minutes later before the Blitzbok, Stedman Gans, also got in on the action in the 50th minute.
Leinster finally got on the scoreboard in the 54th minute when the replacement loosehead prop, Michael Milne, scored from a rare passage of relentless pressure by Leinster. The pivot Sam Prendergast made no mistake in adding the extra two.
Gans then offloaded to his centre partner Harold Vorster in the 58th minute for the centre to score, while four minute later the Springbok, Moodie, scored again to complete his brace for what was the final score of the game.
For the Bulls it was a perfect way to head into the play-offs and following this performance it is hard to believe that up until a few weeks ago the team from the capital city had been on a ten-match run without a win across all competitions.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day the Lions beat Zebre 50-35 in the first game at Loftus Versfeld in what was the first-ever URC double-header in South Africa.
Scorers for Bulls:
Tries: Ruan Nortjé (15th), Kurt-Lee Arendse 2 (25th, 33rd), Johan Grobbelaar 2 (40th, 42nd), Canan Moodie (47th, 62nd), Stedman Gans (50th), Harold Vorster (58th),
Cons: Johan Goosen [7/9]
Penalty: Johan Goosen [1/1]
Card: Ruan Vermaak (yellow, 76th)
Scorers for Leinster:
Try: Michael Milne (54th)
Con: Sam Prendergast [1/1]
Cards: Thomas Clarkson (yellow, 45th),
BULLS: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 David Kriel, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortjé (captain), 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 WJ Steenkamp, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Chris Smith, 23 Cornal Hendricks.
LEINSTER: 15 Chris Cosgrave, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Liam Turner, 12 Ben Brownlee, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Nick McCarthy, 8 Max Deegan, 7 Will Connors, 6 James Culhane, 5 Brian Deeney, 4 Alex Soroka, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 2 Tadgh McElroy, 1 Ed Byrne (captain).
Replacements: 16 Lee Barron, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Temi Lasisi, 19 Conor O’Tighearnaigh, 20 Liam Molony, 21 Ben Murphy, 22 Charlie Tector, 23 Rob Russell