Bulls 29

Munster 24

Morgan Piek reports from Loftus Versfeld

A 14-MAN BULLS team survived a late surge by Munster on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria to record a 29-24 victory in the United Rugby Championship.

In what was certainly a game of two halves as the Bulls capitalised on the ill-discipline by Munster in the first 40-minutes to race to a 26-3 lead at the half-time break, while the visitors started enjoying better and more frequent possession in the second stanza to mount a valiant comeback attempt.

The Bulls flyhalf, Chris Smith, kept the scoreboard ticking for the hosts with four penalties in the first half, while explosive winger, Madosh Tambwe, and lock, Walt Steenkamp, each crossed the whitewash.

Munster’s only points in the first half came via the boot of the flyhalf, Ben Healy, who successfully split the up-rights with a sixth-minute penalty.

Smith opened the scoring in the second half with a penalty in the 47th minute, but for the Munster loose-forward, Alex Kendellen, made up for his 29th-minute yellow card with a try after the visitors managed to string the phases together and retained possession. Healy made no mistake converting the try with a drop-kick as Munster sensed urgency and started upping the tempo.

Springbok World Cup-winner, Damian de Allende, scored the second try for Munster by pouncing on a sloppy lineout five-metres from the Bulls tryline in the 66^th minute. Once again, Healy added the extra two points.

In the 70^th minute of the encounter, the seasoned Springbok and Bulls hooker, Bismarck du Plessis, received his marching orders for dangerous lift and dropping a player on his head and shoulder region. Referee Ben Whitehouse had little choice but to issue the highly experienced front-rower a straight red card.

With some six minutes to go, the captain, Jack O’Donoghue, scored Munster’s third and final try of the game, after being denied in the 12^th minute for double-banking at a lineout maul.

While Munster will take a lot of heart from the never-say-die attitude they displayed, on the flip side of the coin the Bulls will lament their discipline in the second half, especially after being in control of the game.

Munster will stay on the Highveld for the week as they will take the short trek across the Jukskei River for next Saturday’s game against the Lions at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. This match will kick-off at 14:00 local time.

Scorers for Bulls:

Tries: Madosh Tambwe (16^th), Walt Steenkamp (33^rd)

Conversions: Chris Smith [2/2]

Penalties: Chris Smith [5/5]

Cards: Bismarck du Plessis [Red card, 70^th minute]

Scorers for Munster:

Tries: Alex Kendellen (55^th), Damian de Allende (66^th), Jack O’Donoghue (74^th)

Conversions: Ben Healy [3/3]

Penalties: Ben Healy [1/1]                                             

Cards: Alex Kendellen [Yellow card, 29th minute]

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 Morné 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

Referees Assistants: Cwengile Jadezweni and Griffin Colby

TMO: Quinton Immelmann