GALLERY: Valke well beaten at home
The Bulls beat the local side 47-22 at Bosman Stadium.
Going into Saturday’s Supersport Rugby Challenge clash against the Blue Bulls, the Valke were only two log points behind their opponents, but on the day there was a big difference in performance.
The Valke were under pressure from the opening whistle and might have feared the worst as the visitors camped inside their 22m area early on. The home team’s defence, however, held firm as they showed guts.
They seemed to handle the pressure as they held out and even gained some territory before the Bulls opened the scoring. The visitors’ centre, Diego Appollis, scored an intercept try to get the match going.
Things got worse when Roelof Smit crossed the whitewash soon after to have the Valke trailing at 14-0 with Marnitz Boshoff converting both tries.
The Valke, to their credit, put up a fight as they hit back immediately after with Juan Nel dotting down and André du Plessis converting.
While the local fans might have felt they were back in the match they might have been crushed when Wian van Niekerk scored for the visitors.
Read: Valke, Griffons, Lions and Bulls to play at Bosman
The excitement in the first half was not over as Thabo Mabuza scored the first of his two tries on the day to have the score at 21-12, in favour of the Bulls, at half-time. One would be forgiven for thinking the momentum would be with the Valke as the try came right at the end of the opening period.
That was the last time the match looked competitive.
The second half saw the side from Pretoria score three more tries through Smit, Jade Stigling and Duncan Matthews. This pretty much ended the tie as a contest.
Shane Kirkwood and Mabuza scored consolation tries for the local side while the visitors got one more to have the match finish with the local side well beaten.
The result sees the Valke remain at fifth place on the log, effectively out of the running for a semi-final spot.
They travel to bottom-placed Namibia on Saturday for their final match of the Rugby Challenge. They will have their pride on the line as they look to pile more misery on Namibia, who have not won a match this season.
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