URC result: Bulls edge Stormers in North-South thriller

Powered by a dominant forward performance the Bulls clinched an incredibly thrilling 33-32 win over the Stormers in their North-South United Rugby Championship (URC) derby at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The visitors from Pretoria were the better team overall, led by a huge scrumming performance, particularly in the first half, but made a slew of mistakes that allowed the home side to stay in the game throughout.

It then came down to an incredibly poor goalkicking performance from both teams, as Bulls outside centre David Kriel missed three attempts, while Stormers flyhalf Jurie Mathee also missed three, but it was replacement back Clayton Blommetjies missing the winning shot that proved the difference.

Barnstorming start

It was a barnstorming start to the match for the Bulls as straight off the kick-off eighthman Cameron Hanekom burst away down the field, with the ball then going through the hands as they powered into the 22m, where lock Cobus Wiese received the ball and burst through to go over inside two minutes.

The Stormers hit back in the 10^th minute as they setup a lineout in the Bulls 22m and attacked, going through the phases before the ball got to big Bok prop Frans Malherbe to dive over for the converted try and a 7-5 lead.

The back and forth contest continued as the Bulls were soon back in front eight minutes later, attacking from a scrum just outside the Stormers 22m, getting onto the line and prop Jan-Hendrik Wessels burrowed his way over, with Kriel adding the extras.

Kriel and Mathee then traded penalties, before the Stormers went back ahead as they attacked from a lineout in the Bulls 22m, with fullback Warrick Gelant trying to put in a grubber, only for the ball to bounce back up into the grateful arms of lock Salmaan Moerat, who dived over in the

Mathee added the extras to edge them ahead, but on the stroke of halftime Kriel knocked over his second penalty to give them a tight 18-17 lead at the break.

Flying start

The Bulls got off to a flying start in the second half, as they did in the first, as they attacked into the Stormers 22m, where inside centre Harold Vorster picked up at the base of a ruck and ran in to score.

Kriel slotted the conversion to put his side 25-17 up and should have extended that lead with a penalty in front a few minutes later, only to shank the kick.

That allowed the Stormers to come tearing back with a quick double score, as eighthman Evan Roos found space to ghost in, followed by Gelant running into the corner untouched.

Mathee missed both conversions, the first he really should have nailed and the second came back off the uprights, which left them with a slender lead, which turned to a one-point deficit four minutes later as Kriel slotted a 61^st minute penalty to put the visitors back ahead 28-27.

In the 70^th minute the Bulls went further ahead as replacement hooker Akker van der Merwe snaffled an intercept and sprinted away, with the recycled ball finding replacement lock Ruan Vermaak to crash over, but Kriel missed the easy extras to keep the Stormers in range.

That led to a thrilling finish as flank Ben-Jason Dixon powered over for the home side in the dying moments, but Blommetjies missed a kick that probably should have been slotted, which allowed the Bulls to see out a nailbiting win.

Scorers

Stormers: Tries – Frans Malherbe, Salmaan Moerat, Evan Roos, Warrick Gelant, Ben-Jason Dixon; Conversions – Jurie Mathee (2); Penalty – Mathee

Bulls: Tries – Cobus Wiese, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Harold Vorster, Ruan Vermaak; Conversions – David Kriel (3); Penalties – Kriel (2)