Bulls star David Kriel won the man-of-the-match gong in their win over Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship at Loftus Versfeld. Picture: by Gordon Arons/Gallo Images)
A five-star performance from the Bulls’ attack saw them claim an impressive 61-24 bonus point win over Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld.
With the win, the Bulls snatch a two-game losing streak in the URC and move to 51 points on the points table.
In a game they needed to react and bounce back, the Bulls played with vigour and a lot of energy. The team was in sync throughout the 80 minutes as the forwards and backs combined well.
Jake White’s side started the game with superior intent, laying the marker early in the match with a powerful scrum. Winning that battle early on in the game was important as the Ospreys had a good performance in the scrums in their win over the Stormers last weekend.
The front row trio of Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar, and Wilco Louw pushed Ospreys counterparts back to win a scrum penalty.
The Bulls kicked for the corner and from the lineout formed a driving maul that ended with Grobbelaar dotting down and Chris Smith kicking the conversion.
Having won the arm wrestling match early, the Bulls asserted dominance in other departments and had territorial gain by playing in the Ospreys half. The forwards laid the platform for their backline players to attack with Canan Moodie leading them.
He saw a lot of the ball and made meaningful contributions from the wing. Moodie had not been in the best of form lately but he showed why he’s a Springbok international. He was engaged in the contact battles in defence when tucking in midfield, he moved the needle in attack and was good in the air.
Moodie alongside fellow backs David Kriel and Kurt-Lee Arendse socred tries with Smith slotting in two conversions. This saw the Bulls go into the interval with a 26-10 lead. Ospreys got their points from a Luke Davies try and five points from Jack Walsh’s boot.
The second half started with a bang as the Bulls’ attack was magnificent, proving why they have the best attacking stats in the URC.
In the opening ten minutes they managed to get three converted tries through Moodie, Embrose Papier and Arendse and a penalty try to race to 54 points.
The tries were identical, a common feature they had was the backline players running into the Ospreys players who looked worn out and that could be because of playing at altitude. Pretoria proved to be not as kind as Cape Town to Ospreys.
Another player who played well was Kriel, who was moved to 13 for the game, again showing his versatility. Kriel has been unlucky in terms of selection for the Springboks but his performances from this season do warrant some sort of inclusion in the national team setup. His overall impressive display which had a try, and an assist earned him the man-of-the-match award.
Given how the Bulls play on the front foot, the defence is bound to be unstable at times in the game. But it’s not a problem when they out-score opponents. Ospreys scored two converted tries through Keiran Williams and Keelan Giles.
The Bulls managed the game in the final ten minutes well and secured the win 61-24 thanks to a Wille le Roux converted try.
Scorers
Bulls: Tries – Johan Grobbelaar, David Kriel, Kurt-Lee Arendse (2), Canan Moodie (2), Embrose Papier, Penalty Try, Willie le Roux ; Conversions – Chris Smith (6), Jaco van der Walt.
Ospreys: Tries – Luke Davies, Keiran Williams, Keelan Giles; Conversions – Jack Walsh (3); Penalty – Walsh
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