Nutshell Report: Burger Odendaal leads Bulls showing of hope

The Bulls will earn deserved credit for their improvement, but the end result was still the same as they went down 28-12 to the Chiefs in their Super Rugby match in Hamilton on Saturday.

A superb first-half display by the Bulls, in which intensity crackled through everything they did, saw them claim a deserved 9-3 lead at the break.

But the Chiefs showed their class as they stayed composed and were able to pull away from the 50-minute mark, scoring three tries in an ultimately impressive victory.

Who was the star of this match?

The Chiefs had a terrible time in the first half trying to contain superb Bulls inside centre Burger Odendaal, who led the visitors’ resurgence with some powerful ball-carries and excellent midfield defence.

Key moments and themes

• The tide began to turn in the 51^st minute as wing Jamba Ulengo suffered another horrible moment in defence, wing Shaun Stevenson leaving him flatfooted as the Chiefs attacked off a lineout, and then grubbering through and regathering the ball for the first try of the match.
• It was all the Chiefs in the final 15 minutes as the Bulls suffered another late-game fade. A lovely move from a scrum saw scrumhalf Tawera Kerr-Barlow running at the line before putting a grubber through that fullback Damian McKenzie raced on to and dotted down.
• The scrums were hard-fought transactions, but they did allow the Chiefs to release some of the pressure on them after they had the edge in that set-piece. Trevor Nyakane’s move to tighthead will again be a talking point.
• Lock Lood de Jager was a hard-working – if not always accurate – member of the pack, with partner RG Snyman also shining. Jannes Kirsten came off the bench after 20 minutes to replace eighthman Arno Botha and made his presence felt. Jesse Kriel was impressive at fullback and halfbacks Rudy Paige and Handre Pollard were on the same page.

Point scorers

Chiefs – Tries: Shaun Stevenson, Damian McKenzie, Atunaisa Moli. Conversions: Aaron Cruden (2). Penalties: Cruden (3).

Bulls – Penalties: Handre Pollard (4).

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