Persistent Bulls do Lions a huge favour

The Bulls clambered back on to the winning trail as they secured a 43-34 win over the Jaguares, who were out on their feet by the end of a fast-paced Super Rugby encounter at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Jaguares had the Bulls firmly on the back foot in the first half, almost scoring on demand as they raced into a 19-0 lead in as many minutes.

Amazingly though, it was the home side who led, 21-19, at halftime, although they had to rely on some lucky bounces of the ball to get there.

The Jaguares could not maintain their intensity on the highveld and they definitely faded, as the Bulls’ focus on tightening up and using their scrum to create pressure brought dividends.

Who was the star in this match?

While lock RG Snyman, who produced another all-action display, particularly in terms of linking with the backs, was the official man of the match, probably the most impressive performance of the day for the Bulls was by Johnny Kotze.

The former Stormers wing was playing in the unfamiliar position of inside centre, but he brought the required physicality and his bustling runs saw him score the Bulls’ first try and his storming angled run, off a Snyman offload, set up the final try, by wing Jamba Ulengo, which gave the home side a crucial 14-point lead in the final quarter.

Key themes and moments

• The Jaguares started superbly, scoring three dazzling tries as they kept the ball alive with excellent ball-retention, forwards and backs sharing possession and interlinking with brilliant pop-passes and support play, the receiver running into space. A couple of powerful rolling mauls provided the territory for flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez’s wonderful run to score the first try, eighthman Javier Ortega Desio then made a great break for fellow loose forward Pablo Matera’s try, and a tightly-knit move featuring several short pop-passes sprung into life with fullback Emiliano Boffelli’s break, scrumhalf Gonzalo Bertranou getting the try.
• After fullback Warrick Gelant had split two defenders with lovely footwork to set up Kotze’s try, the Bulls were fortunate to be leading at halftime scoring twice more in the last six minutes. The officials, including the TMO, failed to call Hanro Liebenberg’s spilling of the ball a knock-on, wing Divan Rossouw tidying up and then scrumhalf Embrose Papier using his twinkle-toes to step his way over for the try. When the Bulls were awarded a penalty on the halftime hooter, flyhalf Handre Pollard failed to find touch, but the Jaguares decided to play on instead of just kicking the ball dead. They paid a heavy price as centre Jesse Kriel produced a great read and pounced on the ball for an intercept try.
• The try just before halftime spoke to some naïve over-enthusiasm on the part of the Jaguares and, as altitude took effect, it was the Bulls who would be controlling the pace of the game for most of the second half. An up-and-under drew immediate reward with a penalty for Pollard (24-19), and although the Argentinians would still be a threat on turnover ball, as they showed when Bertranou scored his second try after Boffelli’s weaving run, it would be the tightening of the game by the Bulls that dominated after the break. Flank Marco van Staden roared away to score from a lineout drive – and another dropped ball, which was correctly not ruled to be a knock-on.
• The strong efforts of the scrum purchased some much-needed momentum for the Bulls and Pollard once again showed his class on front-foot ball, particularly during his 52^nd-minute break that led to the impressive Ulengo’s first try.

Scorers

Bulls: Tries – Johnny Kotze, Embrose Papier, Jesse Kriel, Jamba Ulengo (2), Marco van Staden. Conversions – Handre Pollard (5). Penalty – Pollard.

Jaguares: Tries – Nicolas Sanchez, Pablo Matera (2), Gonzalo Bertranou (2). Conversions – Sanchez (3). Penalty – Emiliano Boffelli.