Ken Borland

The Bulls kept climbing the United Rugby Championship log at the weekend, overtaking the Sharks as their emphatic 55-20 win over the Dragons at Loftus Versfeld lifted them up into seventh place, but coach Jake White, although satisfied, still wants them to up their game.

“You’ve got to be proud of that performance, the way we are playing is nice and there’s good interplay between the backs and forwards,” White said.

“It’s nice to have a forward pack that can score from five metres out, but also backs who can score from fifty metres out. We’re not the finished product yet, but there is a lot to be happy about.

“We can still get better in all areas, although we are scrumming well, the maul is working and the backs are scoring tries. But to win this competition, we need to be better at everything.

“So that means having an all-round game, like Leinster, who can attack you with anything. There’s no one particular area in which we are struggling, but we will need to play a different game in the mud and wet of Europe,” White said.

The well-travelled World Cup winning coach gave credit to his team for getting the balance right between attack and defence, while heaping special praise on fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse, whose second try from 70 metres out is surely going to be a contender for try of the year.

“I really enjoyed the way we would score and then exit to halfway, it was clinical and well-executed. We want to get a balanced game and the balance is working right now.

“It helps to have a phenomenal fullback like Kurt-Lee. He’s not only scoring amazing tries but also kicks the ball 50-60 metres.

“He complements Harold Vorster and Lionel Mapoe, who are playing very well in midfield,” White said.

The Sharks spent so much time in the Edinburgh 22 that they were practically residents, but they only managed to score five points in their United Rugby Championship match in Durban, so their awful finishing was unsurprisingly the focus of coach Sean Everitt’s post-match press conference.

Their 21-5 loss to Edinburgh means the Sharks have now slipped to eighth place behind the Stormers and Bulls and are in danger of slipping out of the playoff spots.

“It’s extremely frustrating when you create so many opportunities and you just can’t finish them,” Everitt said. “Against top teams, you need to take every opportunity and the points on offer.

“We got our maul going but we just could not finish off and capitalise on that. We had territorial and possession advantage, but we missed penalties and at times missed touch too.

“Our plan worked quite well and we got into position, but we just weren’t clinical enough to round off. It’s the same challenge every week.

“It’s all about accuracy at this higher level, how accurately you can execute on the opportunities you are given. We will have to review the game and see where we can get better,” Everitt said.

The defeat will place the spotlight firmly on some of Everitt’s selections. Curwin Bosch has now been given a run starting at flyhalf, but he was poor against Edinburgh, failing to kick a couple of penalties to touch and missing all three of his shots at goal, one of them from in front of the poles.

The departure of captain Lukhanyo Am to Japan has obviously unsettled the team and the Sharks are battling to replace him at outside centre, with Ben Tapuai and Jeremy Ward tried there without conspicuous success.

While the Sharks were cruising to bonus point wins over the likes of Benetton, the Scarlets and Zebre, they were still performances with a high error-count, especially in terms of finishing, and the worry was that the cracks that had been papered over would be exposed by the top URC sides.

Edinburgh certainly proved that to be the case as they made shark fin soup of the home side at a sopping wet Kings Park.

The Bulls cashed in on their overwhelming physicality advantage to score eight tries and hammer the Dragons 55-20 in their United Rugby Championship match at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday night.

Relentless physicality

The Bulls were relentless in outmuscling their opponents on the gain-line, in the mauls and the set-pieces, their ball-carriers just bashing the Dragons defence into submission. The Bulls were efficient in scoring from close range, as loose forwards Arno Botha and Marcell Coetzee both burrowed over for tries, but they were also clinical in turning turnovers into points and hooker Johan Grobbelaar, Coetzee and lock Walt Steenkamp carried strongly in the open spaces as well.

Heads-up rugby to exploit space

The Bulls were not overly-reliant on their kicking game, but they used it to very good effect at times, with scrumhalf Embrose Papier certainly getting the better of his opposite number Gonzalo Bertranou in terms of the effectiveness of their box-kicks.

When there was loose ball left lying around, the Bulls were quick to pounce, their heads-up rugby allowing them to swiftly identify and target the space.

Fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse’s first try came after Papier had snaffled the loose ball from a Bertranou kick that was too short and darted down the left touchline, and in the second half, Arendse scored the try of the game after replacement wing Cornal Hendricks knocked another box-kick back to him. Arendse ghosted through several defenders and then put in a marvellous shimmy to get rid of the last two tacklers to complete a brilliant 70m try.

Set-piece excellence

The Bulls used their edge in the scrums to further pressurise the Dragons and their excellent lineout work provided a great platform for not only their powerful rolling maul but some neat attacking moves as well.

Not all one-way traffic

The outgunned Dragons were all heart and they did manage to score three tries, while also ensuring the Bulls had to do some stern defensive work. The home side put their all into those duties as well.

It was not the perfect match for the Bulls, not all of the facets of their game fired at 100% and there were periods when they went off the boil due to a loss of focus and some unforced errors.

But a bonus point win and a place inside the top-eight of the URC log means they will be all-smiles at Loftus Versfeld.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Arno Botha, Lionel Mapoe (2), Kurt-Lee Arendse (2), Johan Grobbelaar, Marcel Coetzee, Zak Burger. Conversions: Chris Smith (5), Morne Steyn. Penalty: Smith.

Dragons – Tries: Rio Dyer, Jared Rosser, Sam Davies. Conversion: Davies. Penalty: Davies.

A wasteful Sharks team suffered their first home defeat of the United Rugby Championship and it was a heavy one as Edinburgh beat them 21-5 at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday evening.

Kings Park was a quagmire and Edinburgh showed top-class skills in the wet to score three tries. The Sharks could only score once, but they had a host of other opportunities which they messed up inside the Edinburgh 22.

The Scottish team only had 35% of territory and 43% of possession, but, having fulfilled their defensive duties in sterling fashion, they would then rise like a phoenix and strike just about every time they were inside the Sharks’ 22.

Sharks wastefulness

The Sharks spent so much time inside the Edinburgh 22 that just scoring one try was nothing short of a disgrace. But more often than not, when they got into the red zone, they would make an unforced error.

Balls were dropped a couple of metres from the line, the rolling maul would be set and advancing but would then give away a penalty, Curwin Bosch failed to kick a couple of penalties to touch and missed all three of his shots at goal, one of them from in front of the poles.

Bosch did kick one excellent touchfinder which put Edinburgh under pressure five metres from their line. The visitors tried a lineout variation but the pressure was released when centre Marius Louw tackled flyhalf Blair Kinghorn in the air and was yellow-carded.

There was no coming back from such profligacy.

Outstanding Edinburgh halfbacks

In treacherous conditions and behind a retreating scrum, halfbacks Ben Vellacott and Kinghorn formed an outstanding partnership. Vellacott’s service was clean and slick, despite the pressure he was under, while Kinghorn would go over for two tries, he kicked out-of-hand well and showed an acute eye for the gap.

Kinghorn’s first try came in the 20^th minute, while Louw was in the sin-bin, as he sliced through midfield after a lovely half-break by outside centre Mark Bennett.

The Scotland flyhalf’s second try sealed victory with 11 minutes to go as he was first to a loose ball on the ground and twice kicked through before dotting down.

Boffelli defused Sharks’ kicking game

Given the conditions, the Sharks were always going to kick long and often, but Edinburgh fullback Emiliano Boffelli was far from chasing shadows at the back. The Argentine star was superbly solid under the high ball and his positional play was excellent. The Sharks found it hard to find grass inside the Edinburgh 22.

Boffelli also evaded three tacklers to score a try in the 56^th minute, following a storming run by eighthman Ben Muncaster, who also profited from missed tackles.

Scrum success only area of joy for Sharks

The starting front row of Thomas du Toit, Ox Nche and Bongi Mbonambi dominated the scrums but the Sharks were not able to build on that platform. The elation was shortlived as, more often than not, in an instant the advantage had been frittered away.

Scorers

Sharks – Try: Thomas du Toit.

Edinburgh – Tries: Blair Kinghorn (2), Emiliano Boffelli. Conversions: Boffelli (3).