Ken Borland

Sluggish and on the back foot from the outset, the Bulls were torn to shreds by the Glasgow Warriors on the 4G pitch at Scotstoun, being hammered 35-21 in their United Rugby Championship match on Saturday night.

On a rainy night in Glasgow, the Warriors were on fire from the start, backing their expansive intentions and showing they had the skills to pull it off. But a Bulls side that relies so much on their physicality was strangely passive and they were outworked and outmuscled at the rucks and on the gainline. The fact that they were passive on defence was probably the biggest indictment of their effort.

Glasgow scored two tries in the first 11 minutes to give themselves a healthy lead, especially with the rain, but the Bulls did fight back with a Kurt-Lee Arendse try after Cornal Hendrikse capitalised on a loose ball thanks to pressure by Elrigh Louw.

But the second quarter saw both lock Scott Cummings and scrumhalf George Horne take advantage of lacklustre defending and Glasgow were 28-7 up at halftime.

When the Warriors scored again eight minutes into the second half, wing Sebastian Cancelliere combining slickly with fullback Josh McKay, the Bulls were 35-7 down and on a hiding to nothing.

The second half did not have the spark of the first, but the Bulls were totally lacking the attacking accuracy to claw their way back into the match. The attacking breakdown was the biggest issue for them and penalties there, as well as a few handling errors, accounted for the ball being turned over nine times in promising positions inside the Glasgow 22.

The fire that was so lacking in the Bulls side finally made an appearance when eighthman Louw tussled with Horne on the ground, both of the players being sent to the sin bin for their troubles.

The Bulls did have a chance of earning a couple of points on the log after Bismarck du Plessis burrowed over for their second try on the hour mark. But the Janko Swanepoel try in the final minute was the only addition to their score.

The territory that set up both second-half tries came from scrum penalties, probably the only area of the game where the Bulls were better than the opposition.

Scorers

Glasgow Warriors – Tries: Matt Fagerson, Sebastian Cancelliere, Scott Cummings, George Horne, Josh McKay. Conversions: Horne (5).

Bulls – Tries: Kurt-Lee Arendse, Bismarck du Plessis, Janko Swanepoel. Conversions: Chris Smith (2), Morne Steyn.

Ruan Pienaar is a highly experienced man when it comes to playing against European opposition and the scrumhalf said on Tuesday that the Sharks dare not give Cardiff Blues any weak points to exploit in their defence as they meet on the 4G pitch at the Arms Park on Saturday.

South African teams are starting to come to terms with playing on artificial turf in the UK, and the Cardiff Blues are known for their attacking style on their fast-paced home surface. Plus, having lost to the Bulls last weekend via a dramatic second-half comeback, they will be taking nothing for granted on Saturday.

“Cardiff will be disappointed to have two losses on the bounce,” Pienaar said, “and I think they felt in control in the first half of their match against the Bulls. They are a good team, so they will be desperate to bounce back.

“They have a lot of dangerous players and if we give them time on the ball and let them dictate the tempo, then it will be a really tough challenge against them.

“You’ve got to be clinical and really accurate on those pitches because the game is a lot faster and the tempo much higher. We’ve got to be on-point defensively or their dangerous back three will hurt us.

“Rhys Priestland pulls the strings really well for them at flyhalf and it’s tough on a 4G pitch to defend breaches if they get through your line,” Pienaar said.

The former Ulster stalwart said the Sharks’ performance on Saturday will need to have the same properties they showed in convincingly beating the Ospreys last weekend, also with a brilliant second-half display.

“Against the Ospreys we played in the right areas, our discipline was good and we took our chances. We responded very well to our first two losses and you have to adapt to how the referees blow over here.

“Playing first up against Munster was always going to be a tough introduction, a massive learning curve because they are a very good team and especially difficult at Thomond Park.

“Our discipline let us down against them and there were costly errors, but against Glasgow Warriors, if we had done one or two things differently, then it could have been a different story.

“It’s a completely different way of playing over here, but we have been fortunate to have really good weather, normally it is quite miserable already at this time of year. I played here for a long time, you know the opposition is going to be really well coached and our key decision-makers are crucial,” Pienaar said.