Ken Borland

The Bulls planted plenty of attacking seeds and the important ones bore fruit as they showed they remain one of the best sides in the United Rugby Championship at home, thumping Cardiff 45-9 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.

Cardiff were certainly more competitive than the scoreline suggests, but they lacked the same ability to convert chances in the 22, while the Bulls also deserve credit for a stout defensive effort.

But it was the Bulls attack that will be the focus as they scored six tries to stay fourth on the URC log. Not every pass stuck for the Bulls though, there were plenty of handling errors, but they won comfortably just through the sheer number of chances the combination of strong forward carries and a dashing, inventive backline creates.

The Bulls took a while to find their flow and Cardiff were leading 6-3 as the half-hour approached through two Jarrod Evans penalties. But when the home side finally managed to hang on to possession for several phases, fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie combined superbly to send the wing over for the opening try. Their work in tandem was beautiful to watch right through the match.

Another Evans penalty meant the Bulls were only 10-9 ahead as halftime approached, but the home side made a crucial strike on the hooter as they won a scrum penalty, set the lineout and flyhalf Johan Goosen put Arendse over for the try.

The Bulls, leading 17-9 at the break, continued to gain great dividends from their combination of power and pace and flair in the second half.

Goosen split the defence and scored three minutes after halftime as the Bulls took firm control with a 24-9 lead. They were on the back foot for the next 15 minutes, but dug in in defence, with Cardiff’s maul a threat, but a weapon they failed to capitalise on through their own errors.

The Bulls then buried Cardiff in the final quarter with three more tries. Penetrative eighthman Elrigh Louw made big inroads off the back of a lineout, lock Ruan Nortje then crashing over for the try.

Arendse then produced a lovely little dink-kick over the top of the defensive line for Moodie to score his second try, while Louw scored a deserved try with three minutes remaining as he went over from a brilliantly-deceptive splinter-maul.

Scorers

Bulls: Tries – Canan Moodie (2), Kurt-Lee Arendse, Johan Goosen, Ruan Nortje, Elrigh Louw. Conversions – Goosen (5), Chris Smith. Penalty – Goosen.

Cardiff: Penalties – Jarrod Evans (3).

Argentina bore the brunt of the Springbok game-plan at close to its clinical best at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday, as South Africa comfortably dispatched them 29-10 in their second Rugby Championship Test.

The Springboks led 15-3 at halftime thanks to flyhalf Handre Pollard’s faultless goalkicking that saw him convert five penalties. With Argentina softened up for the kill in the second half, South Africa duly hammered home their advantage with two tries.

The home side exerted consistent pressure on the Pumas, their maul being particularly effective, and the visitors’ discipline was terrible under the strain as they conceded 13 penalties in the first half alone. Five of those were within the range of Pollard, who made sure Argentina were suitably punished.

The Springboks did some good things on attack, but their efforts were often stymied by the opposition’s negative tactics that killed the momentum. It took until the 32^nd minute for referee Karl Dickson, who was overall accomplished with the whistle, to hand out a yellow card, eighthman Rodrigo Bruni being temporarily sent off after being offsdes and then blatantly slowing down the ball on the ground.

The Springboks opened the scoring in the second half with a superb try. They were fortunate to win the lineout, but wing Cheslin Kolbe had been at the front of the set-piece and it was the wing who took the inside pass and made the initial break. There were also good carries by scrumhalf Cobus Reinach and centre Damian de Allende, before fullback Willie le Roux popped up in the backline to keep the move going and then sprinted around to make the final pass to wing Makazole Mapimpi to score the try.

Six minutes later, Pollard produced an excellent penalty kick into the corner, back ball was won at the lineout, a powerful maul rumbled forward and impressive hooker Malcolm Marx dotted down for the try.

The Springboks were 29-3 up going into the final quarter and they will be disappointed that they did not score again, failing to get the bonus point. They tried their best after the final whistle to get the third try, but instead conceded penalties and it was Argentina who had the final say as flank Pablo Matera bashed and then spun over the line to score, after replacement lock Marco Kremer’s strong carry had been stopped short.

One could pardon the Springboks for some of their scrappiness as numerous changes in personnel were made, outstanding lock Lood de Jager, the man of the match, came off with cramp and Bongi Mbonambi, coming on for Marx, struggled with his lineout throwing. Jaden Hendrikse, replacing Reinach, also had to leave the field after twisting an ankle when he was tackled, forcing Kolbe to play scrumhalf and depriving the home side of attacking fluency.

Scorers

South Africa: Tries – Makazole Mapimpi, Malcolm Marx. Conversions – Handre Pollard (2). Penalties – Pollard (5).

Argentina: Try – Pablo Matera. Conversion – Nicolas Sanchez. Penalty – Domingo Miotti.