Ken Borland

The Bulls used their general dominance in the tight phases to set up an emphatic 40-24 (half-time 26-0) victory over the Cheetahs in their all-South African SuperRugby match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Bulls enjoyed a wonderful attacking platform from their dominant lineout and scrum, and thrilled their home crowd by running in six tries on their way to a 40-0 lead after an hour.

The Cheetahs saved themselves from further humiliation as they grabbed four well-taken tries in the final quarter.

The visitors held the Bulls for the first 18 minutes and even threatened when they managed to maintain possession through several phases, matching their hosts’ physicality in the collisions.

But the Bulls were able to use their dominance in the set-pieces to wear down the Cheetahs and slick finishing saw them score four tries and earn a bonus point before the break, on their way to a convincing triumph.

Far from playing uninteresting, forward-dominated rugby, the Bulls looked full of ideas and their opening try by eighthman Pierre Spies came after wing Akona Ndungane had counter-attacked off a poor kick.

A scintillating break by scrumhalf Francois Hougaard then set up the second try, by outstanding loosehead prop Dean Greyling, although part of the blame must lie with the Cheetahs lineout, who failed to take their own ball cleanly five metres from their tryline.

The Bulls’ third try, after 28 minutes, was a more bland affair, with fullback Zane Kirchner having a simple run-in after the Cheetahs failed to gather a massive up-and-under from flyhalf Morne Steyn.

Another Cheetahs mistake eight minutes later was ruthlessly punished by the Bulls as eighthman Ashley Johnson spilt the ball behind a retreating scrum and Hougaard pounced for an easy try.

A massacre looked in the offing as the Bulls kept up the pressure in the second half and the Cheetahs were reduced to 14 men as centre Andries Strauss was yellow-carded for pulling the hair of flank Jacques Potgieter while he was in a ruck.

Tighthead prop Werner Kruger was the final recipient of the ball and scored the fifth try after a series of forward drives by Greyling, hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle and replacement lock Wilhelm Steenkamp; and wing Bjorn Basson then scored the try of the match as he sped clear from turnover ball 60 metres out, his deceptive footwork and pace beating the Cheetahs’ cover defence.

“Our defence was good in the first half and we squeezed some turnovers. All our tries in the first half came from turnover ball. Looking at the big picture, I’m definitely satisfied with our performance tonight,” Bulls coach Frans Ludeke told a news conference after the game.

“It’s the story of our season so far. We didn’t have any intensity or momentum and the Bulls played off our mistakes. We made too many mistakes in the first half, but we were better in the second half,” Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske said.

But the visitors dominated the final quarter as WP Nel, the replacement tighthead, charged over for two tries, fullback Willie le Roux sprinted over from 55 metres out and flank Heinrich Brussow showed the pace of a wing to score the bonus point try.

The win puts the Bulls in fourth place on the overall standings, eight points behind the first-placed Chiefs, while they are still second in the South African Conference, four points behind the Stormers.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Pierre Spies, Dean Greyling, Zane Kirchner, Francois Hougaard, Werner Kruger, Bjorn Basson. Conversions: Morne Steyn (5).

Cheetahs – Tries: WP Nel (2), Willie le Roux, Heinrich Brussow. Conversions: Sias Ebersohn (2).

The Stormers hung on to the top spot in the South African Conference with a 19-14 (half-time 9-11) victory over the Bulls in the all-South African SuperRugby derby at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Stormers were trailing 9-14 and pinned back in their own territory for most of the second half by the Bulls’ strong territorial kicking game and forwards who were dominant in the collisions, but the unerring boot of flyhalf Peter Grant kicked a penalty, before wing Bryan Habana scored a 69th-minute try to snatch the victory from the team he first made his name for.

The Bulls’ percentage rugby seemed to be wearing down the Stormers as flyhalf Morne Steyn kicked three penalties and eighthman Pierre Spies muscled over for a try after a free kick from a lineout inside the Stormers 22.

But it was the only try the Stormers’ brilliant defensive system allowed, despite the Bulls spending 66% of the match in their territory.

Flank Siya Kolisi, who had been an enormous defensive presence throughout, superbly evaded two on-rushing Bulls defenders, racing into the 22 and firing a pinpoint pass to Habana, who up till then had been limited to attacking off up-and-unders.

Grant kicked the conversion to stretch the lead to 19-14 and ensure the Bulls had to score a try in the last 10 minutes, a penalty not being enough to win.

With the Lions dealing a mortal blow to the Sharks with their shock victory in Johannesburg earlier on Saturday, the Stormers are now five points clear at the top of the South African Conference, with three matches to play against the lowly Lions, Cheetahs and Rebels.

The Stormers are on 54 points, in second place in the overall standings, with the Bulls on 49 and the Sharks on 45 with just two matches to play.

Scorers

Stormers – Try: Bryan Habana. Conversion: Peter Grant. Penalties: Grant (4).

Bulls – Try: Pierre Spies. Penalties: Morne Steyn (3).

Flyhalf Morne Steyn had to do the bulk of the scoring with his boot as the Northern Bulls were outscored by five tries to two but still beat the ACT Brumbies 36-34 in their Super Rugby match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Steyn kicked seven penalties, a conversion and a drop goal as the Bulls built a 33-13 lead heading into the final quarter.

But the young Brumbies side made the Bulls look vulnerable at home as they ran in three tries in the last 11 minutes to earn two bonus points.

The Canterbury Crusaders have been cleared off all charges of eye-gouging by SuperRugby ruling body Sanzar following the issuing of two white cards against them after allegations made by the Northern Bulls in their match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Although there has been no official word from Sanzar, Bulls spokesman Ian Schwartz issued a statement on the franchise’s website on Monday saying “no evidence of eye-gouging was found by Sanzar’s judiciary system”.

According to the statement, no evidence was found by citing commissioner Freek Burger by analysing various video replays of the two incidents in which Bulls hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle and lock Flip van der Merwe claimed they were fouled by the Crusaders.

Schwartz said there would be no apology by the Bulls, despite comments by Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder after the game that he expected an apology if the allegations were not proven.

“For them to suggest we must now apologise, just because there is no video evidence available, would mean we have lied. It is ridiculous to suggest that every time there is a citing and there is not enough evidence, the other team should apologise,” Schwartz said.

“The rules are clear and we applied them 100% correctly. We had the right to raise the matter with the referee and we accept the fact that there was no video evidence.

“I just want to say that our players’ integrity is just as important to us as the Crusaders’ players integrity is to them. I feel the players will not make unfounded accusations unless something has happened,” Schwartz added.