Ken Borland

The facts at the end of the day show that the Bulls scored six tries to two and beat Benetton Treviso 46-29 with a bonus point in their United Rugby Championship match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, but they were a sick and sluggish beast in the first half.

Bulls badly off colour in first half

The Bulls did not make a good start to the match as they gave away a soft penalty and then a soft try inside the first dozen minutes to trail 10-0. The impression that this was a sickly Bulls side, their usual confident attitude not being there, as they missed 11 of the 36 tackles they had to make in the first half and were also lethargic at the breakdowns, being turned over five times. That they only trailed 12-16 at halftime was thanks to fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse scoring in the 41^st minute thanks to a lovely long pass out wide by flyhalf Chris Smith.

When the Bulls get gainline dominance they are hard to stop and that’s a fact! Once the Bulls shrugged off their lethargy and started pressurising the gain-line, the Benetton Treviso challenge fell away. Gaining dominance in the collisions had the rub-off effect of sorting out their breakdown problems and the Bulls’ power game also saw them dominate in the scrums, earning penalties for territory, and their maul started to get good traction in the second half as well.

Christmas comes early for Kurt-Lee Arendse

The Bulls also made a sloppy start to the second half, but the advent of the 50^th minute saw fullback Arendse gifted a try as centre Iganacio Brex’s terrible pass went to ground behind his own line and the Bulls’ whippet pounced, racing away from his own 10m line to score.

In the final quarter Arendse then set up the try that sealed the contest with a brilliant counter-attack. Going back into his 22 to field a kick, he beat the first defender and was away; lock Ruan Nortje galloped up in support and he made the final pass to wing Canan Moodie to score.

Mixed afternoon for Chris Smith

Bulls flyhalf Chris Smith struggled with his goalkicking, missing three of his eight shots at goal, including his first two as the home side struggled to get going. But his distribution was fantastic. His change of direction to go blind for flank Cyle Brink to score was a moment of fine vision, helped by hooker Johan Grobbelaar’s burst and Nortje’s deft offload.

Smith and Arendse also combined brilliantly for the crucial score after the halftime hooter.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Cyle Brink, Kurt-Lee Arendse (2), Marcell Coetzee, Canan Moodie, Simphiwe Matanzima. Conversions: Chris Smith (3), Morne Steyn (2). Penalties: Smith (2).

Benneton Treviso – Tries: Tommaso Menoncello (2). Conversions: Rhyno Smith (2). Penalties: Smith (5).

The Bulls are still in search of the perfect game as they enter the business end of the United Rugby Championship, with coach Jake White saying how they complete the last three weeks of round-robin action will define their campaign.

While their opponents on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld, Benetton Treviso, are almost 100% likely to miss out on the playoffs according to the StatMaster possibilities released by the URC on Friday, the importance of the game for the Bulls is shown by the prediction that, if they win, they will be 95% certain of a place in the top eight, while defeat will see their odds plummet from 83% currently to just 60%.

And with a match against the third-placed Glasgow Warriors and then a visit to Ospreys to follow, the Bulls probably can’t afford to let a win slip on Saturday.

“It’s tough for everybody at the back end of the competition,” White said, “in the next three weeks the whole competition can turn on its head. It’s three big games for everyone and then hopefully three more to win the tournament.

“So we are taking nothing for granted, there is still a lot of rugby to be played. You want to be playing your best rugby at the back end of the competition, that’s the way you want to progress, not play your best rugby in the beginning and not make the playoffs.

“We are not where we want to be yet, but against Benetton I want to see continued improvement.

“If we do that then we still control our own destiny in terms of where we end up. We’ve been playing well and we want to build on that,” White said.

The Bulls do not quite have a 100% bill of good health for the game, with powerful inside centre Harold Vorster having tested positive for Covid, but moving to 12 should be water off a duck’s back for Cornal Hendricks, given how he flourished in the position when White moved him there in 2020.

Apart from his attacking prowess, the former Springbok wing is quite happy to get stuck in in defence, never leaving the field with lilywhite shorts.

“Cornal has shown he is very capable of playing inside centre, he was the talk of the town there when Harold arrived at Loftus,” White pointed out. “He can be direct, he’s big and strong.

“The combination with Chris Smith at flyhalf has had lots of game-time and done well. Cornal brings different strengths to Harold and that might be the style we want to play … ”

Although there is a chance of rain on Saturday, it is not going to be the sort of tropical storms that batter Kings Park and White expects altitude to be a worry for the Italians, whatever the weather.

“I’ve heard the weather won’t be that great, but it’s not as if there’s going to be hail or blistering winds. It’s still at high altitude at 2pm, and that will be different to what Benetton are used to.

“We want to play quickly and use the altitude as an advantage, get our tempo and attack going. When we get the ball we want to hang on to it and show our confidence,” White said.

Bulls – Kurt-Lee Arendse,Canan Moodie,Lionel Mapoe,Cornal Hendricks,Madosh Tambwe,Chris Smith,Embrose Papier,Elrigh Louw,Cyle Brink,Marcell Coetzee (CAPT),Ruan Nortje,Walt Steenkamp,Mornay Smith,Johan Grobbelaar,Gerhard Steenekamp. IMPACT:Jan-Hendrik Wessels,Simphiwe Matanzima,Dylan Smith,Janko Swanepoel,Arno Botha,Zak Burger,Morne Steyn,Stedman Gans.

Although there is, as ever in Durban these days it seems, the chance of rain on Saturday evening, the Sharks anticipate that Leinster will be probing their defences with multiple phases of ball-in-hand attack in their United Rugby Championship match at Kings Park.

And with the humidity, even towards the end of April, predicted to be 78% on Saturday, hanging on to the ball for long periods of time has proven very difficult at Kings Park, opening up the possibility of handling errors, turnovers and counter-attacking opportunities.

Which is why Sharks coach Sean Everitt is delighted to have Aphelele Fassi back from injury at fullback.

“I don’t think Leinster will change the way they play, they have a very good academy system bringing players through and a particular style of play,” Everitt said on Friday.

“They enjoy playing ball-in-hand, using multiple phases, but they are really good at managing the game as well. The weather forecast is pretty grim, but you never know what it will be like at kickoff time.

“Any team will struggle if you defend well and then there are always turnover opportunities. Aphelele has been very good in training and we’re very happy to have him back.

“He’s a Springbok and his x-factor on counter-attack is most important to us, but he is also good under the high ball and his left-boot has improved a lot,” Everitt said.

The Sharks’ pack, criticised for its lack of maturity in the past, has been an impressive force recently, but how they cope against the table-topping Leinster forwards will show whether their presence is still at a neonatal stage or they are now ready to be counted amongst the big men.

“Our forwards are a massive part of our plan and they have put in some huge performances lately, so credit to them,” Everitt said. “They have stuck to their task and got dominance up front.

“They know they are going to have to be on top of their game and Leinster have chosen a front row to try and nullify us. We know it’s going to take eight-man efforts in the scrums and mauls.

“Defence also starts at the set-piece and if we get that right then the next job becomes a lot easier. But we are really confident at the moment.

“Being on the front foot also makes it easier to get the attack, which has also improved greatly over the last few weeks, going as well and Jaden Hendrikse and Curwin Bosch have been kicking really well,” Everitt added.

Sharks team: Aphelele Fassi, Werner Kok, Ben Tapuai, Marius Louw, Makazole Mapimpi, Curwin Bosch, Jaden Hendrikse, Phepsi Buthelezi, Henco Venter, Siya Kolisi, Gerbrandt Grobler, Le Roux Roets, Thomas du Toit (CAPT), Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche. Replacements – Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Khutha Mchunu, Reniel Hugo, Jeandre Labuschagne, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Grant Williams, Boeta Chamberlain.

The Bulls will need to combine the exuberance of puppies in terms of the tempo of their play but also the patience of a crocodile waiting to attack when they take on Benetton Treviso in their United Rugby Championship match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, and scrumhalf Zak Burger will have a big responsibility when it comes to getting that balance right.

The match starts at 2pm in Pretoria, so the combination of altitude, intensity and heat should work against the Italians, who have travelled a long way for the match. But pushing too hard, as the Bulls did in the narrow loss to the Stormers, leads to mistakes and turnovers. Conversely, the Bulls were probably a bit too conservative in the first half of their match against Ulster, before scoring four tries in the second half to turn a 3-9 halftime deficit into a resounding 34-16 win.

“Because Benetton are coming from Italy and playing at 2pm at altitude, we definitely want to speed the game up,” Burger said. “But we’ve also got to be patient and work through the phases.

“We weren’t clinical enough against the Stormers, which was like a Test match. The way they defend, with a very hard line, is a bit like the Springboks and that’s why they concede very few tries.

“They also disrupted our breakdown and we lost a lot of ball in contact, which allowed the Stormers to play from turnovers. It’s about knowing when to kick and when to run.

“Against Ulster, we went into the first half with probably too much of a kicking mindset, and Jake White said we must play a bit. He gave us the confidence in the second half to give the ball more air,” Burger said.

Benetton famously won their only previous meeting with the Bulls, thumping them 35-8 in the Rainbow Cup final last June in Treviso, but the Currie Cup champions are now a much more streetwise team when it comes to how the game is played (and officiated) by the Europeans.

But the visitors will be boosted on Saturday by all their Italy representatives.

“Benetton won the Rainbow Cup and they will have all their international players back from the Six Nations,” Burger pointed out. “I think there are 12 from the team that beat Wales in Cardiff, so they will be full of confidence.

“It’s going to be a very hard match and we need to be clinical and take our chances. They totally outplayed us in the Rainbow Cup final, but we have moved on, we’ve learnt a few things since then, new ways of playing,” Burger said.