It wasn’t pretty, but the Bulls showed plenty of courage and determination to come back and snatch a 25-23 victory over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Friday night.
In 2010 the Bulls were ambushed by the Cheetahs and fell behind to an early try by Jongi Nokwe. Tonight the suffered a similar sstart, which was the result of poor handling, a trait that affected their entire first half performance.
Thankfully they only conceeded 3 points, and were then able to earn a lead thanks to a penalty and a Bakkies Botha try. However whilst they looked once in the Cheetahs 22, it was a struggle to get there as they gave up possession too easily and frequently with poor handling and indecisive running.
The early loss of Juan Smith who was under an injury cloud all week was a major setback for the Cheetahs, but he’d be proud of the commitment shown by his side.
The Cheetahs were able to disrupt the Bulls pattern by scrapping for everything, and consequently the Bulls were not able to implement their normal kick chase game, or bring Kirchner into the attack. It limited their opportunities, and gave the Cheetahs their own opportunities.
On attack for the Bulls, if Wynand Olivier struggles to get over the advantage line, the Bulls struggle to get going forward with their wider excursions. The loose trio play well as individuals, but have struggled to combine well as a unit so far this year.
It was only the wayward goal kicking of the normally reliant Naas Olivier that kept the Bulls in the game, and only 3 points behind at half-time.
SECOND HALF FIGHTBACK
The second half saw a much better performance from the Bulls, in direct contrast to their first game against the Lions.
Unfortunately it was the Cheetahs who took advantage of their opportunities however, slightly against the run of play, to score tries through Robert Ebersohn and Ashley Johnson that opened a 15 point lead.
As with 2010 however, the Bulls showed great composure to fight back. The introduction of Danie Rossouw and Flip van der Merwe helped, as both were strong ball carriers who also offloaded well. Once they got the Bulls going forward and shored up the scrums, the Bulls had a nice attacking platform to operate from.
A yellow card to Wilhelm Steenkamp helpeed the Bulls, and the opportunities were starting to present itself as the 14 men and constant Bulls pressure meant that tackles were starting to fall off for tthe Cheetahs.
The Bulls did grass at least good 2-3 try scoring opportunities, but in the end the constant pressure created 2 second half tries which were enough to seal it for the Bulls.
After the match Victor Matfield admitted he was happy to take anoither ugly win over a pretty loss any day, and was happy his side showed the necessary composure to come bac and win.
FRUSTRATION WITH CRAIG JOUBERT
Referee Craig Joubert is not the Bulls favourite referee! He was the man in the middle when the Bulls lost to both the Blues and Reds last year, matches when captain Victor Matfield got frustrated with his officiating.
He did ref the Super 14 final, a match where he favoured the Bulls, much to the Stormers discontent.
It was a similar situation again for the Bulls on Friday night, as I thought he handled the breakdown poorly, which was messy, and inconsistent in the rulings. Victor Matfield was once again frustrated with Joubert, and even the normally placcid Fourie du Preez was reprimanded by Joubert.
I’m not sure why he is rated so highly, as I don’t think he can handle the most important area of the match (the rucks), an area that often determines the outcome of matches. Let’s just hope he doesn’t have to ref the Bulls much more this season!
Match Stats
Bulls Player Ratings
