Following the Bulls’ 34-26 win over Ulster in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday, Planet Rugby picks out five takeaways from the thrilling action.
The top line
The Bulls had the better of the early exchanges and their efforts were rewarded as early as the second minute when their captain Marcell Coetzee crossed for the opening try.
They continued to dominate as the match progressed and midway through the half Elrigh Louw also crossed the whitewash and with Handre Pollard succeeding with both conversions, the Bulls had their tails up with the score 14-0 in their favour.
Another converted try from Coetzee followed in the 32nd minute but Ulster did not surrender and on the stroke of half-time Chay Mullins dotted down with Jack Murphy adding the extras, which meant the Bulls led 21-7 at the interval.
That score seemed to reinvigorate the visitors as they continued being competitive after half-time and five minutes after the restart David McCann crossed for their second five-pointer before Pollard added a penalty in the 50th minute.
McCann’s score was a shot in the arm for the visitors who tried to claw their way back into the game, and there were some nervous-looking Bulls fans in the crowd when Mullins went over for his second try in the 63rd minute.
The hosts responded when Johan Grobbelaar dotted down shortly afterwards, but Ulster would not surrender, and when Stuart McCloskey crossed for their bonus-point try in the 70th minute, it set up a tense finish.
Ulster went in search of a come-from-behind victory and came close to achieving that goal but desperate defence from the Bulls inside their 22 kept the visitors at bay in the game’s closing stages.
The final act of the match was a 45-metre penalty from the home side’s replacement fly-half, Curwin Bosch, which denied Ulster what would have been a deserved second bonus-point.
Bulls’ forward power does the trick
While both teams’ backlines looked dangerous on attack, the home side are renowned for their power in the forward exchanges and this, ultimately, proved the difference between these teams.
From the outset, the men from Pretoria’s forward pack held the upper hand in the tight exchanges with their starting front-row of Gerhard Steenekamp, Francois and Grobbelaar getting the better of their Ulster counterparts at a couple of scrums during the first half.
That led to their opponents being penalised and the Bulls responded by kicking for touch, from where they launched powerful drives with Coetzee being rewarded with the opening try in that fashion.
The Bulls forwards also set up a rolling maul from which Louw dotted down while their lineout work was excellent throughout and remained a crucial attacking launchpad as the match progressed.
Handre Pollard is still a force
Despite his advancing years, the 32-year-old came to the fore with an excellent all-round performance and showed that he is still a force who has the ability to control proceedings as his team’s chief playmaker.
Pollard showed a willingness to attack the gain-line with ball in hand and that gave his side valuable momentum and also created try-scoring opportunities for his team-mates. On one such occasion, he took the ball into contact and did well to offload to Coetzee, who had an easy run-in for his second try.
As usual, the Springboks star also delivered a faultless goal-kicking performance as he finished with an 11-point haul after slotting four conversions and a penalty. His kicking out of hand was also of a high standard and in the 30th minute he showed his class when he put his team on the front foot with a perfectly weighted 50-22 which eventually resulted in Coetzee’s second try after the Bulls launched an attack from the resulting lineout.
He also impressed with his distribution skills, which put some of his team-mates into space on attack with the highlight being a delightful cut-out pass to Sebastian de Klerk in the second half which put the speedster in the clear from inside his 22, before Ulster’s cover defence hauled him in just inside their half.
Pollard was eventually replaced by Curwin Bosch in the 71st minute, but the two-time Rugby World Cup winner can be happy with his all-round performance.
Ulster fightback but fall short
Although they finished on the losing side, the Belfast-based outfit were still in this match until its dying moments and they deserve plenty of credit for launching a brilliant fightback after the Bulls dominated early on.
Despite coming off second best in the majority of the exchanges for most of the opening half, Richie Murphy’s troops stayed in the fight and Mullins’ first try just before the interval was the catalyst for a much improved effort in the second half.
That score seemed to boost Ulster’s resolve as they came out with greater intent on attack and their efforts were rewarded with further five-pointers from McCann and Mullins which meant the match was evenly poised with the Bulls holding a 24-19 lead in the 63rd minute.
Although the Bulls responded with Grobbelaar’s try, Ulster did not surrender and struck back when McCloskey dotted down. Ulster continued to attack and came close to stealing a win in the 79th minute when McCloskey knocked on deep inside Bulls territory following a desperate tackle from replacement wing Dylan Maart.
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Test watch
There were several South African and Irish internationals on display in this encounter while others with Test ambitions were also keen to impress.
In the Bulls camp, the Springboks trio of Pollard, Grobbelaar and Steenekamp will be happy with their overall efforts while uncapped players like Luan Giliomee and Paul de Wet also caught the eye with impressive performances.
However, the likes of Louw and another backline player with Test ambitions, speedster Cheswill Jooste, were fairly quiet while ex-Bok Coetzee was one of the best players on the field, although he is unlikely to be South Africa’s head coach Rassie Erasmus’ radar.
One player who Erasmus would have kept a close eye on was Ulster number eight Juarno Augustus. Although the 28-year-old had a quiet start, he grew into the game and looked solid on attack, where he made some powerful carries during a 65-minute performance and he eventually gained 39 metres from a match-high 16 carries made.
Meanwhile, of the Ireland players in Ulster’s side, McCloskey was superb and apart from a well-taken try, he gained 67 metres while Jacob Stockdale also impressed on attack with a team-high 69 metres gained.
Elsewhere, captain Tom Stewart toiled manfully on both sides of the ball while Nick Timoney also had some good moments on attack and defence, and Nathan Doak provided a solid service to his team-mates.