EPCR CHAMPIONS CUP
Mike Greenaway|Published
The Bulls backed up their pre-match rhetoric that they’re fully focused on the Champions Cup when they blew away Stade Français 56–20 at Loftus Versfeld, scoring some breathtaking tries in the process.
They scored eight in total, and Handré Pollard delivered a kicking masterclass in converting each one.
The Bulls could not have started more spectacularly. The kick-off was quickly recycled; the ball sped wide, where centre Harold Vorster nudged the ball through the defence for wing Cheswill Jooste to gather and score. That took all of 30 seconds.
But that did not signal one-way traffic. Ten minutes later, visiting flyhalf Ihaia West nailed a long-range penalty.
The French side looked dangerous whenever they had possession and West, the Kiwi flyhalf, slickly got his backline away.
Johan Ackermann had spoken about the need to keep cool under pressure, and his charges listened. They soaked up the pressure, turned the French over in their 22 via Khutha Mchunu, and Cobus Wiese powered over. It was clinical stuff.
But Ackermann would have been annoyed when a Cameron Hanekom surge off the back of a scrum put Paul de Wet through, but the TMO intervened — Eligh Louw had been spotted holding a French player back at the scrum.
That hurt all the more because Stade Français worked their way up the field from the penalty and earned a shot at goal. Louis Foursans-Bourdette, on for the injured West, nailed the three points.
The Bulls’ lineout was also creaking. Their strong start was being undone, but you had to feel for them when Louw seemed to have grounded the ball in bulldozing over the line, but the TMO disagreed.
But the officials could have no quarrel when Hanekom took matters into his meaty paws and blasted over.
The half-time score was 21–6, and Ackermann would have had a word or two for his players about cutting out the sloppiness.
The visitors scored first, relentless pressure catapulting their South African lock, Jacques Botha, over the line. The 2.06m, 128kg Botha joined the French club last year and made his senior debut in December, at 19.
This was quickly cancelled out at the other end of the field when Marco van Staden, restored to the starting line-up at openside flank, cashed in on a lineout maul.
Stade Français’ Fijian flanker, Petero Mailulu, scored next to quieten Loftus Versfeld, but there was an eruption a minute later when Jeandré Rudolph scored a try he deserves to dine out on forever.
In his best imitation of a wing, flanker Rudolph charged down the touchline, chipped over the defence, and gathered for a dream try.
Not to be outdone, hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels scored a beauty of his own when he raced to gather a chip into the in-goal area and managed to dot it down an inch before the dead-ball line.
The Bulls’ seventh try was masterful. There was a preconceived move off a lineout, brisk ruck work through the phases, and then a startling finish by Jooste.
Jooste astonishingly nailed his hat-trick by showing jaw-dropping pace to wrong-foot the defenders.
Point-scorers
Bulls — Tries: Cheswill Jooste (3), Cobus Wiese, Cameron Hanekom, Marco van Staden, Jeandre Rudolph, Jan-Hendrik Wessels. Conversions: Handre Pollard (8).
Stade Français — Tries: Jacques Botha, Petero Mailulu. Conversions: Ihaia West (2). Penalties: Louis Foursans-Bourdette, Ihaia West.