Six-try Bulls bully Hurricanes

Editor

The Bulls climbed to third in the Super Rugby overall standings on Saturday thanks to a 48-14 win over the Hurricanes in Pretoria.

The Bulls climbed to third in the Super Rugby overall standings on Saturday thanks to a convincing 48-14 win over the Hurricanes in Pretoria.

The team from Pretoria made it four straight wins on home soil since returning from their overseas tour to maintain their unbeaten record at Loftus Versfeld this season.

The Bulls, who ruled the set pieces, ran rampant in the first half to lead 27-0 at the break thanks to tries from centre JJ Engelbrecht, flank Deon Stegmann and wing Akona Ndungane.

Engelbrecht and Ndungane capitalised on adventurous passes by the New Zealanders as they scored off intercepts while Stegmann had an armchair ride at the back of a maul.

The Hurricanes were the better team for large parts of the second half and scrum-half TJ Perenara bagged two tries from long range, but the gap was always going to be too big to close against the well-organised Bulls defence.

The Hurricanes started the second half well as Perenara raced away for the visitors' first score but the Bulls replied via a try from prop Dean Greyling to secure the bonus point before replacement back Lionel Mapoe waltzed over late on to end any hopes of a 'Canes comeback.

Back-up fly-half Louis Fouchè crossed in the dying minutes for the Bulls' sixth try to remind the Loftus faithful that there is another 10 in Pretoria after Morne Steyn had kicked five conversions and two penalties.

The result sees the Bulls, who can look forward to a bye, reclaim the lead in the South African Conference, two points clear of the Cheetahs, who host the Hurricanes next week.

The Hurricanes look set to be without skipper Conrad Smith for the trip to Bloemfontein after the All Black centre was knocked out cold in a tackle and taken to hospital for precautionary tests.

The scorers:

For Bulls:
Tries: Engelbrecht, Stegmann, Ndungane, Greyling, Mapoe Fouchè
Cons: Steyn 5, Fouchè
Pens: Steyn 2

For Hurricanes:
Tries: Perenara 2
Cons: Barrett 2
Yellow card: Eaton

Bulls: 15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Pierre Spies (c), 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Willie Wepener, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Grant Hattingh, 19 Arno Botha, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Louis Fouchè, 22 Lionel Mapoe.

Hurricanes: 15 Andre Taylor, 14 Alapati Leiua, 13 Conrad Smith (c), 12 Tusi Pisi, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Karl Lowe, 6 Brad Shields, 5 Jason Eaton, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 2 Ash Dixon, 1 Ben Franks.
Replacements: 16 Reggie Goodes, 17 Ben May, 18 Mark Reddish, 19 Faifili Levave, 20 Jack Lam, 21 Chris Smylie, 22 Tim Bateman.

Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Attie Buitendag (South Africa)
TMO: Johan Greeff (South Africa)