Red card: Francois Hougaard
A clinical six-try showing from the Bulls saw them make it two wins from two in Super Rugby 2012 as they demolished the Cheetahs 51-19 on Saturday.
Despite being down to thirteen players for the closing stages due to Francois Hougaard being shown red and Jacques Potgieter in the sin-bin, the Bulls had already achieved their bonus-point win in a much-improved performance than the one that did for the Sharks in Pretoria last Friday.
There was always going to be a subplot regarding the two number tens on show and the duo didn't disappoint as Johan Goosen and Morne Steyn both kicked well. Steyn in fact reached a personal milestone as he recorded his 1000th point in Super Rugby with a simple first-half conversion.
Goosen got the ball rolling however with a third-minute penalty as the Cheetahs looked to strike back following a narrow defeat to the Lions.
Controversy then marred the spectacle when a technicality saw the Bulls handed seven points via a converted try from Dean Greyling. The powerful loosehead prop had taken the ball within inches of the Bulls' line before taking seemingly an age to place the ball behind him and then choosing to reach out for the try-line. Ordinarily the move would have resulted in a penalty for Greyling holding on in the tackle but due to the question asked by match referee Craig Joubert, the try was given.
The score was then 10-3 to the Bulls - who had Wynand Olivier back in their line-up for the injured Johann Sadie - with the Cheetahs not looking strong defensively. And it ultimately cost them when - following a second Goosen penalty - the Bulls' other prop, Werner Kruger, powered over with a helping hand from hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle. That timely score made it 17-6 as the traffic looked to be heading in only one direction on the half-hour mark.
It was a much-improved performance from the Bulls in the opening half as they silenced a few critics who had slammed them for last week's somewhat one-dimensional victory over the Sharks. Bjorn Basson was the next to cross the line for a well-worked team try that saw him up against WP Nel on the left. It was a feel-good five-pointer for the former Griquas flyer after TMO Johann Meuwesen denied him a score in the same corner earlier in the game.
Frans Ludeke's outfit were now in full flow and when Goosen added his fourth penalty two minutes before the break, it was only delaying the inevitable. And so it proved as seconds after the Cheetahs fly-half had made it 12-24, the expected fourth try arrived for the men in blue after the move of the match resulted in Olivier stepping his man, sending the ball out to Akona Ndungane who raced down the right before putting the ball inside to Zane Kirchner.
Milestone man Steyn settled a spicy affair down with a couple of penalties and with 20 minutes left the Cheetahs understandably looking a beaten franchise in Bloemfontein.
Bulls scrum-half Hougaard - moved to the left wing - was then shown red in the 63rd minute for making a dangerous tackle on home centre Robert Ebersohn, leaving the visitors a man down. And finally the Cheetahs got their first try of the afternoon when they capitalised on Hougaard's absence and hooker Andriaan Strauss burrowed over the whitewash.
An intercept try from replacement JJ Engelbrecht soon after killed all hopes for the hosts. Kirchner then rubbed salt in the Cheetahs' wounds with a brilliant individual try in the 72nd minute as he collected his own chip to ice the cake for the new overall league leaders.
The scorers:
For Cheetahs:
Try: Strauss
Con: Goosen
Pen: Goosen 4
For Bulls:
Tries: Greyling, Kruger, Basson, Kirchner 2, Engelbrecht
Con: Steyn 6
Pen: Steyn 3
Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Rocco Jansen, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Philip Snyman, 11 Willie le Roux, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Tewis de Bruyn, 8 Davon Raubenheimer, 7 Philip van der Walt, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Trevor Nyakane.
Replacements: 16 Hercu Liebenberg, 17 Lourens Adriaanse, 18 Waltie Vermeulen, 19 Ashley Johnson, 20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Sias Ebersohn, 22 Cameron Jacobs.
Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies (c), 7 Jaques 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 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 19 CJ Stander, 20 Jano Vermaak, 21 Louis Fouche, 22 JJ Engelbrecht.
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Marius Jonker (South Africa), Reuben Rossouw (South Africa)
Television match official: Johann Meuwesen (South Africa)
Comments
Ramage says...
If ever there was confusion over an instruction it was there for all to see and hear. Could I just mention in passing that the TMO was Meuwesen, the TMO who made up his own rules to wrongly instruct Clancy outside the protocols in last years NZ SA test. Joubert saw the ball put on the line and thought it was a try and asked Muewesen, "Is there any reason I can not award a try?" Answer should have been yes there is the player on the ground who did not IMMEDIATELY place the ball. Instead Muewesen stared by answering the try or no try question but was interrrupted bt Joubert who repeated the question he asked.Muewesen seemed flustered and then replied no there was nor reason why the try could not be given. I can only guess that English is not this TMOs first language or he totally lost the plot but it was an example of how a simple instruction was misunderstood. Just before he ruled out a try when it was never clear that the players legs had touched the ground in touch ans so in my opinion I believe he guessed and did not rule on what was seen. However this TMO was also tried as a super referee in the past and found wanting so was sacked from the panel. he has now turned up as a TMO and seems to be less than suitable in this job as well. I wonder whether tje SA referees boss Andre Watson, will be as outspoken in his support of Muewesen as he was over the call in the test match. Seems this TMO is a serial offender. I will be interested to hear from Saffas if there is any reported comments from Andre Wastson over this game and the response from Muewesen in this game.
@philipjfry lol indeed Moore is one of the worst but not all the commentators on Australian Foxtel are not all doos only Martin and Kearns.
However one has to be impressed with the play of the Bulls team there is some real zip in the team as well as being quite physical.
Posted 00:09 05th March 2012
damo says...
Worst ref ever he picks a team and gives them everything sack him please rugby is a contest not an unfair fight
Posted 10:47 04th March 2012
melkdave says...
I have to say the Cheetahs look paticually poor this seasom .There seems to be no pace or zing in their attack .Allowing the Bulls defence to rush up on to them behind the gainline and i saw backs stopping before contact and throwing risky paces rather than taking the contact and providing a platform for the forwards .Its a shame really because given the amount of players in SA they seem to be getting the players richer unions dont feel the need for .But you have to admire their endevour they never give up and thats refrehing to see i
Posted 03:41 04th March 2012
BDAUSSIE says...
hmmm, something tells me that if this had been the result of the Reds/Force game there'd be 5 or 6 people on this sites writing comments about how the Reds get an easy because they gifted 5 pointers.
Once again the Cheetahs and the Lions will be bottom of the barrel teams and i predict that neither will beat the Stormers, Sharks or Bulls this season (home or away).
Posted 23:35 03rd March 2012
damo says...
Worst ref in the world Cheetahs were robbed, this fella is a joke was penalising Cheetahs for bulls over the top hands in the ruck etc Cheetahs hadn't a hope they were set up
Posted 20:33 03rd March 2012
philipjfry says...
That linesman did not have a clue about what to say to the ref or how to say it in English. Harsh calls on both cards. And Warren Brosnihan is perhaps the kakest rugby commentator on the planet, apart from, maybe, Brian Moore and that doos from Fox Sport in Aus.
Posted 17:09 03rd March 2012