Fourteen-try Blue Bulls still alive

Winning send off: Gary Botha

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The Blue Bulls ran fourteen tries past the Leopards to win 92-21 at Loftus Versfeld on Friday and keep their slim Currie Cup semi-final hopes alive.

The result moves the Bulls up to provisional fourth place in the standings. The team from Pretoria's play-off hopes now hinge on Western Province not beating the Pumas by more than 13 points and not scoring a bonus point in victory on Saturday.

The hosts raced to a 21-0 lead by the end of the first quarter but the Leopards made a comeback in the closing stages of the first half, scoring three tries to leave the Bulls leading 35-21 at half time.

It was one-way traffic in the second half however as the Bulls ran riot, scoring nine more tries to add to the five in the opening 40 minutes.

It was a bittersweet occasion for departing hooker Gary Botha, who scored in his last game in the famous blue jersey before heading off to join Toulouse in France.

Springbok wing Bjorn Basson weighed in with hat-trick while loose forward CJ Stander and lock Juandré Kruger grabbed two tries each.

The scorers:

For Blue Bulls:
Tries: Ndungane, Stander 2, Vermaak, Venter, Kruger 2, Basson 3, Penalty Try, A. Botha, G. Botha, Brummer
Cons: Fouché 11

For Leopards:
Tries: Dunlop, Engelbrecht, Maritz
Cons: Dunlop 3

Yellow cards: Lusaseni (Leopards - 55th min); Mockford (Leopards - 68th min)

Blue Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Louis Fouché, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Gary Botha (captain), 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Willie Wepener, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Gerrit-Jan van Velze, 19 Arno Botha, 20 Dustin Jinka, 21 Francois Brummer, 22 Jurgen Visser

Leopards: 15 Hofmann Maritz, 14 Danie Dames, 13 Charl Weideman, 12 Joubert Engelbrecht (c), 11 Vainon Willis, 10 Wesley Dunlop, 9 Johann Laker, 8 Robert Kruger, 7 Luvuyiso Lusaseni, 6 Philip de Wet, 5 Brendon Snyman, 4 Brad Mockford, 3 Dewald Coetzee, 2 Gavin Williamson, 1 Jean-Jacques Rossouw.
Replacements: 16 Marius Fourie, 17 Buhle Mxunyelwa, 18 Bêrend Botha, 19 Spanner Pretorius, 20 George Tossel, 21 Clayton Durand, 22 Jovan Bowles.

Referee: Stuart Berry