In charge: Bulls show Reds who's the boss in Pretoria
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The Bulls ran eight tries past the Reds to record a comprehensive 61-8 Super Rugby win at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
It was a convincing display by the hosts, who dominated the injury-plagued defending champions to notch up their second bonus-point win of the season.
Morne Steyn had a good day with the boot, slotting all of his eight attempts at goal - a much needed confidence booster for the Springbok following a poor kicking display in the 29-23 Blues defeat a fortnight ago.
Further adding to the Reds woes are injuries sustained to hooker Saia Faingaa and centre Jono Lance, who before going down in the 56th minute was arguably the Reds best performer from the match.
Both teams took to the match with attacking intentions although it was the South Africans who made the most of their opportunities to lead 16-3 at half-time courtesy of a try to Bulls full-back Zane Kirchner and 11 points through the boot of Steyn.
The Bulls continued their attacking ascendency after the break, but this time the second-half was horribly one-sided - Jacques Potgieter's powerful running and great hands from Steyn put centre Wynand Olivier over just after the re-start.
Lock Flip van der Merwe bulldozed over, then Potgieter scored the try of the match as he burst clear from the halfway line and held off the cover defence to secure the bonus point.
Replacement scrum-half Jano Vermaak sniped over from a ruck in the 66th minute, before flank CJ Stander scored from a rolling maul six minutes later.
Replacement fly-half Louis Fouche's conversion put the Bulls' score past the half-century mark and the replacements continued to tear into the Reds, with centre JJ Engelbrecht and Bjorn Basson scoring tries in the last five minutes.
It was the second time in five years that the Reds had been hammered at Loftus following a record 92-3 defeat in 2007.
The scorers:
For Bulls:
Tries: Kirchner, Olivier, Van der Merwe, Potgieter, Vermaak, Stander, Engelbrecht, Basson
Cons:Steyn 6, Fouche
Pens: Steyn 3
For Reds:
Try: Shipperley
Pen: Lance
Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies (c), 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Juandré 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 Arno Botha, 20 Jano Vermaak, 21 Louis Fouché, 22 JJ Engelbrecht.
Reds: 15 Rod Davies, 14 Dom Shipperley, 13 Jono Lance, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Luke Morahan, 10 Dallan Murphy, 9 Will Genia, 8 Jake Schatz, 7 Beau Robinson, 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Greg Holmes, 2 Saia Faingaa, 1 Ben Daley.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 James Slipper, 18 Radike Samo, 19 Van Humphries, 20 Liam Gill, 21 Nick Frisby, 22 Nathan Eyres-Brown.
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Comments
7ton says...
Trinats
Boy you're not half woffling on a lot of rubbish here.
Try to be a little more accurate please. All those other titles have been won, won, and won again outside the backyard.
In any case this article is about the Bulls v the Reds which the Bulls won 61-8
Now we all know about the injuries and so on and you can make as many excuses as you like but it was still a hell of a thrashing. Well done the Bulls.
Good luck to the Reds though in their next came and I am sure they can improve.
Posted 23:56 29th March 2012
rugby_rockstar says...
And this my Aussie friends is why its kinda important to have a decent pack of forwards... Man, they won't be able to show the Lions series live in the UK & Ireland because the images of our forwards slaughtering your lot will be too brutal for pre-watershed audiences! Can you imagine the mess an anglo-welsh front row is going to make backed up by a english/scottish possibly Irish second row and a combined Irish/Welsh back row!?! I fear for stuffed koala bear toys in the aftermath, their parents will be finding stuffing and fluffy bodyparts for days!
Posted 10:07 28th March 2012
jonesy2 says...
how can you take a game when the ref isnt neutral. what a piss take. but these results just show the quality and evenness of the best rugby comp worldwide. but at the end of the day the mighty chiefs would smash both these sides. bulls still average and have the most disgraceful supporters. reds cruelled by outs.
martinmarais78 --- you sound troubled. sort yourself out mate. maybe you lot should just focus on not letting wales claim the 3rd best rugby nation spot.
keste03 -- you are obviously a right moron or having a laugh.
Posted 06:15 27th March 2012
letsgoboks says...
Yeah - we are all looking forward to that debacle...
Posted 16:11 26th March 2012
Ramage says...
@letsgoboks Who is Bryce Lawrence? One of the many referees dropped from the International Panel along with Kaplan and Jonker from your neck of the woods. But just in case you don't remember he is lurking and waiting and will appear in Super Rugby refereeing games between either OZ or Kiwi teams against South African teams in Super Rugby. So dont get too complacent and get your wailing megaphones out and ready. While we are at it I did chuckle at one name on the new panel of four referees appointed by the IRB that name was that notable and outstanding referee Tappe Henning lol, lol, lol.
Posted 13:41 26th March 2012
meneer says...
Hey Trinats, don't worry too much about it. I am a Bulls supporter and while I love the scoreline and statement this makes for a young team, BUT I can remember not so long ago taking a huge beating in Brisbane. We all need to understand that the traveling takes a huge toll and home is really a massive advantage. History proves high scores for the home teams, 2007 Bulls put 92 - 3, then 2008 Reds put 40 - 8. For me I would rather have beaten the Blues if it meant a smaller margin against the Reds.
Posted 11:15 26th March 2012
isthatrightref says...
@ Trader... I'm shocked. At least Trinats has the balls to back his boys, even if as usual his rationale is shall we say dubious since (a) at no time last year did his Reds cop a 53-point flogging & (b) none of the teams on 3 wins have copped (or are likely to cop) a 53-point flogging & (c) having copped said 53-point flogging the Reds now get to sit on a plane for god knows how long before taking on the Farce, who have made a habit of knocking over sides on their way home from SA (with or without a 53-point flogging as baggage) & will be pretty annoyed at having lost to the Rabble last time out... not saying the Reds won't be in the mix come top-6 time, the draw & comp structure will see to that unless they implode altogether, but all is not well on Planet Trinats, methinks.
Posted 10:32 26th March 2012
letsgoboks says...
Ramage - who is Bryce Lawrence.... Last I heard he's been dropped from the international panel for being so useless :D
Posted 09:32 26th March 2012
martinmarais78 says...
Justice, take it with a bit of salt. Cant imagine sport without the Aussies or Sharks. Who will I hate then? ;)
Posted 08:00 26th March 2012
Carpelone says...
To be honest, I do not think that Trinats deserves to be the target of so many posters. He was very gracious in victory after that infamous QF, so he got my respect.
Back to rugby, I was quite impressed by Sadie. Where is Gerhard van den Heever?
Posted 18:08 25th March 2012
Ramage says...
As all know many a time I have sparred with Trinats and had him on about his over the top patriotism. This result brings me no pleasure and no way will I laud it over Trinats because of the Bulls victory. As I said in an earlier post I hate seeing a team beaten because of Injuries and the Reds who have not been playing with their normal aplomb have been decimated with injuries and suspensions. Not the only Reds from Queensland to get a hiding as the Queensland labor Party has also been decimated in the State elections on Saturday. The Bulls whilst impress at times also have their problems and one has to wait to see whether they can win against a team not shy of its major play makers. I well remember seeing a very average Blues team defeat them at Loftus. So incensed was one mad supporter he ended up throwing a bottle at Meleamu and the foul and vitriolic language coming from the sideline in Afrikaans aimed a Meleamu, who had only come to see how the player was disgusting. Surely the fence jumper and bottle hurler needs to be dealt with. Has that supporter been banned from Loftus by the Bulls CEO I know he is facing charges but the Bulls administration needs to act as well. Seems Bryce Lawrence was right not to go to Sth Africa to referee as there are idiots who seem to take matters into their own hands. Rene Ranger was cited and punished for that dangerous tackle and that is where the matter should end.
Posted 13:49 25th March 2012
NHsaints says...
Hmm are we in for another year of Bulls dominance? So far it looks possible...
Posted 12:17 25th March 2012
letsgoboks says...
Bulls made me proud today. Great stuff boys!
The cheetahs wouldve put a similar score on the reds this weekend the way they are playing!
Posted 12:09 25th March 2012
three6three6 says...
Well this is an interesting result.... the Bulls played well against the Blues and lost, largely because Steyn was off target with his goal kicking. The Bulls certainly deserved to beat the Blues, last week. Now it is the turn of the Reds... well the Bulls hammered the Reds. The Reds will probably struggle to win the Australian Conference.... Can last years result be explained as a 'flash in the pan'?
Posted 08:27 25th March 2012
Trinations says...
preteders
Posted 08:12 25th March 2012
spliffed says...
Reds got away with it last year mostly due to the conferance system.. Home and away games against, lets be honest a piss poor Aussie conference last year virtually guaranteed them wins home and away against 'local' opposition. A huge improvement in Aussie teams this year.. unrecognisable from last year. Where were they hiding? But its good to see.. I think this could be one of the best seasons yet now the Aussie sides have turned up to play. Reds were poor, Bulls were good. Interesting to see what happens vs Stormers next weekend
Posted 04:35 25th March 2012
hybrid187 says...
Great stuff. Seems reds aren't that great minus their kiwis... Unfortunately for the reds this season ALL teams play each other, Unlike crusaders missing out on 10 possible points against the lions and rebels last year, the reds got a glorious draw last year avoiding the sharks and highlanders and surprise surprise finished on top.
But I guess they still get to play the the other Aussie teams twice....
Posted 04:28 25th March 2012
coronach says...
@ rugbylover The record is still held by The Waratahs v Crusaders, 96 - 13.
careful! other way round, Crusaders beat Waratahs 96-19, (2002).
Though the Reds do have the biggest losing margin (89) in Super rugby history, 2007 v Bulls when they lost 3-92.
Posted 03:31 25th March 2012
kiwilad says...
Justice_4_all, yes they are lipstick stains.
An over exuberant fan (Trinats) attacked them at Brisbane airport!
Posted 23:49 24th March 2012
coronach says...
@the_nines ...The Reds were easily the best team in 2011 but as usually happens the following year, teams have worked them out.
No, and no (are you trinuts?); they were beneficiaries of a favourable draw and the impact of earthquake on the Crusaders; as for 'usually happens following year' no it doesn't, great teams get better - am far from a Crusaders fan but they have won this tournament seven times ans only missed top 4 three times since 1996.
Oz having four of their five teams in the lower half of the comp is probably about right.
Posted 23:13 24th March 2012