Blue Bulls step closer to play-offs

The Blue Bulls ran six tries past the Pumas at Loftus Versfeld claim a convincing 47-12 Currie Cup win on Friday.

The Blue Bulls ran six tries past the Pumas at Loftus Versfeld claim a convincing 47-12 Currie Cup win on Friday.

The bonus-point result sees the Bulls provisionally climb above Western Province to fourth in the standings as they continue their late-season resurgence.

With a relatively easy run-in compared to their rivals, the side from Pretoria look on course to sneak into the semi-finals via the back door.

There was only ever one side in it as the Bulls dominated their visitors from start to finish, scoring three-first half tries to take a 28-7 lead into the break.

Despite giving good resistance, the Pumas found themselves behind the goalposts after five minutes of play after Bulls lock Flip van der Merwe powered his way over the try line.

Bulls fly-half Louis Fouche opened his account with the conversion, and then a penalty seven minutes later to give his side a 10-point lead.

The visitors made a few threatening runs but could not pierce the Bulls' defences for the first quarter of the match.

It was only after Fouche's third successful kick at goal that the Pumas managed to score their first try of the match.

Pumas number eight Doppies le Roux caught the Bulls unaware on their 22 metre line, as he took a quick tap then offloaded to Jaco Bouwer who broke through a few tackles to score, with Coenie van Wyk converting.

The Bulls hit back a minute later when Fouche scored from his own chip kick over the Pumas defenders. In the last line of defence for the Pumas Shaun Venter was beaten by the bounce of the ball with Fouche collecting and scoring.

The pivot then converted his try to give his side a 14 point lead.

With 11 minutes left in the first half, standout loose forward CJ Stander scored the Bulls' third try of the match.

Fouche added a further penalty for a 28-7 halftime lead to the Bulls.

The problems for the Pumas in the second half continued as they were awarded two yellow cards shortly after each other.

Prop Ashley Buys was first to get his marching orders in the 53rd minute, which was followed by the Bulls' bonus point try a minute later, with centre Francois Venter scoring, and Fouche converting.

Six minutes later Pumas lock Boela Serfontein joined Buys in the sin bin for a high tackle which also led to a try for the Bulls.

This time around it was replacement loose forward Arno Botha who scored his five-pointer after a solid drive by the forwards.

With the Pumas clearly rattled, Bjorn Basson intercepted a long pass from Van Wyk to sprint through for his side's sixth try to take the score to 47-7.

The Pumas received some consolation when lock Marius Coetzer stretched over the line to add five points to his side's score.

The scorers:

For Blue Bulls:
Tries: van der Merwe, Fouché, Stander, Venter, A. Botha, Basson
Cons: Fouché 4
Pens: Fouché 3

For Pumas:
Tries: Bouwer, Coetzer
Cons: van Wyk

Yellow cards: Buys (Pumas – 54th min) ; Serfontein (Pumas – 61st min – high tackle)

The teams:

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

Pumas: 15 MJ Mentz, 14 Wilhelm Loock, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Siviwe Magaba, 11 Johan Jackson, 10 Coenie van Wyk, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Christo le Roux, 7 Jaco Bouwer, 6 Corné Steenkamp (c), 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Willem Serfontein, 3 Ashley Buys, 2 Marthinus van der Westhuizen, 1 Dawie Steyn.
Replacements: 16 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17 Brett Nel, 18 Eduan van der Walt, 19 JP Mostert, 20 Hendrik van der Nest, 21 Dewald Pretorius, 22 Carl Bezuidenhout.

Referee: Sindile Mayende