Blue Bulls win at half-pace

The Blue Bulls once again demonstrated what a mockery of a competition the Currie Cup is in their 38-15 win over the Pumas on Friday.

The Blue Bulls once again demonstrated what a mockery of a competition the Currie Cup is in their 38-15 win over the Pumas on Friday.

While the scoreline hardly suggests a canter, the Blue Bulls had the bonus point wrapped up by the 21-minute mark and were 31-3 up by 23 minutes, tearing their opposition apart. That the Pumas fought back was testament to their willingness to try but in truth it was mostly slack mental strength from the home team that stopped a landslide victory. They switched off and the Pumas took advantage. They conceded too many penalties – lulled into a false sense of security that the Pumas would cough up ball at the breakdown all game as they had in the first twenty minutes. Some of the set piece was downright lackadaisical. Later on, far too many players looked to do it on their own.

The Pumas, by contrast, stuck together and took their chances well enough, but they will have learnt the importance of ball retention here, as well as making one-on-one tackles.

Ricardo Croy gave the visitors the lead with an early penalty but the Bulls were soon 14-3 ahead.

John Mametsa scored the first after good work in the middle by Stephan Dippenaar and Stefan Watermeyer, then the second was sparked by Jacques-Louis Potgieter's break from a turnover, support running from Derick Kuun and the finish from Watermeyer.

Mametsa converted a ball squirting out of a ruck into the next five-pointer after eleven minutes, and then Dean Greyling tapped and went at a short-range penalty for the bonus-point try.

The fifth try was the pick of the bunch, straight from the restart of the fourth and run through eleven pairs of hands before Dippenaar finished off in the corner.

Then the Bulls fell off their game. Pumas scrum-half Tian Meyer was allowed not only to slip between tackles but to get back to his feet after falling and scamper through for a try just before the break, making it 31-10 at the turnaround.

The Pumas held the ball better in the second half but were unable to force a score and the Blue Bulls struck clinically with ten to go, driving Deon Stegmann over at a line-out

Alistair Kettledas got the visitors a consolation try just before the end.

The scorers:

For the Blue Bulls:
Tries: Mametsa 2, Watermeyer, Greyling, Dippenaar, Stegmann
Cons: Potgieter 3, Brummer

For the Pumas:
Tries: Meyer, Kettledas
Con: Croy
Pen: Croy

Bulls: 15 Jaco van der Westhuyzen; 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Stephan Dippenaar, 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 John Mametsa; 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Ruan Snyman; 8 Gerrit-Jan van Velze, 7 Derick Kuün, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Fudge Mabeta, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Gary Botha (c), 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Bees Roux, 18 Juandre Kruger, 19 CJ Stander, 20 Danie Faasen, 21 Francois Brummer, 22 Hayden Groepes.

Pumas: 15 Carl Bezuidenhout; 14 Du-Wayne Smart, 13 Ashwin Scott, 12 Jevon Botha, 11 Shaun Venter; 10 Ricardo Croy, 9 Tian Meyer; 8 Junior Bester, 7 Eduan van der Walt, 6 Corné Steenkamp, 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Luhan Velthuizen, 3 Ashley Buys, 2 Hannes Franklin (c), 1 Dawie Steyn.
Replacements: 16 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17 Ronnie Uys, 18 Willem Serfontein, 19 Doppies le Roux, 20 Jacques Coetzee, 21 Elgar Watts, 22 Allistair Ketteldas.

Referee: Stuart Berry
Assistant referees: Sindile Mayende, Madel de Villiers
TMO: JC Fortuin