Bulls get back to winning ways
The Bulls claimed only their second victory of 2017 on Saturday as they got the better of the Jaguares, winning 26-13 at Loftus Versfeld.
After five losses from six games previous to this, the Pretoria side wouldn't have cared that this victory came in rather scrappy circumstances.
Tries came from wing Travis Ismaiel and second-row Lood de Jager while fly-half Handré Pollard impressed, kicking 16 points for his team.
In reply the Jaguares, who suffer a blow to their Africa 2 hopes, could only cross once through scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou in a poor effort.
The Bulls hit the front early in the contest when illegal scrummaging from the Jaguares led to Pollard firing over a penalty after four minutes.
However, the Jaguares levelled 15 minutes later when Iglesias was successful off the tee after a ruck offence in a slow start to the fixture.
The first try was much-needed and arrived on 26 minutes when a scrappy period of play saw wing Ismaiel gather the ball and finish strongly. With Pollard adding the two the Bulls had a 10-3 lead and would make it 13-3 before the break when Iglesias was carded for a ruck offence.
Pollard was the first scorer of the second-half too when he landed his third penalty of the game when Guido Petti was pinged on the ground.
The Jaguares though gave themselves a lifeline in the game six minutes later as after deciding to snub three points, a period of sustained pressure led to scrum-half Bertranou burrowing his way over the whitewash. Iglesias knocked over the conversion and suddenly it was 16-10.
Iglesias was on target again on 56 minutes to further reduce the arrears to three points but then came a crucial moment in the match eight minutes later, with Pollard's kick through causing chaos before replacement wing Warrick Gelant set up lock De Jager for a converted try.
Pollard fittingly made sure of the victory on 70 minutes with a penalty from halfway as he and the Bulls enjoyed a much-needed win at home.
The scorers:
For Bulls:
Tries: Ismaiel, L de Jager
Cons: Pollard 2
Pens: Pollard 4
For Jaguares:
Try: Bertranou
Con: Iglesias
Pens: Iglesias 2
Yellow Card: Iglesias
Bulls: 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Jamba Ulengo, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Nick de Jager, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Martin Dreyer, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Marnus Schoeman, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Warrick Gelant
Jaguares: 15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Santiago González Iglesias, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Rodrigo Baez, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Marcos Kremer, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy, 1 Lucas Noguera Paz
Replacements: 16 Roberto Tejerizo, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Benjamin Macome, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Nicolás Sánchez, 23 Ramiro Moyano
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe
Assistant Referees: Angus Gardner, Egon Seconds
TMO: Willie Vos