Bulls dig deep to clinch bonus-point victory over Lions in Johannesburg

The Bulls consolidated their position among the United Rugby Championship’s frontrunners when they claimed a 25-10 victory over the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The men from Pretoria outscored their hosts four tries to one, which secured them a bonus point and it means they move to the top of the table for the time being.

Canan Moodie, Akker van der Merwe, Marcell Coetzee and David Kriel crossed the whitewash for the Bulls while Johan Goosen added a conversion and a penalty. For the Lions, Quan Horn scored a try which was converted by Jordan Hendrikse and Sanele Nohamba succeeded with a penalty.

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The opening exchanges were cagey, highlighted by plenty of kicking for territory from both sides with the Lions holding a slight edge, and they took the lead as early as the first minute with a well-taken penalty from Nohamba.

The Lions fly-half had an opportunity to extend his side’s lead five minutes later when he lined up a penalty attempt but his effort was wide of the mark.

There was little interesting to report during the next 15 minutes with both sides committing several unforced errors as the Lions tried to add to their points tally and the Bulls looked to open their account.

The game came alive midway through the half when the Bulls were rewarded for some enterprising play.

This, when Embrose Papier gathered a pass from Cameron Hanekom off the back of a scrum close to the visitors’ 10-metre line. The scrum-half caught the home side by surprise with a superb turn of speed and did well to offload to Moodie close to the Lions’ 22.

Excellent finish

The Bok flyer set off towards the Lions’ try-line and got over for the opening try despite a desperate ankle tap from Henco van Wyk.

The rest of the half saw neither side able to score further points although Jaco van der Walt had a chance to extend the Bulls’ lead at half-time, but his penalty attempt was off target which meant the match was evenly poised at the interval with the visitors leading 5-3.

The Lions made the brighter start to the second half and had a chance to take the lead soon after the restart when Nohamba took another shot at goal but his effort struck an upright.

Despite that setback, they continued to attack and shortly afterwards Nohamba offloaded to Richard Kriel, who raced away before crossing the whitewash out wide. However, his effort was disallowed after television replays showed that the final pass was forward.

That proved a costly miss as soon afterwards the Bulls launched an attacking lineout deep inside Lions territory and Van der Merwe powered over the try-line from the set-piece. And in the 68th minute, the visitors hammered home their dominance when Coetzee went over for their third try from close quarters.

The Lions needed a response and that came in the 72nd minute when Horn dotted down after Devon Williams failed to get to a bouncing ball behind his try-line.

That score did not deter the Bulls, however, and in the game’s dying moments Kriel chipped and chased and beat JC Pretorius to the ball before crossing for his side’s bonus-point try which also put the final nail into the Lions coffin.

The teams:

Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw (c), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Sanele Nohamba, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Hanru Sirgel, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Etienne Ossthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 JP Smith
Replacements: 16 PJ Botha, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Darrien Landsberg, 20 Izan Esterhuizen, 21 JC Pretorius, 22 Jordan Hendrikse, 23 Erich Cronje

Bulls: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 David Kriel, 11 Canan Moodie, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje (c), 4 Reinhardt Ludwig, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp
Replacements: 16 Simphiwe Matanzima, 17 Akker van der Merwe, 18 Francois Kloppers, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 Marcell Coetzee, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Johan Goosen, 23 Mpilo Gumede

Referee: AJ Jacobs (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Griffin Colby (South Africa), Dylan November (South Africa)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)

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