Bulls player ratings: Springboks trio win the scrum battle but backs can’t take advantage as Willie le Roux makes ‘bizarre and stupid’ error
Wilco Louw and Willie le Roux in action for the Bulls.
Following a 13-8 defeat to the Stormers in the United Rugby Championship clash at DHL Stadium on Saturday, here are the player ratings for the Bulls.
Bulls ratings v Stormers
15 Willie le Roux: A couple of nice moments where he had a chance to show his creativity, but the physicality was the order of the day in this ferocious North-South derby. However, he was yellow-carded for a cynical infringement and that kick at the end was both bizarre and stupid. 4
14 Sebastian de Klerk: The wings were there to chase and pick up the scraps, and that was about it. They couldn’t find the most effective way to use De Klerk, who has been excellent again this season, but he almost made something happen with a superb catch from a restart at the end. 6
13 Canan Moodie: Threatened to break away on one occasion and looked dangerous when he had the ball, but it was all too fleeting before he went off with a head injury. 5
12 David Kriel: One of his better performances this campaign as Kriel revelled in the sheer brutality of the contest. Ran hard all day and also defended well. 6
11 Stravino Jacobs: As mentioned, a difficult day for all the wings and Jacobs made a few errors throughout the contest, but they weren’t particularly costly. 5
10 Handre Pollard: A good showing from the double Rugby World Cup winner, who is made for games like these. Will be disappointed with some of his misses, but Pollard’s kicking out of hand forced the Stormers to scramble, with the hosts never getting into their rhythm. He will rue the goal-kicking but there was much more good than bad. 7
9 Embrose Papier The scrum-half was a late replacement for Paul de Wet and he stood in nicely. Papier kicked well, with his box-kicking testing the hosts’ back three, and was a threat around the fringes, making a couple of surges in the first half. 7
Forwards
8 Jeandre Rudolph: Has been absolutely superb since joining the franchise and Rudolph once again put in a fantastic showing. Carried hard in traffic and also did plenty of great work at the breakdown, both stealing the ball and slowing it down. 8
7 Elrigh Louw: Superb to see Louw back but he is still finding his fitness after that horror injury. The back-rower is getting better, however, and there were plenty of big impacts at close quarters. 7
6 Marco van Staden: Shunted back a couple of times by the Stormers’ defence but he was a menace at the contact area without necessarily getting the turnovers. 5
5 Ruan Nortje (c): Another Bull to put in a mammoth shift. Nortje worked incredibly hard in defence and also disrupted the lineout as he showed his Springboks class. 7
4 Cobus Wiese: Provided the ballast in the second-row with some big impacts. Great work ethic and helped to disrupt the Stormers in the tight exchanges. 6
3 Wilco Louw: The two best scrums in the URC went head-to-head and it was Louw who got the better of his opposite number. He gave them a platform but the backs just couldn’t do enough with it. 7
2 Johan Grobbelaar: Set-piece was solid enough and he always do his work in the loose, but he’s had more effective games this season. 6
1 Gerhard Steenekamp: Like Louw, Steenekamp got the upper hand in the scrum, although it was more competitive against the excellent Neethling Fouche. 7
Replacements: The front-row that came on had it tougher than the starters as the Stormers managed to get a foothold in that area late on. They, and their fellow replacements, kept up the intensity around the field, but small margins decided this game in the end as they were sent backwards at the maul. 5