Springboks hooker’s red card proves costly as Bulls fall short to Scarlets
Split with Ioan Lloyd of Scarlets and Bulls Johan Grobbelaar.
Johan Grobbelaar’s 67th-minute red card proved costly for the Bulls, opening the door for a sensational 23-22 comeback win for the Scarlets in Wales.
The hosts scored three tries in total and two in the second period with Josh Macleo, Blair Murray and Tom Rogers crossing the whitewash. Fly-half Ioan Lloyd kicked one conversion and two important penalties on a memorable day.
The Bulls also scored three tries in the wet weather clash with Canan Moodie, Zak Burger and Kurt-Lee Arendse all getting on the score sheet. Boeta Chamberlain managed two conversions and a penalty but it was not enough to secure a win for Jake White’s men.
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It took the visitors just 70 seconds to open the scoring with a flowing move which culminated in a try for Moodie.
Aided by the award of a couple of penalties in their favour, the home side soon responded when captain Macleod forced his way over from close range.
However the flanker quickly conceded a penalty for a high tackle and the South Africans capitalised immediately when scrum-half Burger raced away from a maul to score, with the home defence strangely absent.
The Bulls extended their lead when a strong run from Moodie saw him hauled down just short of the line. The centre lost possession, with Arendse picking up the loose ball to touch down, and TMO replays showed the ball had gone backwards so the try was allowed to stand.
Chamberlain converted before Lloyd replied with a penalty to leave the Bulls with a deserved 19-10 interval lead.
Two minutes after the interval the Scarlets roared back into contention when a neat pass from Lloyd sent Murray racing through the opposition ranks for an excellent individual try.
Chamberlain replied with a penalty before the Scarlets brought on Sam Costelow, with Lloyd switching from fly-half to full-back in place of Ioan Nicholas.
Lloyd kicked a second penalty to leave his side trailing by four points going into the final quarter before the Bulls’ replacement hooker, Grobbelaar, was harshly sent off for a high challenge on Marnus van der Merwe.
And the Scarlets took advantage when Rogers slipped past three defenders to put his side in front for the first time with nine minutes left on the clock.
Scarlets v Bulls
Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Johnny Williams, 12 Eddie James, 11 Blair Murray, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Josh Macleod (c), 6 Max Douglas, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Kemsley Mathias
Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Jac Price, 20 Dan Davis, 21 Efan Jones, 22 Sam Costelow, 23 Macs Page
Bulls: 15 Henry Immelman, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Boeta Chamberlain, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Reinhardt Ludwig, 6 Kuyenzeka Xaba, 5 Cobus Wiese, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Akker van der Merwe (c), 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 JF van Heerden, 20 Celimpilo Gumede, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Chris Barend Smit, 23 Stedman Gans
Venue: Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli
Referee: Federico Vedovelli (FIR, 11th league game)
Assistant Referees: Craig Evans (WRU), Nathan James (WRU)
TMO: Stefano Penne (FIR)