By Gavin Rich.
The Vodacom Bulls built further winning momentum after their brief slump on tour with a 43-26 bonus-point win over the Ospreys at Loftus on Saturday afternoon to retain a comfortable position in the top four on the Vodacom United Rugby Championship log.
Coach Jake White spend some time in the team announcement press conference talking about the excitement offered by his midfield pairing of Harold Vorster and Lionel Mapoe as well as the skills of the returning loose-forward Nizaam Carr.
His words were to prove prophetic on both counts, with Carr scoring his team’s second try and Mapoe in particular excelling with his offloading in a dazzling first-half attacking display from the hosts.
There was also some great attacking rugby from fullback Wandesile Simelane, hooker Bismarck du Plessis was his usual influential self in the battle for the ball at the breakdown, while the interplay between forwards and backs, with Carr not the only big man to score in a wing position, was also outstanding.
It led to the Bulls scoring seven tries in the game and they should be happy with that, though those who are prone to churlishness might point out it wasn’t a great day defensively, with an understrength Ospreys team finding enough chinks in their system to grab a try-scoring bonus point.
The first half was quite similar to the game the previous night in Cape Town, where the DHL Stormers played another Welsh team, the Scarlets.
In the sense that both teams had managed to secure their four-try bonus point by halftime, and both of them also off-set their excellent attacking play by being a little lax on defence.
The scores were similar too, with the Stormers leading 29-7 at the DHL Stadium, while the Bulls led 31-14, the difference being that the Cape team had scored four tries to one at that point while the Bulls scored five against two.
The Bulls never let the Ospreys into the game in the early minutes, dominating territory and possession.
So it came as no surprise when the Bulls scored their first try, which came off a set phase move from a lineout, the ball being sent wide across the face of an Ospreys defence that always looked short of a yard and David Kriel crossed for a regulation try.
CANTERING BULLS
Chris Smith’s excellent conversion from the touchline made it 7-0 after nine minutes and then it became a point a minute as flanker Carr went over on the wing from an attack that started with a Bismarck du Plessis turnover inside his own 22.
Smith couldn’t convert that time, and he also failed when WJ Steenkamp took his turn to pop up in a wing position to slide over for the third try in the 21st minute.
But it didn’t really matter as the Bulls were cantering, and the break back by the Ospreys when their Australian-bred American flyhalf Jack Walsh went over after his team too easily created a mismatch, was only a temporary reprieve for the visitors.
Indeed, the Bulls’ response looked almost immediate as fullback Wandesile Simelane went over only to be adjudged to have been held up.
It didn’t take long though for the Bulls to get their next try as a sublime offload out of his right hand while half airborne from Mapoe sent in Kriel for his second try.
That was also the bonus point try for the Bulls, who, in addition to their attacking skills, also showed good control at forward, with two scrum penalties going their way in the first 25 minutes.
GOING TO SLEEP
The second Ospreys try featured Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler running onto a Walsh chip for a try that was created too easily surely for the Bulls defence coach’s comfort.
On the day though the Ospreys, who missed 10 tackles in the first 20 minutes along, were far worse, and no-one looked interested in stopping No 8 Elrigh Louw when he wriggled through the tired Welshmen to dot down near the post on the halftime hooter.
The similarities between the Cape Town and Pretoria games extended into the second half, with the Bulls doing what the Stormers did by winning the game in the first half and then going to sleep after the break.
The Ospreys spent most of the third quarter on the attack and should have added more than just the one try scored by centre Kieron Williams in that time.
And it wasn’t so much great defence from the Bulls that prevented them from doing that, but rather just bad luck and poor finishing when most of the running for a try had been done.
The period of Ospreys territorial ascendancy and possession dominance was ended by a strong Bulls scrum that secured a penalty and although Morne Steyn missed the long-range attempt it did get the Bulls back into the Ospreys half.
It didn’t take long once they’d broken the siege on their territory for the Bulls to put together a hand-to-hand attack that put Ruan Nortje in for a try to celebrate on his captaincy debut.
That score effectively ended any doubt that the Bulls would win as they pick up another five points to retain their place, along with the Stormers, comfortably in the top four of the log.
SCORES
VODACOM BULLS 43 – Tries: David Kriel 2, Nizaam Carr, WJ Steenkamp, Elrigh Louw, Ruan Nortje and Zak Burger; Conversions: Chris Smit 3 and Morne Steyn.
OSPREYS 26 – Try: Jack Walsh, Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler, Kieron Williams and Rhys Henry; Conversions: Jack Walsh 3.