Staff Reporter.
The Vodacom Bulls bounced back from their Italian nightmare with a bonus-point 32-27 win against a plucky New Nation Pumas at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.
The Bulls more than once seemed to have done enough to win the game and dominated possession, but just couldn’t pull away from the Pumas, who were exceptional in fighting until the end.
After leading 17-3 at the break, the Bulls started to run out of steam at the end of the game, and the Pumas actually won the second half 24-15 although they still fell short of their goal of an upset.
The Bulls were always going to be at a disadvantage having travelled back from Europe with a short turnaround and in the latter stages of the game it showed.
However, there was also enough good play to make coach Jake White happy and the five points would make him smile given the tricky fixture it was.
Still, there were impressive performances from debutant Harold Vorster, who was exceptional in the midfield, and captain Marcell Coetzee, while Cornal Hendricks once again showed why he is so highly rated. The late cameo by Muller Uys also caught the eye, and the youngster continues to grow.
For the Pumas their flyhalf Eddie Fouche was again their mainstay and contributed no less than 17 points on the night, including a try, while winger Ettienne Taljaard again was the most dangerous man on attack.
It was a tussle from the beginning before Vorster took the moment and chipped over the defence to collect and score the first try.
Madosh Tambwe produced another of those “how did he do that” tries with a screech down the sideline, only to evade two cover tackles and score a sensational try.
And while the Pumas were difficult, it seemed as if the Bulls would pull away.
Taljaard scored almost immediately in the second half to take his team to double points, but the Bulls slotted another penalty and when they were heavily on attack, a shrewd move by Hendricks found no defenders on the blindside as he picked up behind a ruck and darted through to score.
At 27-10 it should have been the ball game, but the Pumas never gave up and stormed back into the match.
First it was Fouche who chipped over the defence and collected to score, and then Devon Williams hit the line at pace and scythed his way through, sending the ball to Tapiwa Mafura to score and bring them within a point.
A beautiful run off the back of the scrum by Coetzee created enough momentum for the overlap with recycled ball and David Kriel – on for the injured Gio Aplon – was over in the corner to seal the game for the home team.
The Pumas grabbed a late penalty and were on attack at the final whistle but didn’t have enough to get over the line.