By Brenden Nel.
Jake White once famously described a Springbok defeat at Twickenham against England as “men playing against boys.” And that’s very much how it felt as the Vodacom Bulls were demolished 44-14 by a motivated Exeter Chiefs side in their Heineken Champions’ Cup game at Sandy Park on Saturday.
It would not be unkind to the Pretoria side to wonder if they had already lost this fixture before they got onto the plane. Taking a second string side, filled with youngsters, White clarified in the week that he was not being “defeatist” but rather a “realist”.
In his pre-game comments as well he seemed to talk about wanting to get “something” out of the game, giving very much the impression the Bulls had lost the clash before they got onto the field.
There are coaches who believe if you tell players how difficult a game is, it seeps through into their play and it wouldn’t be the most far-fetched scenario to think this happened this week as well.
Because the performance that the Bulls side delivered – full of ill-discipline and lacking passion and courage their fans so wanted – may well come back to haunt them when it becomes an issue in qualifying for the round of 16.
The big points difference may have them staring at their calculators when those last games of the preliminary round are played.
Yet, while all the above may be true, you have to spare a thought for the Bulls as they need to hop onto a plane via Doha and face their arch rivals, the DHL Stormers, in a Vodacom United Rugby Championship game on Friday night.
White made his choice and stuck to it, but the fact that the showpiece tournament in world rugby gets second string sides – Gloucester did it as well on Friday night and were hammered 57-0 by Leinster – does little to help sell the competition.
But anyhow, back to the performance on the field, where the Bulls had capitulated before halftime, giving up the bonus point as they reeled from a string of penalties and defensive errors in a half where Exeter scored four tries and took a firm grip on the game.
And in the 28 per cent possession they did have, they scored a lovely try by Stravino Jacobs, following a exceptional run by Wandisile Simelane and were held up over the line twice. It may sound as if it should have been a lot closer but it was never going to be.
The Bulls’ scrum buckled significantly until Lizo Gqoboka got onto the field, giving away five penalties and their maul back-pedalled as Luke Cowan-Dickie scored two of his three tries on the day at the back of a rolling river of bodies.
Without physical domination, and any sort of platform to play from, the Bulls gave themselves less of a chance by continually sending out skip passes, making it easier for the Chiefs to cut them down on the outside.
It wasn’t a surprise then that flanker Dave Ewars, a candidate for man of the match until his yellow card late in the game – one which could easily have been red – crashed over from a penalty tap and go.
Cowan-Dickie took the next two scores with rolling mauls before some wonderful movement of the ball from side to side exposed the Bulls’ defence and gave Henry Slade the opportunity for the bonus point try.
Cowan Dickie got his third after the break before Chris Barend Smit finally had something go the Bulls way, collecting a deft Morne Steyn chip over the defence to score.
It was about the only thing that would go their way on the day as the Chiefs struck back immediately through Solomone Keta and then cruised home to take all the points on offer and leave the Bulls with nothing.
SCORERS
EXETER CHIEFS – tries: Dave Ewars, Luke Cowan-Dickie (3), Solomon Keta. Conversions: Joe Simmons (4). Penalties: Simmons (3).
VODACOM BULLS – tries: Stravino Jacobs, Chris Barend Smit. Conversions: Morne Steyn (2).