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A desperate performance by the Bulls brought them back to winning ways as they burgled a victory that also kept alive their five-year unbeaten streak in Super Rugby against the Sharks in Durban yesterday.
In sealing the double against Robert du Preez’s side, thanks to a 78th-minute penalty by fly half and captain Handré Pollard, the visitors moved up to second place in the South African Conference in a game only a mother could love.
While Pollard contributed 14 points from a 100% record off the kicking tee, his counterpart Rob du Preez missed three of his kicks at goal and missed the tackle that gave the visitors their only try in the match.
In starting the game, the two sides appeared to pick up from where they’d left off last weekend – the Sharks played with the confidence of a team that dominated the Melbourne Rebels last week, and the Bulls with the apprehension of a unit that caught a 50-point hiding from the Chiefs.
During that time, the Sharks were ripping into collisions, turning the Bulls with mostly clever kicks behind them. They also borrowed from the visitors’ last opponents, the Chiefs, by upping the tempo whenever possible.
Yet, somehow, the scoreline was three-all after the first quarter despite the Bulls – who marginally had the upper hand in the scrums and line-outs – being under the cosh.
The main reasons for that were the Sharks creating opportunities but not finishing them; the Bulls defending well; and the visitors getting a lucky benefit of the doubt from the television match official on whether a ball had bounced on the line in the build-up to youngster Aphelele Fassi’s eighth-minute try.
Also, the two teams’ tactics – playing for territory and looking to harass the opposition in defence – cancelled themselves out and led to the 6-3 half-time scoreline.
And atrocious handling by both teams in the Durban humidity helped the game degenerate into the worst seen this season.
But a Sharks try from the second-half restart, after fullback Divan Rossouw spilled the kick-off and saw the hosts recycle the ball – with nice touches by Rob du Preez and Luke Stringer – enabling Dan du Preez to canter over.
Bulls centre Burger Odendaal soon made a mockery of Rob du Preez being included in the Sharks team for his defence by bursting right through his attempted tackle and feeding centre Jesse Kriel to score.
Hookers Schalk Brits and Akker van der Merwe then made up for the lack of drama by getting into a round of fisticuffs (the latter started it by cleaning out the former with his head) that ended up with both of them being red-carded in the 57th minute.
It’s tempting to say that having only 14 players on the pitch meant more space for the two teams to attack, but the handling meant the game carried on in a similar vein until birthday boy André Esterhuizen scored the unconverted try that equalled the scorelines in the 72nd minute.
But then came the scrum penalty that meant the Bulls hoodoo remains for the Sharks. – City press correspondent
