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The Jaguares took advantage of a particularly clueless performance by the Bulls to break the tradition of the two teams winning their home games in matches against each other, snapping a three-game Super Rugby losing streak at Loftus Versfeld yesterday.
Good defence kept the visitors in the game and ill-discipline by the hosts, who conceded two second-half yellow cards, allowed them to pounce on a game one would have imagined belonged to the Bulls, looking at the statistics.
The Bulls, whose losing bonus point meant they climbed to second position in the South African Conference, shot themselves in the foot by not taking their chances, taking the wrong options and sealing the gift with two late sin bins.
For a team that camped in the opposition’s half to the tune of 74% and had 61% of the possession, the Bulls’ return of a 9-7 lead at half-time was as disappointing as it looked, especially given that they like to play that way.
The Bulls also held sway in the scrums and maintained parity in the line-outs, despite losing lock Eli Snyman to injury in the 31st minute. This meant they finished the game without a recognisable lock.
Yet a combination of overeagerness and predictability in their attack, and resolute defence by the visitors, meant the half-time lead was negligible.
Examples of the stout defence by the Jaguares – which saw them miss just four of their 75 first-half tackles – were number eight Duane Vermeulen being held up over the try line and fly half Manie Libbok getting the ball knocked out of his hands as he dived to score.
The hosts’ defence had also been instrumental in giving the visitors the hurry-up, yet a missed tackle by Ruan Steenkamp on the rampaging Pablo Matera, who burst through his opposite number’s attentions and outpaced the defence to the line, meant the visitors were the only try scorers in the first half.
But the Jaguares’ penchant for conceding penalties by the sack full (there was the obligatory sin-binning, this time for replacement prop Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro) meant Libbok almost always had a look at their posts as a way of putting the hosts’ points on the board.
A stolen line-out early in the second half saw winger Jade Stighling score his first Super Rugby try after good passes from Libbok and Vermeulen, and a thrust and offload by industrious centre Burger Odendaal had kept the sweeping movement up field alive.
One would have expected momentum, travel fatigue and altitude to carry the Bulls to victory after that. But having not taken advantage of Tetaz Chaparro’s time in the cooler (the score was three-all), the Bulls allowed the game to be loose by conceding their own yellow card (Tim Agaba).
This opened the door for debutant fly half Domingo Miotti to score two tries and a conversion literally within minutes of being introduced from the bench to have the hosts two points behind with just four minutes left.
Conraad van Vuuren joined Agaba on the sidelines for a dangerous tackle, and that was all she wrote for the Bulls.
