Bulls end Brumbies' play-off hopes
Fri, 09 May 2008 21:09
Bullrun: JP Nel is congratulated by Bryan Habana
The Bulls continued their late season Super 14 resurgence with a convincing 28-17 win over the Brumbies at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, on Friday.
The three tries to two victory by the Bulls means the Brumbies are now formally out of the running for a place in the play-offs - with just one round to go.
The Bulls, who have won their last three matches, after a five-match losing streak, have restored some pride with this performance.
Once they were champions. There were times in this game when they again looked like champions - not all the time but a lot of the time as they drove at the Brumbies with destructive intent and made the Brumbies look decidedly nervous. That was mainly in the second half.
The first half was different as the Bulls battled for possession and spent half the half with only 14 players as - yet again - they had men in the sin bin.
Zane Kirchner went there for a dangerous tackle on young Afusipa Taumoepeau. Earlier this season he was sent off and suspended for a dangerous tackle. He has not learnt. He was hardly back on the field when Derick Kuün went off to the bin for infringing at a tackle. That may have been harsh indeed as he was first at the tackle and on his feet and then when pulled over took his hands off the ball when told to.
In the second half the Bulls had 15 players and dominated the half. They scored just one try in the half but could have had more as Gürthro Steenkamp was held up over the line and Fourie du Preez lost the ball slightly forward over the line. They had two five-metre line-outs and a five-metre scrum but the brave Brumbies held their line and when they broke out they scored an improbable try.
There was a lot of kicking. The chief kicker for the Brumbies was the best kicker of them all - Mark Gerrard who is of enormous value to his team. He drops the ball, swings his boot and makes low and undramatic contact to send the ball flying many, many metres.
The Bulls regularly used high kicks and the Brumbies did not like them at all.
The first Bulls' try came when Fourie du Preez, falling back, intercepted a loose Brumby pass. He kicked over his shoulder and Akona Ndungane chased, as he always does. He got to the ball and Kirchner was there to secure it. The Bulls went left and JP Nel cut inside Adam Ashley-Cooper and went over in Stirling Mortlock's tackle. 5-0 after 3 minutes.
The Bulls attacked again but Gürthro Steenkamp knocked on. When George Smith went off-side a metre inside the Bulls' half and to the right of the posts as Morné Steyn looked at them, the flyhalf kicked a perfect penalty. 8-0 after 11 minutes.
It was a different matter for the Brumbies for Mortlock missed an easy, short kick in front of the posts.
But with the referee playing advantage for Kirchner's dangerous tackle, big Alister Campbell charged straight for the line, past Wikus van Heerden and through Kirchner to score.
Kirchner was hurt but the referee was not sympathetic to his injury and sent him to the sin bin.
Mortlock converted. 8-7 after 20 minutes.
The Bulls were at it again when Steyn kicked high and Ndungane chased. Gürthro Steenkamp ran down the right, ignoring Bryan Habana whop was free on his outside. Kuün was there to muscle to the line where Van Heerden forced his way over. Steyn converted. 15-7 after 23 minutes.
The Brumbies had a long period on the attack. Bakkies Botha tapped wildly back from a line-out with his receiver in the line-out and Mark Chisholm got the ball and charged. The Brumbies went right for the longest siege of the match.
From a five-metre scrum Stephen Hoiles was over but held up by Du Preez. The Bulls were free-kicked at the subsequent five-metre scrum and the Brumbies again opted for a scrum against the seven Bulls. The Bulls were penalised and the Brumbies kicked out for a
five-metre line-out.
At this stage Kirchner came back and Spies was allowed back into the forwards.
The Bulls defended but it was here that Kuün was penalised and sin-binned at a tackle. This time Mortlock agreed to kick the penalty over - a victory for the 14 Bulls in a sense. 15-10 after 33 minutes.
From the kick-off George Smith had a great run down the left but then the Bulls went back on the attack but Smith was penalised for being off-side and Steyn made the score 18-10.
For the 20 minutes that the Bulls played with 14 men the score was 3-3.
Kirchner, who had a brave and active game as he collected many a high ball, sent Ndungane away on an overlap and the Bulls were at the line but Gürthro Steenkamp was held up. At the ensuing five-metre scrum George Smith was off-side and Steyn made it 21-10 after 51 minutes.
Back came the Bulls with a strong maul. Kuün broke away from it but ignored Habana close on his right. Still the Bulls went right and Wynand Olivier threw a convincing dummy, accelerated inside Mortlock and past Ashley-Cooper to score as Patrick Phibbs and Taumoepeau tried to tackle him. Steyn converted. 28-10 after 54 minutes.
At this stage the Brumbies were rattled but they had a sudden spurt of extra energy when George Smith picked up a bouncing wayward pass that seemed to have destroyed their rare attack. The sturdy flank broke past Jaco Engels, Danie Rossouw, Kuün and Kirchner before giving to Peter Kimlin who thundered over near the posts. Mortlock converted. 28-17 with 15 minutes to play.
The scoring ended here. The Bulls could have scored from penalties but went in search of a fourth try. They had two five-metre line-outs but the Brumbies held out, once conceding a penalty when Hoiles came in the side with great deliberation and once winning a free kick when Van Heerden hung on.
The Bulls attacked down the left but Kuün's pass to Habana was a poor one behind the free wing.
Du Preez dashed for the line and was over it when the ball was dislodged from his grasp in Peter Playford's tackle.
Man of the Match: The calm work Wikus van Heerden did in tackling and at the tackle and with the ball in hand makes him our Man of the Match.
Moment of the Match: A good one - like the tries that Wynand Olivier and Peter Kimlin scored, a bad one like Zane Kirchner's tackle, a weird one like the yellow card for Derick Kuün, a bizarre few like the refusal to pass to Bryan Habana, a finisher exxtraordinaire, an annoying one or two like Stirling Mortlock's debates with the referee. For us it is that moment after the siren had gone to signal the end of the first half and Bryan Habana nipped back to intercept a Brumbies pass and kick out thus thwarting a try-scoring opportunity.
Villain of the Match: Zane Kirchner for that tackle - his second of this year's Super 14.
The scorers:
For the Bulls:
Tries: Nel, Van Heerden, Olivier
Cons: Steyn 2
Pens: Steyn 3
For the Brumbies:
Tries: Campbell, Kimlin
Cons: Mortlock 2
Pen: Mortlock
Yellow cards: Zane Kirchner (Bulls, 20 - foul play, dangerous tackle), Derick Kuün (Bulls, 33 - repeated offences, slowing the ball down)
Teams:
Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JP Nel, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez (captain), 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Wikus van Heerden, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Derick Kuün, 1 Gürthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Rayno Gerber, 18 Jaco Engels, 19 Danie
Rossouw, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Pedrie Wannenburg.
Brumbies: 15 Mark Gerrard, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 12 Tyrone Smith, 11 Afusipa Taumoepeau, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 Joshua Holmes, 8 Stephen Hoiles, 7 George Smith, 6 Mitchell Chapman, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Alister Campbell, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 John Ulugia, 1 Nic Henderson.
Replacements: 16 Huia Edmonds, 17 Anthony Faingaa, 18 Peter Kimlin, 19 Julian Salvi, 20 Patrick Phibbs, 21 Peter Betham, 22 Peter Playford.
Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Vinny Munro (New Zealand), Craig Joubert (South Africa)
TMO: Johann Meuwesen (South Africa)
