Bulls beat Province in Loftus thriller
Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:00
Try time: Bulls prop Gurthro Steenkamp scores - Pic: Rian Botes
The Blue Bulls showed their true worth when they beat Western Province by 30-22 in a thrilling Currie Cup Round Two match at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.
Outscoring Province by three tries to one, the Bulls not only moved into second place on the standings, but they prevented WP from even getting a bonus point - leaving the men from Cape Town floundering outside the top four.
Blue Bull tenacity and determination and poor decision-making by Western Province combined to give the Blue Bulls an important victory. It was a victory for youthful exuberance over stolid muscle power, but it is a result which the Western Province will do well to rue.
It is not often that the Western Province pack outweighs and then outscrums the Blue Bulls, but it was not enough. In reversal of provincial stereotypes it was the Blue Bulls who scored the tries and the Western Province who relied on an unerring boot.
Beforehand there was speculation about whether the Blue Bulls with its band of inexperienced players would be able to compete with the more experienced Western Province players, fresh from victory over the Sharks, while the Blue Bulls had to come from behind to beat the Golden Lions.
The unerring boot belonged to Willem de Waal who is the fourth highest scorer of all time in the Currie Cup. He opened the scoring the first time Dewald Potgieter was offside chasing a kick. 3-0 after three minutes.
Western Province were always vulnerable under a high kick, except for Gio Aplon that is. When Heini Adams kicked high, the ball bounced and the Blue Bulls latched onto it and suddenly burst into exciting speed. François Hougaard, playing left wing, started it, Derick Kuün took it on and then Wynand Olivier broke past Peter Grant to give to Gerhard van den Heever an the overlap. The left wing swept round to score the first of his two tries. Francois Brummer converted. 7-3 to the Blue Bulls after six minutes.
Potgieter went offside at a kick again and again De Waal scored three points. 7-6 after 12 minutes.
Western Province had a period on attack, losing the ball at a maul from an attacking line-out but staying on the attack. They went left but Frikkie Welsh, who seemed embarrassed to find himself back at Loftus playing for the "other" side and so stayed anonymous, moved parallel to the ball and then knocked it down. Van de Heever booted a head and Jaco Pretorius gathered to race down the right touchline. He got past De Waal and then as Grant challenged he popped the ball inside to Van den Heever who scored. Brummer converted. 14-6 after 29 minutes.
De Waal then kicked two penalty goals and eventually Brummer got one to make the half-time score 17-12 to the Blue Bulls.
At the start of the second half Brummer did a Morné Steyn and goaled a soaring drop, 20-12.
There were accidents on the Western Province side of the field that led to the Blue Bulls' third try. First the Blue Bulls won a turnover off Luke Watson. Then Brummer dropped at goal but a Western Province player touched the ball. It went to in-goal and Aplon was obliged to clear. It was a poor, low kick that did not travel far and the Blue Bulls came running and bashing till burly Gürthro Steenkamp forced his way over the a try. 27-12 with time marching on.
In this half Western Province had two five-metre scrums and two five-metre line-outs. At the first line-out, which came from choosing a line-out instead of a kick at goal, Anton van Zyl caught the ball and Western Province mauled. The Blue Bulls lay down a stumbling block but the Western Province got round that and edged closer and closer till Watson was able to plunge over for a try in the left corner. De Waal converted from touch on an evening when neither kicker missed a shot at goal. 27-19.
Welsh grubbered and Tiger Mangweni saved but conceded a line-out as Aplon tackled him into touch. Western Province mauled but Wicus Blaauw knocked on as he bashed towards the corner. But Western Province stayed on the attack as they wheeled the Blue Bulls scrum. They bashed and Toger Mangweni and Jacques Burger combined to hold Blaauw up over the line.. They bashed again and the Blue Bulls were penalised under their goalposts. With 15 minutes to play and eight points down, the Western Province tapped and ran, but Sireli Naqelevuki dropped the ball. It was not his only clumsy error in the match and there was another to come which was expensive.
When Western Province had a penalty a long way out they gave it to De Waal who kicked them into bonus-point range at 27-22, but Western Province's errors were not done.
They conceded only two penalties in the half, the first a high tackle by Pieter Louw which Brummer goaled. The second came after an assistant referee's report that Aplon had kicked an opponent. Brummer goaled both and it was 30-22 with five minutes to play.
Western Province could have got back to a bonus point when Frikkie Walsh broke down the left. They bashed and the ball went wide to Naqelevuki who had two men clear outside of him with about eight metres to the line, but the wing chose to lumber forward and was brought down.
Man of the match: Of the Western Province side Tiaan Liebenberg and Pieter Louw were full of effort and De Waal's kicking was brilliant. For the Blue Bulls there were several heroes - François Brummer with his accurate kicking, Gerhard van den Heever with the speed he used on attack and defence, zealous Derick Kuün, relentless Jacques Burger and our Men of the Match - a two scrumhalves, both brave, both filled with energy and both effective - Heini Adams and Francois Hougaard.
The scorers:
For the Blue Bulls:
Tries: Van den Heever 2,
Steenkamp
Cons: Brummer 3
Pens: Brummer 2
DG: Brummer
For Western Province:
Try: Watson
Con: De Waal
Pens: De Waal 5
Teams:
Blue Bulls: 15 Tiger Mangweni, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Dries van Schalkwyk, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Jacques Burger, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Derick Kuün (captain), 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Jaco Engels, 19 Fudge Mabeta, 20 Gerrit-Jan van Velze, 21 JC Roos, 22 Marius Delport.
Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Frikkie Welsh, 13 Morgan Newman, 12 Peter Grant, 11 Sireli Naqelevuki, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Luke Watson (captain),
7 Pieter Louw, 6 Pieter Myburgh, 5 Anton van Zyl, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Hanyani Shimange, 17 JD Moller, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Deon Fourie, 20 Conrad Hoffmann, 21 Juan De Jongh, 22 Tonderai Chavhanga.
Referee: Mark Lawrence
Assistant referees: Tiaan Jonker/Lourens van der Merwe, Christie du Preez
TMO: Johann Meuwesen
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