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Pale blue Bulls edge Hurricanes

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:07

Knocked down by a Hurricane: Bulls flank Dewald Potgieter - Pic: Rian Botes

For the first time this season the Bulls did not earn a bonus point, but like true champions they managed to maintain their unbeaten run by edging the Hurricanes 19-18 in an intense arm-wrestle at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, on Friday.

The win stretched to 15 matches their unbeaten run at Loftus and ensures they will be at the top of the standings when they depart on their four-match Australasian tour at the weekend.

It is believable. You had better believe it - the Bulls can be beaten. For over an hour it looked as if they were going to be beaten by a team which beat them hands down in determination, concentration and togetherness.

It was a match which eventually the Bulls should have won easily, or so the hearty goes. In the second half they had a great possession and territorial advantage. But, starved of possession, the Hurricanes found the heart, guts and sinew to defend to the end, and they lost by a single point, having score two tries to one.

It was by far the worst performance by the Bulls in a long time. They made handling errors, they conceded turnovers in tackles, there was nothing fluid in their game, for they ran one at a time. The Hurricanes were much, much better at the tackle - driving in harder, lower and more cohesively. They were determined men.

Two things saved them, both thanks to Victor Matfield. The amiable giant was playing his 100th match for the Bulls and so lead his team out first. Eventually he changed the game. He won line-outs, he organised mauls and when the lead was eventually secured he kicked the ball out in the corners to keep the Hurricanes under the whip.

For the last five minutes of the match the Bulls kept possession and simply bashed around in Hurricanes' territory, and still the men from Wellington refused to crack.

They wear grey but are certainly not grey men. The main weapon the Bulls had was the maul. They were patient in organising it as the Hurricanes tried a stand-off tactic,  It was something the Hurricanes found hard to cope with and in the process they yielded penalties and Victor Vito was sin-binned. That said, their best feat was aggression at the maul when the Bulls threw into a five-metre line-out and the Hurricanes drove them back with combined aggression.

Bulls deserve to win? I suppose so but hats should really be doffed to their opponents who deserved more than just a near loser's bonus point.

They battled because they could not get ball when the Bulls closed the game up. In the second half they conceded seven penalties to two. But it was their dealing with the high ball under pressure which was surprisingly weak for such a focussed team.

The line-outs were understandable as the Bulls had so many jumpers - Matfield, Danie Rossouw, Pierre Spies and Dewald Potgieter. But against this array they did not allow the Bulls to take even one of their line-outs, while they took one off the Bulls.

It was not a flowing match but it was gripping towards the end as the Loftus fans got behind their team under threat of defeat.

The Hurricanes kicked off and Matfield did what he does best - rose high into the air and caught the ball.

There was a shock at the start when Morné Steyn missed a penalty kick at goal. In fact he had a wobbly start and then contributed to the opening score. He kicked directly out outside of his 22 and the Hurricanes scored. From the line-out on their left they went right and then left and then far right again. In the last phase their forwards played with astounding calm as they caught and passed to the man next to them till Karl Lowe scored in the corner. 5-0 after 13 minutes,

Stephan Dippenaar started running at the opposing centres, not productive when the opposing centres are Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith. Dippenaar lost the ball in the tackle and countered. Counterattack off Bulls' errors was their strongest suit.

The Hurricanes won the ball off a Bulls' line-out and attacked. (Imagine the shock and horror at Loftus - a missed penalty by Steyn and a lost line-out by Matfield's men.) The Hurricanes attacked. Deon Stegmann was penalised at a tackle near his posts.  Nonu tapped and gave to Jeremy Thrush who surged over the line. Will Ripia converted. 12-0 after 20 minutes.

Quick passing and a burst of concentration by the Bulls had Gerhard van den Heever racing for the line. He got over the line but John Schwalger and Conrad Smith stopped him from grounding the ball. Form the subsequent scrum the Bulls bashed. François Hougaard was close and then they went wide to their right with two great passes by Fourie du Preez and Morné Steyn till Zane Kirchner cut inside two and, tackled, stretch to score the try. 12-7 after 390 minutes. The Bulls did not score another try in the next 50 minutes.

The Bulls attacked again with quick passes till Wynand Olivier passed to Conrad smith and the Hurricanes rushed out of their half. They survived and came back again.  Schwalger was penalised and Steyn goaled. 12-10 after 37 minutes, just time for Danie Rossouw to tackle Tyson Keats high and Ripia to goal. 15-10 - the half-time score.

Potgieter was penalised at a tackle and Ripia goaled. 18-10.

Steyn kicked two penalties to make the score 18-16 and then with 13 minutes to play Lowe was penalised at tackle and Steyn made the score 19-18. The Bulls had more chances to score penalty goals but opted to keep the Hurricanes pinned deep in their own territory. 

After the match Matfield said: "It was a very different game, not too flashy."

He also praised the Hurricanes' defence in the second half when the Bulls had about 90 percent of the possession, but could not score.

Man of the Match: For the Bulls Victor Matfield was laudable for his calm and decision making, apart from his work at kick-offs and line-outs. Michael Paterson was brave and filled with energy but our Man of the Match is Andrew Hore who led from the front and was as brave a warrior as any rugby player could ever be.

The scorers:

For the Bulls:
Tries: Kirchner
Cons: Steyn
Pens: Steyn 4

For the Hurricanes:
Tries: Lowe, Thrush
Cons: Ripia
Pens: Ripia 2

Yellow card: Victor Vito (Hurricanes, 61 - repeated infringements, collapsing the maul)

Teams:

Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Stephan Dippenaar, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Bees Roux/Rossouw de Klerk, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Derick Kuün, 20 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 21 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 22 Pedrie Wannenburg.

Hurricanes: 15 Andre Taylor, 14 Tamati Ellison, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Alapati Leiua, 10 Willie Ripia, 9 Tyson Keats, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Karl Lowe, 6 Victor Vito, 5 Michael Paterson, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore (captain), 1 John Schwalger.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Jacob Ellison, 18 Bryn Evans, 19 Nick Crosswell, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 David Smith.

Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Stuart Berry (South Africa), Stefan Breytenbach  (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

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