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Bulls march on relentlessly

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 15:07

Masterclass: The Bulls' match-winning flyhalf Morne Steyn

The Bulls were able to pick up a 28-15 victory on the road against the Western Force in Perth to keep their unbeaten record for this season's Super 14 intact.

The match was a top versus bottom of the table clash and the Force were far more resilient than the Bulls would have expected and took a surprise 12-10 lead into half time.

The home side seemed to relish their underdog tag and some spirited tackling in the first half were able to absorb substantial pressure and everything the men from Pretoria threw at them with their superior possession and territory.

Bizarrely the Bulls could not convert all their possession inside the 22 into points and spurned opportunities as there were too many handling errors and turnovers close to the tryline and were evidently becoming more and more frustrated.

The Force must be complimented for their committed tackling and disciplined defence in the first half, while on attack they came  away with a penalty whenever they made a rare visit to the Bulls side of the field.

The Bulls came out focused in the second half as they would have realised that this wasn't going to be the walk over that everyone had anticipated, and proceeded to pile on the pressure and eventually force the defence into giving away penalties.

The Force's chance evaporated when they gave away one too many penalties at the breakdown and Ryan Cross was given his marching orders to the sin bin by referee Nathan Pearce.

The match started with the Bulls camped on the Force's tryline for almost five minutes, and continued to go for the try from the penalties they were awarded, but couldn't get over the line when finally Pierre Spies lost the ball forward in contact.

Again he Bulls returned to the Force's 22 with wave after wave of attack and after the tenth phase Pierre Spies held on to a pass this time and opened the scoring when crashed over the line. An easy conversion for Morne Steyn made the score 0-7 after nine minutes.

From the restart Scott Staniforth chanced his arm with a chip and chase, and brilliantly regained the ball and won a penalty for the Force that James O'Connor was happy to send between the uprights (3-7).

The Force got their first real field position and chose to keep the ball in hand inside the Bulls half, where they won a penalty at the breakdown. O'Connor was able to reduce the gap to one point with a well struck penalty in the 19th minute (6-7).

There was a kick through by big Guthro Steenkamp, who tried to chase it, but was overtaken by Spies, Nick Cummins and Mark Bartholomeusz. Spies picked up and was tackled just before the tryline, where Morne Steyn arrived and kicked the ball over the line and out when he should have picked it up and had a go, as the Force continued to frustrated the attacking Bulls.

Nathan Sharpe and McCalman fell on the Bulls side of the ruck and didn't roll away to give away a penalty and Steyn the chance to kick for goal which is exactly what he did successfully in the 33rd minute (6-10).

As the Force made a rare venture into the Bulls half, Werner Kruger was trapped on the wrong side of a ruck and O'Connor added his third penalty (9-10).

Approaching half time both teams looked to run the ball from everywhere in a long passage of open play where there were several turnovers, before the Bulls gave away a penalty that O'Connor kicked over off the upright to make the Force the unlikely leaders at the break (12-10).

The second half started much along the same theme as the first, with the Bulls putting immense pressure on the Force inside the home side's half and the defence holding firm.

Nick Cummins went on a good counter attack and was tackled on the Bulls 22, where there was yet another infringement at the breakdown that O'Connor smashed through the posts to make the score 15-10 with 32 minutes left to play.

More sustained pressure from the Bulls and some lightning quick service from Fourie du Preez forced the defenders to go offside and allowed Steyn a shot at goal from close to the touchline, his the kick went wide off the upright.

From a five metre scrum the ball came out to Steyn who was tackled by Ryan Cross but just managed to get the ball over the line for a much needed try that he converted to regain the lead after 58 minutes (15-17).

Steenkamp crashed the ball up at first receiver with a bulldozing run and the tacklers didn't roll away to give Steyn another chance to kick at goal (15-20).

Massive pressure from the Bulls as Du Preez fired a number of short passes to his forwards with Derick Kuun a regular ball carrier, and there was a yellow card for Ryan Cross in the 64th minutes for continued infringements at the breakdown by the Force. Steyn hooked his kick wide of the upright uncharacteristically.

Flip van der Merwe busted his way through a couple of tackles and the ball went wide to Victor Matfield, Wynand Olivier and finally Zane Kirchner scored a try in the corner, but Steyn missed another kick at goal (15-25).

Jacques-Louis Potgieter gets the ball in midfield and is lifted in an illegal tackle by Cummins, and Steyn adds a simple penalty in the 72nd minute (15-28).

That was how the score would remain as the Bulls were unable to find a bonus point fourth try in the dying minutes of the match.

In the end it was a game in which the Bulls were probably not as clinical as they would have liked to be in the first half.

The Bulls were almost handed a shock defeat by the bottom placed Western Force and need to be careful to avoid that kind of complacency in their remaining fixtures as this match served as a reminder that there are no easy games in the Super 14.

Man of the match: The outstanding defence and counter attacking skills of Matt Hodgson, Scott Staniforth and Nick Cummins must be credited, and Nathan Sharpe lead by example as the best player on the field for the Force. Pierre Spies terrorised defenders with powerful running and Victor Matfield was present throughout the game. But our man of the match must to the incredible work rate of Guthro Steenkamp who got his big frame around the field and made a big impact.

The scorers:

For the Western Force:
Pens: O'Connor 5

For the Bulls:
Tries: Spies, Steyn, Kirchner
Cons: Steyn 2
Pens: Steyn 3

Yellow card: Ryan Cross (Western Force, 65 - repeated infringements, offside)

Teams:

Western Force: 15 Mark Bartholomeusz, 14 Scott Staniforth, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 James O'Connor, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 David Hill, 9 Chris O'Young, 8 Richard Stanford, 7 Matt Hodgson, 6 Ben McCalman, 5 Nathan Sharpe (captain), 4 Tom Hockings, 3 Tim Fairbrother, 2 Ben Whittaker, 1 Nic Henderson.
Replacements: 16 Pek Cowan, 17 Kieran Longbottom, 18 Luke Jones, 19 Ted Postal, 20 Mark Swanepoel, 21 Sam Harris, 22 Mitch Inman.

Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 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, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Bees Roux, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Derick Kuün, 20 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 21 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 22 Pedrie Wannenburg.

Referee: Nathan Pearce (Australia)
Assistant referees: Steve Walsh (Australia), Damian Mitchelmore (Australia)
TMO: Steve Leszczynski (Australia)

By Timmy Hancox

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