Bulls forced to dig deep to see off Kings, as Cheetahs, Sharks win
Blue Bulls (28) 49
a hard-fought win against the Kings in round three of this year’s Currie Cup competition.
After going down to the Cheetahs last week, the Bulls ran in seven tries to down the men from the Eastern Cape, but it was a far from convincing performance from Nollis Marais’ men.
The Bulls allowed the visitors to score five tries of their own in what will go down as one of the better performances of the Kings in recent times. But, as has been the case for some time now, their defence let them down at crucial times and they seemed to run out of steam in the latter stages of the match.
The Kings though, made a dream start, scoring two converted tries inside the opening five minutes, hooker Michael Willemse and centre Berton Klaasen crossing the white- wash.
The Bulls though hit back almost immediately when flyhalf Tian Schoeman – who was man of the match and who enjoyed a wonderful evening with the boot as he converted all his team’s tries – went over for a try and he was soon followed by wing Jamba Ulengo.
Flank Jannes Kirsten and wing Bjorn Basson then also scored tries for the home team to put the Bulls in charge, but a third try for the Kings by Namibian international fullback Johan Tromp on the stroke of half-time, to close the gap to three points, ensured there was nothing much in the contest at the interval.
And when Kings wing Siviwe Soyizwapi ran a great line to power his way over the tryline soon after the resumption of play the Bulls were all of a sudden on the back foot and trailing 28-30.
But one always sensed the home team had an extra gear to move into and they duly did that as the game entered the final quarter, Burger Odendaal and Ulengo scoring further tries for the Bulls. Former player Martin Bezuidenhout pulled one back for the visitors when he crossed with 13 minutes to go to make it a seven-point game, but the Bulls sealed the deal in the 71st minute when replacement back Joshua Stander scored his side’s seventh try.
Both teams made numerous errors and were poor defensively, but for the Bulls it was a much-needed victory. The Kings at least bagged a bonus point for their try-scoring efforts.
In Cape Town, the unbeaten and in-form Free State Cheetahs beat Western Province 32-25 with flyhalf Fred Zeilinga starring with the boot, while in Wellington, the Sharks picked up a third consecutive victory thanks to a 41-20 victory over Boland.
In the final match of the third round today, the Golden Lions are in Kimberley for a date with Griquas, the defending champions hoping to make it two from two after registering a bonus-point win against the Pumas last weekend.