Better Bulls down Lions

IT WAS far from the clinical performance that coach Nollis Marais wanted from his team but the Blue Bulls did just enough to breathe life into their Currie Cup campaign with a hard-fought 31-17 win over the Golden Lions at Loftus Versfeld last night.

There were glimpses of the Bulls of old as the men in blue defended valiantly when their line was under siege, and they backed that up with some good running with ball in hand.

It was a vast improvement from a side who have struggled to make use of the plethora of opportunities they have created in recent matches, but they still looked unsure of themselves for large parts of the game.

In the end they were able to build up enough scoreboard pressure and lead for most of the match, courtesy of tries by Travis Ismaiel, Marvin Orie and Joshua Stander and two conversions and four penalties from the boot of flyhalf Tian Schoeman.

But what really won the match for the hosts was their uncompromising defence, which stood firm at critical moments, with the likes of flank Ruan Steenkamp, lock RG Snyman and centres Burger Odendaal and Dries Swanepoel effectively cutting down the hard-running Lions forwards and backs.

It was in their desperation to catch up to the Bulls that the Lions made elementary mistakes, which often halted any meaningful forays deep into the Bulls half.

The win moved the Bulls to second on the log, leaving them in contention for the semi-finals.

The Lions, after their second defeat, have much to think about, especially with tough fixtures against Western Province, the Cheetahs and the Sharks to come.