Bulls survive late Edinburgh onslaught

JOHANNESBURG - Edinburgh’s South African-born fullback Henry Immelmann missed a penalty after the hooter that would have given his side a famous win over the Vodacom Bulls in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship match at Loftus Versfeld yesterday.

The Bulls held on to win 33-31. The final penalty, which came in controversial circumstances, came after winger Stravino Jacobs put in an exceptional tackle on Mark Bennett, stopping him dead in his tracks. While Bennett’s neck whipped back, replays showed that Jacobs hit him on the chest, after Bennett was ducking down, and the impact of the big hit caused the neck to snap back.

The problem came in the conversation between referee Adam Jones and television ref Sean Brickell, both from Wales as Brickell continued to press Jones that the impact was ‘forceful on the chest area’ - which Jones then replied was legal. While both determined there was no impact to the head area, they then decided that the shoulder went up to the head area, which meant a penalty.

If Immelmann had kicked the penalty, it would have been a poor end to a great, entertaining game that gave nine tries and would have been settled on controversy, not on form. There is a real argument that the television match official currently has too much input, and this was the perfect example of a TMO trying to convince the referee of a card that simply wasn’t there.

The controversy put a sour taste on the game, which showed how dangerous Edinburgh are and how naive the Bulls were on their home turf. In the end the result was probably justified, and would have been a good ending if Morne Steyn’s 78th minute penalty was the end of it all.