Steyn the hero as Bulls survive second-half onslaught

THE Bulls survived a last-gasp penalty attempt by Edinburgh as veteran Morné Steyn starred in a 33-31 bonuspoint United Rugby Championship victory at Loftus Versfeld yesterday.

Steyn landed a late three-pointer himself from close to the touchline, and it looked like the Pretoria outfit had done enough to win.

But the Scottish side were awarded a controversial penalty when wing Stravino Jacobs was adjudged to have made a high tackle on Edinburgh centre Mark Bennett.

South African-born fullback Henry Immelman stepped up to try to win the game for his team, but he sliced his attempt wide, and the home fans erupted into celebration.

It was a triumph worth savouring as Edinburgh disrupted the Bulls’ rhythm after Jake White’s team stormed into a 15-0 lead.

Captain Marcell Coetzee, No 8 Elrigh Louw, lock Ruan Nortje and hooker Johan Grobbelaar were prominent in the early exchanges as the Bulls won the physical battle up front.

Grobbelaar grabbed the first try off a 5m tap penalty, which saw flank Ruan Vermaak pass to Coetzee, who offloaded in the tackle for the No 2 to score.

And when Edinburgh’s co-captain Grant Gilchrist was yellow-carded following repeated infringements, Louw charged over from a lineout move.

Edinburgh were hit by adversity before kick-off when flyhalf Blair Kinghorn withdrew, and his replacement Jaco van der Walt suffered concussion in the 12th minute.

Charlie Savala came on and helped his team to launch a fightback. After a line-break by centre James Lang, Savala went over.

Wing Darcy Graham ran in a second touchdown, and suddenly it was 15-14 at half-time.

From the second-half kick-off, wing Cornal Hendricks won the ball in the air, and later Nortje nearly scored, before the ball was recycled to Hendricks to finish.

In a comical error by the Bulls, the ball bounced into play from the uprights off a Mark Bennett penalty attempt, and Graham pounced to claim his hat-trick.

It was all to play for at 25-24 to the Bulls, and they looked to have secured the victory when Jacobs burst through after a run by prop Simphiwe Matanzima.

Edinburgh then led for the first time when Damien Hoyland dotted. At 31-30 with 10 minutes to go the Scots opted for a long-range shot at goal by Immelman, which he missed.

The Bulls forwards earned a few scrum penalties, the second of which was in range for Steyn, and he booted the ball over for a 33-31 win.