Blue Bulls trample Lions
LOFTUS: ULTIMATELY, THE HOME SIDE MADE LESS MISTAKES ON THE NIGHT
Currie Cup plans now back on track for Pretoria side.
It was a stop-start affair to watch, but the Blue Bulls nevertheless reignited their Currie Cup challenge with a 31-17 victory over the defending champion Golden Lions at Loftus Versfeld last night.
Both teams struggled with their ball-retention under pressure from two ferocious defences led by impressive loose trios, and ultimately, it was the Bulls who made fewer mistakes and the less telling ones.
The first 25 minutes saw Bulls flyhalf Tian Schoeman kick three penalties and his Lions counterpart Marnitz Boshoff succeeded with one as the home side took an early 9-3 lead.
But the Lions then showed how dangerous they are given territory and front-foot ball as a poor clearance from a restart gave the Lions a lineout platform. Rohan Janse van Rensburg, probably the most talked about centre in the land, charged through, breaking the line, and then some smart footwork by fullback Andries Coetzee left some more Bulls defenders flatfooted, before a backhand offload allowed midfielder Howard Mnisi to finish off.
Boshoff’s conversion put the Lions one point ahead, but the Bulls went out to a 16-10 lead through an intercept try by wing Travis Ismaiel, converted by Schoeman.
They kept that lead through until halftime thanks to some outstanding defence on their own tryline, ending with a timely turnover by lock RG Snyman.
Openside flank Ruan Steenkamp was brilliant for the Bulls and it was his line-break five minutes into the second half that earned a penalty and a five-metre lineout, from which lock Marvin Orie thundered over in a maul.
The Bulls were 21-10 up but, on the hour mark, Schoeman failed to put a penalty out, and the Lions quickly went wide, from where replacement wing Jacques Nel passed inside for flank Kwagga Smith to show enormous pace and sheer bloodymindedness to score.
While the Bulls tightened up in the final quarter, the Lions continued to pile up the errors and they were put out of their haphazard misery seven minutes from fulltime when Ismaiel produced another wonderful piece of play, bursting through Mnisi’s tackle in midfield with a power run and then offloading for replacement centre Josh Stander to scramble over the line.