By MARK KEOHANE
The Bulls were always going to beat Zebre at Loftus Versfeld last night, but the quality of performance never matched a scoreline that went past 50 points.
And that’s the biggest compliment to the potential of the Bulls heading into the United Rugby Championship (URC) play-offs in a few weeks.
The Bulls won 54-19, having led 26-12 at half time. They scored a sensational team try within three points, and by the half-hour mark, they secured the four-try bonus point, and No 10 Willie le Roux had kicked more conversions than he’d done in his career.
He popped over two conversions for Toyota Verblitz when playing in Japan in 2022, but outside of these two kicks, the Bok Test Centurion’s first-class points came via tries.
With regular Bulls and Bok flyhalf Handre Pollard’s game time being managed, Le Roux started in that position instead of fullback, scoring a try and kicking seven conversions. His value for the Bulls this season has been his availability. The match was his 20th in all competitions for the Bulls and 16 from 17 URC league matches.
Bulls scrumhalf Embrose Papier passed the iconic late Joost van der Westhuizen’s 170 Bulls appearances as a scrumhalf on a day of personal milestones and team achievement, with the Bulls qualifying for the play-offs.
Congested league table
The big win took the Bulls to 54 league points with Benetton to come in next weekend’s 18th and final round of the league. The Bulls momentarily jumped from eighth to third in the congested league table, but at worst, they’d have ended the evening in fifth place.
The winners also went past 500 points scored (521). The Lions (508) are the only other team with 500-plus points before their kick-off against Leinster.
The Stormers, second in the league after their 38-all draw against Ulster in Belfast on Friday evening, have scored 488 points.
With a 35-point winning differential against Zebre, the Bulls also improved their league differential to 134 points.
South Africa will have three teams in the last eight play-offs, with the Sharks eliminated a few weeks ago.
Bulls coach Johan Ackermann will acknowledge the beauty of any scoreline that reads 54-19, but he will know a performance as inconsistent and error-ridden would not be enough to make it past the quarter-finals.
Zebre have conceded the most points in the league (533) and lost 15 of their 17 matches. Thus, the only context for the Bulls is the five league points and that their leading players survived the match without injury.
Test-standard form
Bulls loose-forward Cameron Hanekom was named Player of the Match, and he continues to regain Test-standard form after missing the majority of the league season because of a serious injury sustained last season.
The Bulls pack was typically dominant at the scrum, especially in the first half. Le Roux, outside centre Canan Moodie and wingers Sergeal Petersen and Cheswill Jooste, were given plenty of ball and even more room in which to strike. Moodie is settling well in the No 13 jersey, and 21-year-old Jooste has a big future.
Durban played host to the two most under-performing squads in the league this season.
Benetton’s match 23 in Durban included 10 current Italian internationals and former England No 10 Jacob Umaga, but they had won just six from 16 matches before the defeat in Durban.
The Sharks, third in the league last season with 68 points, butchered their season, and the most points they can finish with is 46. They won for just the seventh time in 17 starts, but the 46-7 drubbing was the kind of dominance that should have defined their season and not just one match.
The Sharks, who led 20-0 at half time and 41-0 with three minutes to play, host Zebre in Durban in the final round next weekend.
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