The Bulls were made to rue the decision to play the so-called weaker team in their Heineken Champions Cup against stronger Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park in Devon, England, yesterday.
The men from Pretoria were completely outplayed by the Chiefs who cruised to a 44-14 bonus-point victory, while the local side returned home empty handed.
The visitors failed even to secure a losing bonus-point as they only scored two tries through Stravino Jacobs and Chris Smit. Dave Ewers, Luke Cowan-Dickie (3), Henry Slade and Solomone Kata all scored for the home side.
The Bulls, who have a big United Rugby Championship (URC) derby against Stormers on Friday, left behind some of their regular starters such as Springboks stars Canan Moodie, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Marco van Staden for the clash in England.
While their director of rugby said this did not mean they were prioritising the URC over the Champions Cup, without a doubt the Bulls would have been able to match the Chiefs with some of the players that stayed behind.
This was also a rude reminder to all South African teams that juggling the Champions Cup with the URC — two demanding tournaments that involve a lot of travelling — won’t be a walk in the park.
This was also a rude reminder to all South African teams that juggling the Champions Cup with the URC won’t be a walk in the park
Both sides had managed to kick off their Champions Cup campaign with solid victories last week, with the Bulls producing an excellent performance to put Lyon to the sword in Pretoria.
The Chiefs entertained the Bulls at the back of a 27-12 victory over the Castres Olympique.
But the so-called Bulls B team led by veteran flyhalf Morne Steyn struggled to repeat their form of last week against the 2019-2020 Champions Cup winners.
It was a nervy start for the Bulls at Sandy Park. Jake White’s men committed too many penalties at the breakdown, which led to them conceding 15 points, including two tries in the opening 15 minutes.
In the first half alone, the South Africans conceded nine penalties compared to just two by the clinical Chiefs side.
The Bulls were the first to cross the whitewash through Jacobs after six minutes, but their high error rate saw them give away their early 7-3 lead.
Chiefs’ three tries in the opening half by Ewers and Cowan-Dickie (2) were both from driving mauls.
For the Bulls it looked like nothing worked for them in the first stanza, as the hosts also dominated possession and territory for most of the half.
Chiefs easily secured the bonus-point when England star Slade scored the fourth try after some excellent team play that made the Bulls look out of their depth, as they trailed 32-7 at the break.
There was not much change in the second half as the Chiefs continued their dominance on scrums.
The hosts scored more tries as Cowan-Dickie completed his hat-trick while Kata also came off the bench to put his name on the scorers’ list.
The Bulls could only manage one try in the half through Smit, who scored a beautiful try from an excellent Steyn forward kick.
The Bulls failed even to utilise the one-man advantage to secure a bonus-point after Ewers was sin-binned for a high tackle with only four minutes left on the clock.
Scorers:
Exeter Chiefs: Tries: Dave Ewers, Luke Cowan-Dickie (3), Henry Slade, Solomone Kata Conversions: Sam Simmonds (5) Penalties: Simmonds (2)
Bulls: Tries: Stravino Jacobs, Chris Smit Conversions: Morne Steyn (2)
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