A nine-try romp for the Bulls over table-topping Leinster provided a perfect afternoon’s entertainment at Loftus Versfeld yesterday and a significant boost to their confidence ahead of their United Rugby Championship URC) quarterfinal in two weeks.
Who they next face will be determined by the outcome of later matches, but for Jake White’s charges, this was a statement performance, albeit against a Leinster side that was missing all their Irish national stars.
Still, as one sage viewer at Loftus put it, “you can only play what is in front of you”, and the Bulls did that bloody well, winning 62-7.
They dominated their under-strength opponents from the first whistle through their forward pack.
It started at the scrums, where the Bulls generated penalties, carried on through with their mauling, while in the loose, eighth man Elrigh Louw and skipper Ruan Nortje featured prominently.
That supremacy produced a surfeit of possession for scrumhalf Embrose Papier, whose distribution was efficient, with inside centre Harold Vorster also creating space for the exciting outside backs.
Kurt-Lee Arendse was a menace for the Irish defence, as was wing Canan Moodie.
It was Moodie’s line-break, set up by a lovely delayed pass from Vorster, that put the Bulls on the front foot with Nortje smashing through the Leinster defence for the opening try in the seventh minute.
There was some beautiful interplay down the short side by Arendse and left wing David Kriel, allowing the former to skirt over shortly afterwards.
Leinster offered very little on attack in the opening stanza and in the one brief period when they did, it was the Bulls who scored. Louw intercepted a pass five metres short of his own tryline, charged up field and, having not trusted his own pace, kicked ahead. Fortunately, the Bulls were able to secure possession and a perfectly weighted kick from Moodie put Arendse in for a second comfortable score.
The Bulls got the bonus point try on the stroke of half-time, when Johan Grobbelaar burst over for the first of his two tries, giving the hosts a 31-0 lead — a scoreline that perfectly reflected their superiority.
Grobbelaar’s second score was more aesthetically pleasing, with the Bulls moving the ball right to left and then right again, with fancy interpassing between backs and forwards, while Papier’s break across the field was followed by a delicate off-load that allowed the 25-year-old hooker to walk over the tryline.
Four more tries followed as the Bulls started to enjoy themselves, while Leinster continued to crumble. They did manage a lone riposte, when replacement prop Michael Milne crashed over in the 53rd minute.
But they have bigger fish to fry next week when their big name players will return for the Champions Cup semifinal against Toulouse in Dublin.
The Bulls have a rather less stressful Currie Cup to contend with, but their focus will slowly start turning to May 6 and their quarterfinal match in the URC.
Meanwhile, in an earlier game, the Lions found themselves in “what if” territory on the URC points table after they completed their league commitments with a 50-35 victory over Zebre at Loftus stadium.
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