Nothing and no-one caught the eye more than Bulls’ No 8 Cameron Hanekom in their 48-7 Champions Cup win over Stade Francais at Loftus Versfeld yesterday.
Not that there weren’t contenders. He had many shining stars among his teammates, while the visitors made their case by emerging from the tunnel in cerise pink.
They, however, were woefully off colour as the Bulls stamped their authority to earn a place in next season’s EPCR Challenge Cup.
Unfortunately for the Bulls, they are destined for the second tier of EPCR combat having failed, earlier in their campaign, to deliver the authority that was so evident yesterday.
Hanekom, who returned to the side yesterday, delivered another commanding performance behind a stampeding Bulls pack. That’s not to say he stood back and grabbed the inevitable shine. He played an active part in pummelling the team in pink.
Many accusing fingers had been pointed at South African teams for their below-par performances on the road in the Champions Cup. It was said they lacked ambition and are reluctant tourists.
On yesterday’s evidence, Stade Francais approached this trip to the bastion of Bulls rugby as if they were being dragged to the bowels of the Bastille. They were listless and lacklustre. When they displayed a hint of urgency, they lacked accuracy.
To be fair, arriving here from the near-freezing Paris, the heat and altitude would have been foreign conspirators, and they appeared to run out of steam inside the first half hour. In fact, at a water break after 30 minutes, they were in a huddle, partly under the cover of two black umbrellas.
However, the blowtorch the Bulls’ forwards put them under carried a real fear factor. They had clear domination at scrum time and reduced the visitors’ set piece to a flaky croissant.
The all-Springbok frontrow of Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar and Wilco Louw tucked in, allowing those behind them to feast on a surfeit of front foot possession. On the Stade Francais feed, you had to feel for poor but plucky No 8 Yoan Tanga, who looked like he was trying to protect a sand castle from a tsunami.
Apart from attacking with zeal, the Bulls stood tall when they had to defend. Their maul defence proved crucial when Stade Francais set up camp for the first time in the hosts’ 22. Hanekom proved the saboteur-in-chief and, though the visitors launched soon after, they again drew a blank when the Bulls scrummed them off the ball.
They were wasteful again when they came within a few metres of the Bulls tryline before right-wing Raffaele Storti was tackled and Johan Goosen exacted a steal. Goosen unfortunately suffered another injury not long after and was replaced by Boeta Chamberlain.
The Bulls were more assertive when opportunity beckoned. They were on the board inside the first four minutes when left-wing Sergeal Petersen was denied a try after visiting flyhalf Louis Carbonel stretched out his right arm and denied him receipt of the final pass.
Upon review, the Bulls were awarded a penalty try, while the double whammy was complete when the long arm of the law caught up with Carbonel, who was duly yellow-carded.
It proved costly for the visitors. From set piece, the Bulls broke left and soon Petersen was in the game again, as he surged up the touchline. With a defender looming he toe-ed the ball inside, where a grateful Devon Williams gathered to score under the poles.
They scored three more tries before the break, and with the job in the wider context done, they lost some of their urgency in the second half.
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