The Stormers forwards did a demolition job on their much-vaunted Bulls opposition to pave the way for a remarkable 32-19 United Rugby Championship victory at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon.
History tells us that predicting the outcome of North-South derbies is a fool’s errand, and this was once more the case as the Stormers made a mockery of the form book.
The Bulls made a decent enough start to the game.
They were unlucky to have a lovely try by Kurt-Lee Arendse chalked off after the TMO picked up a vague forward movement of the ball on the ground before scrumhalf Paul de Wet passed it. The movement involved slick inter-passing by the forwards and beautiful handling by David Kriel and Canan Moodie in the backs.
The first scrum, in the fourth minute, was an unhappy one for the visitors, with Wilco Louw giving Nuthuko Mchunu a hard time. Two minutes later, Louw repeated the dose for a second penalty, but the plucky Mchunu won one back in the next scrum.
In the 11th minute, it was the Stormers’ turn to have a try disallowed when a Suleiman Hartzenberg boot brushed the touchline on his way to a corner flag score. Coach John Dobson’s frown deepened shortly after when lock Adré Smith foolishly late tackled Handre Pollard, and was sent to the bin for his sin.
The opening score came from an unlikely source — an excellent grubber towards the corner flag by No 8 Juandre Rudolph. The Bulls won the lineout and drove to the line, only for it to be illegally pulled down. A penalty try was the result, and Ben-Jason Dixon followed Smith to the bin.
The Stormers were down to 13 men and hanging on. They could have pulled three points back, but Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu missed a regulation shot at goal. However, the Capetonians were on the board in the 30th minute when Damian Willemse ran a perfect line from a ruck close to the Bulls’ line to go over untouched.
After absorbing so much pressure because of the yellow cards, the Stormers finished the half as the stronger side, and the last action was a post-hooter penalty by Feinberg-Mngomezulu for a 10-7 lead.
The visitors continued their dominance after the break and were soon rewarded with another three points from their flyhalf’s boot. The Bulls were creaking under the pressure, and the penalties against them flowed. One of them was kicked to the corner, and Paul de Villiers went over from the maul.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu missed the conversion, but the score was suddenly an imposing 18-7 to the Stormers.
The Stormers were by now on top in the scrums and winning penalties. The Bulls battled to get their hands on the ball, and when they did, there were some shocking handling errors, with Willie le Roux and Elrigh Louw culprits.
It went from bad to worse for the home team when Cobus Wiese was yellow carded for shoving a hand into the face of Dixon. The ball was kicked to the corner, and when the maul was pulled down, a penalty try was the result. Marco van Staden joined Wiese in the naughty corner.
However, the Bulls scored next, despite being down to 13, with replacement scrumhalf Zak Burger darting over. The conversion made it 25-14. The Bulls’ score was undone when Willemse kicked into space for Hacjivah Dayimani to gather in the in-goal area and score.
There was a consolation try for Kurt-Lee Arendse to give the score a better look, but the truth is that the Bulls were thoroughly dismantled.
Scorers
Bulls 19 (7): Tries: Penalty Try, Zak Burger, Kurt-Lee Arendse. Conversions: Handre Pollard. Stormers 32 (10): Tries: Damian Willemse, Paul de Villiers, Penalty Try, Hacjivah Dayimani. Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2). Penalties: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2)
