While acknowledging that the Vodacom Bulls missed an opportunity to claim a rare victory in Bloemfontein, head coach Phiwe Nomlomo emphasised the value of the trip.
Aphiwe Dyantyi scored a brace of tries as the Bulls snatched a late draw with the Cheetahs to stay unbeaten in the 2024 Currie Cup at Free State Stadium on Friday.
Though they led by seven points at half time, the visitors needed Dyantyi’s second-half double, together with a late 50m penalty from Boeta Chamberlain, to hold the defending champions to a 34-34 result.
The Bulls next travel to Nelspruit to face the Pumas. On not getting a first win in Bloem since 2018, Nomlomo told reporters post-match: “Each game has its own personality and I’ll say it again, the Cheetahs are well coached, are at home and in their own environment.
“Yes, we didn’t get the success from the scrums like we wanted to, and the lineouts. It’s something we’re going to have to work harder on. [But] moments like this are priceless.
HIGHLIGHTS: Cheetahs, Bulls share spoils
“You’ve got to remember that the Cheetahs are the current champions… and we’ve come here and got three points. That for us is a massive effort.
“We’ve spoken about the last time that we’ve actually got a victory here [in the Currie Cup], so there’s a lot that went well too, apart from the obvious stuff.”
The Bulls have been one of the standout performers with ball in hand in this year’s Currie Cup, but they conceded four tries in 12 minutes on Friday as the Cheetahs produced a powerful response.
On the porous defence from the Herd, Nomlomo adds, “We’re a team that wants to score tries so from that perspective you can ask: have we scored enough?
“We’re going to have to learn to put teams away when we get an opportunity, and that will alleviate the stress we’re putting on our defence.
“[On Friday] we made a lot more tackles than we would’ve liked to, and it’s again something we’ll have a look at and how we can balance the game out a bit more.”
Photo: @BlueBullsRugby/Twitter
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