Following the Bulls’ 31-19 victory over the Lions, here’s our five takeaways from the United Rugby Championship clash at Loftus Versfeld.
Top line
The South African public has been treated to yet another brilliant derby match with both teams fighting tooth and nail for every single point at Loftus Versfeld.
After a week of rainy conditions, the weather finally broke with sunny conditions in Pretoria and the Bulls gave their fans further reasons to celebrate racing into a commanding 17-0 lead just 12 minutes into the match thanks to tries by Canan Moodie, Willie le Roux and Sebastian de Klerk.
It was yet another fantastic start from the hosts but again, once they let their foot slightly slip off the peddle, the opposition struck and the Lions finally got on the board on the 20-minute mark through in-form centre Henco van Wyk.
With the Bulls going down a man, the Lions continued their comeback and moved within three points when hooker PJ Botha threw a lovely dummy to crash over. Gianni Lombard’s accurate boot, paired with David Kriel’s missed attempts, meant that the Lions went into the break just three points adrift of the hosts.
While the Lions had fought back brilliantly to close the gap in the first half, they could not stall another bright start to the half from the Bulls as Moodie doubled his tally with Marco van Staden adding another.
After Marius Louw was denied a try, Richard Kriel finally added to the Lions’ tally in the 67th minute and, while they fought valiantly for another fightback, the Bulls defence remained firm enough to see White’s side to a bonus-point victory that sees them keep the pressure on the Glasgow Warriors, who are in second place on the URC standings.
Bulls power game
While there was a lot to be disappointed about in the defeat to the Sharks last time out, there were a lot of positives that laid the foundations for the victory over their Jukskei rivals, most notably the power game.
Traditionally, the Bulls have been a team that have prided themselves in the set-pieces and bossing the gain line. They achieved the former against the Sharks and struggled with the latter but today, Jake White’s men achieved both.
On paper, the Bok front row of Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar and Wilco Louw were always going to get the upper hand in the scrums and it played out that way on the pitch too and in brutal fashion.
Cobus Wiese also impressed on the gainline, as did Marco van Staden, who was also a pest at the breakdown.
The lineout was one of the few blemishes on the pack’s efforts but, on the whole, White will be pleased that his pack is keeping the tradition of the Bulls dominating up front alive which will be crucial as they look to go one better than their final appearance last season.
Lions luck
The Lions quickly found themselves 17-0 behind after a rapid start from the Bulls and frankly diabolical officiating.
Moodie’s finish was far harder than he made it look even when paired with some soft Lions scramble defence after he skinned Lombard but it was the second try that the officiating team let the Lions down.
With the Bulls inside their 22, Devon Williams produced a stunning clearance kick, nailing a 22-22, but the full-back clearly received a forward pass from centre Stedman Gans. It’s simply diabolical that this one was missed and it’s not solely referee Aimee Barrett-Theron who is at fault as the two assistant refs and the TMO seemingly missed it. It was a clear-cut call and one the TMO absolutely could come in for as it was clear and obvious.
From the ensuing lineout, the Bulls ran a school switch that somehow opened the visitor’s defence so wide open that Le Roux had a simple run to the line. The defence was woeful in that situation but the Bulls should have never had the access to run that move in that field position. A bit of Williams’ brilliance and the luck of the bounce resulted in De Klerk’s score before the Lions finally hit back.
Edwill van der Merwe kickstarted the comeback as his kick managed to find some grass and the ball bounced fortuitously for him to regather himself. The Bulls conceded at the resulting breakdown and Van Wyk was on hand to quick tap and power over the line, with Gans making the tackle on his opposite number while in an offside position, earning 10 minutes in the sin bin for his actions.
That try, paired with the numerical advantage, gave the Lions a route back into the match and smelling the blood, the visitors pounced on their prey with Botha throwing a stunning dummy to charge over the line. The conversion meant that the Lions trailed by just three thanks to Lombard’s accuracy from the tee.
While the fightback was impressive, they just couldn’t back it up in the second half as another profitable quarter put the Bulls back into a comfortable lead.
Springboks: Rassie Erasmus plans ANOTHER match outside of the international window
Lessons learned from the Sharks defeat
Last time out the Bulls stumbled when going to the corner as they attempted to maul over the try line despite the Sharks losing multiple players to cards.
But with just about every attempt, they were rebuffed by the Sharks defence and made errors at crucial times, letting the Durban-based side off the hook. It was the definition of insanity and after the match, White conceded that perhaps first-time captain Reinhardt Ludwig had too much on his plate in the match, with the responsibility of running the lineout too.
However, the Bulls clearly showed that lessons were learnt from that defeat to the Sharks. The Bulls of last week would have formed a driving maul off the back of Williams’ 50:22 but instead, they got the ball out to the backs with Le Roux picking on the front-rowers to score his try.
Before the break, the Bulls had a few penalties in the Lions’ half and could have quite easily reverted to type of a week ago but instead made use of their set moves from the tap and go, a real feature of their armoury in recent seasons that was seemingly left out the playbook last week.
This almost bore fruit as Ceilimpilo Gumede powered over the line but was adjudged to have been held up with the TMO unable to find the clear and obvious evidence needed to overturn the on-field decision. But in the second half, they were successful with the tactic as Van Staden started and finished a tap-and-go attack from a penalty. As mentioned earlier, this was a strength of the Bulls in recent seasons, but a weapon they seemingly forgot was in their armoury in recent games. They do well to make sure that it’s loaded going forward.
The conditions were obviously different today than last week but the Bulls also realised the benefit of just getting the ball into Le Roux’s hands and letting him weave his magic. The veteran back is not the tidiest fly-half around having played most of his professional rugby at full-back but he does have the vision, skillset and rugby IQ that none in South Africa can match and the Bulls benefitted from that today.
Update provided on former Springboks star after major brain tumour operation
Springboks watch
It was a real shame that Loftus was only treated to 40 minutes of Lions star centre Henco van Wyk. Even though it was in the visiting jersey, the crowd can certainly appreciate a special talent, particularly when he trades his red jersey for a green and gold one which is pretty much a formality at this stage.
Williams managed to speed past the midfielder in the build-up to De Klerk’s try but that is a real collector’s item as Van Wyk is one of the sharpest defenders about.
He is just as brilliant with ball in hand. His game awareness was rewarded as he powered over for the try that inspired the Lions’ fightback while he also made a stunning cover tackle on the rapid Moodie before slipping through a tackle from the Springboks star not too long after. Even Jaque Fourie, who was in the Lions coaching box, was appreciated by fans across the country in his pomp and Van Wyk is quickly gaining that reputation early in his career, if he doesn’t have it already.
Before kick-off, ex-Springboks Butch James and Victor Matfield rued the fact that we weren’t seeing a Moodie-Van Wyk head-to-head in the centres and while that would have been box office, Moodie still imposed himself from the wing. The World Cup winner brilliantly took his first try and caused the Lions all kinds of headaches with the ball in hand.
In the red #11 jersey, Van der Merwe was sublime once again and is really staking a claim for a second Test cap after debuting against Wales last year. Besides his showstopping footwork, he is improving in the air game-on-game and consistently makes good decisions when the ball comes his way.
Into the respective packs and last year Rassie Erasmus noted the desire to get a closer look at the Bulls’ locks in 2025 and it’s clear to see why with Wiese putting in an abrasive performance once again while JF van Heerden continues to fill out his frame and is quickly living up to the hype. Ludwig has also quickly learned from his shortcomings in decision-making as a skipper and continues to produce lively shifts on both sides of the ball.
The all-Bok Bulls starting front-row dominated as mentioned above while Marco van Staden looked back to playing some of his best rugby. Ruan Venter also shone for the Lions who were largely beaten up front.
READ MORE: Double World Cup-winning Springbok’s career in doubt after Sharks dealt ANOTHER setback
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/bulls-v-lions-five-takeaways-as-jake-whites-men-learn-lessons-from-sharks-defeat-as-springboks-lead-the-charge
