Following the Bulls’ 26-19 victory over the Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium, here are our five takeaways from the replay of the 2023/24 United Rugby Championship final.
Top Line
Jake White dismissed talks of ‘revenge’ in the build-up to the match after his side fell to a defeat to the Scottish outfit in the URC final last year, but the Bulls boss will certainly be smitten about today’s result.
Scotstoun is one of the most difficult URC venues to get a result at, but the Bulls got the job done with the scoreline flattering the defending champions thanks to two late tries.
The Pretoria-based outfit were starved of possession in the first half in a match that very much felt like a premature knockout fixture, but it was the Bulls who entered the sheds at the break ahead.
Johan Goosen knocked over two penalties to open up a 6-0 advantage before Wilco Louw was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle. Glasgow responded through a Jamie Dobie try after a pass took a fortunate deflection off Canan Moodie, but it was the visitors who had the final say of the half as Goosen nudged over another long-range kick.
The game opened up somewhat in the second half as Johan Grobbelaar scored the Bulls’ opening try off the back of a rolling maul with David Kriel adding a second after yet another Goosen penalty as the centre latched onto a Sebastien de Klerk offload with the winger brilliantly scooping up a kick through.
That gave the Bulls a 7-26 buffer, which they held until the final ten minutes when Glasgow launched a late comeback through tries for captain Kyle Steyn and the ever-present Stafford McDowall but ultimately it was too late as the visitors held for a seven-point victory.
Bulls defence finds its groove
The two late tries will irk Bulls defence coach Jean Tiedt because, until the 76th minute, his charges had produced yet another sterling performance, shutting out another lethal attacking outfit.
Glasgow’s only try before Steyn raced over the whitewash late on came off the back of a maul that had been stalled and a bit of fortune as Moodie rightly shot out to stop the attack, only for the ball to go forward off his hand and into the grasp of Dobie.
Moodie was a standout in shutting down the Warriors’ attack all game and sometimes with the blitz approach, the right option is taken and the dice just doesn’t fall your way.
Still, the transformation of the Bulls’ defence cannot be understated. Against Edinburgh in the Challenge Cup knockout stages, at times it was simply woeful, but the difference over the last fortnight has been stark.
Last week, it was Marcell Coetzee and Cameron Hanekom who led the charge with mammoth tackle counts and while Harold Vorster, Marco van Staden and Jan-Hendrik Wessels posted more modest tallies, they were by no means less effective or important.
Wessel was particularly brilliant, more on that later, with his heroic tackle on Sebastian Cancelliere tracking back sensationally from a scrum free-kick to hold the Argentine up over the line. He encapsulated the Bulls’ attitude on defence with that effort as the men in blue won the gain-line battle time and time again.
It wasn’t just in open play where the Bulls deserve their plaudits as the usually brilliant Glasgow maul was also stalled and didn’t produce a try, a rarity in a URC match but even more so on their home turf – take a bow Andries Bekker.
Jan-Hendrik Wessels
There was much hype around schoolboy star Jan-Hendrik Wessels a few years ago as ridiculous highlight reels of the Grey College forward running amok were posted on social media platforms but it is one thing being a schoolboy sensation and another translating that to professional rugby.
It has taken a bit of time for Wessels to settle in at club level, partly due to him switching front-row positions early on, and many were really surprised by his call-up to the Springboks squad last year.
However, since his call-up from Rassie Erasmus, the Bulls star has taken his game to another level and is delivering on the hype.
Wessels has incredible pace for a man of his size and he does not let it go to waste as shown by his miraculous try-saving tackle in the first half, which was also a clear indication of just how hard he works around the park.
He further flexed his prowess and skillset throughout his 69-minute shift, landing countless hefty hits on defence and pilfered over for a clutch turnover. The Springboks coaches have been impressed by his versatility, and today he showed just how ruthless he can be at scrum time as he dominated Patrick Schickerling in the scrums, and when the Glasgow starting tighthead was replaced, he did the same to Sam Talakai.
Wessels played a small part in the Boks’ season last year, but if his current form is anything to go by, he is plotting a much bigger impact in 2025 and is making it incredibly difficult not to command a spot in the squad.
Glasgow never-say-die attitude
Few would have predicted that the Glasgow Warriors would go on to win the URC title last year but Franco Smith’s charges upset the odds winning their semi-final and final on the road. Much of their success not only comes from their squad quality and powerful pack but also their attitude to consistently upset the odds.
Even today, fronting up against a strong Bulls outfit with several of their brightest talents sidelined, the Warriors made a good fist of knocking over the South African outfit. They controlled possession and the young pack worked their socks off to try and gain some sort of parity.
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While many teams would believe that they were dead and buried trailing by 19 points in the final five minutes of the match, the Warriors didn’t and launched the most unlikiest of comeback attempts to score two tries at breakneck speed. A knock-on from the ensuing restart ended their surge, but George Horne’s conversion of McDowall’s score crucially earned Smith’s side a losing bonus point.
One can argue whether Glasgow deserved that point that keeps them in the top two for another fortnight, but that matters little as they got it anyway, the second that Willie Le Roux punted the penalty into touch.
The battle for second
As mentioned above, the Scottish outfit holds onto second place for another two weeks at least, courtesy of that bonus point, making the final two rounds of the season all the more intriguing.
Both of these two teams have secured their place in the knockout stages already as the battle for the top spots heats up. Leinster hold a commanding eight-point buffer with a game in hand over Glasgow and look all-but nailed-on to finish at the top of the table.
But with a growing injury list, Glasgow have a nervy finish to the regular season fronting up against a confident Benetton outfit – in Italy – looking to grab one of the eight play-off spots before heading to Dublin to face Leinster.
Meanwhile, the Bulls return to Loftus after a hugely successful two away days, beating the last two URC champions in succession. They will face Cardiff, who edged Munster tonight, before tackling the lowly Dragons, who have won just once this season.
While both teams will be eager to grab second place, which could result in a home semi-final, if they are to progress past the quarter-final, White’s point that a hosting finalist is yet to win the URC is certainly valid.
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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/glasgow-v-bulls-five-takeaways-as-transformed-defence-fires-jake-whites-charges-to-victory-while-springbok-prodigy-delivers-on-hype
