Following the Bulls’ 33-32 victory over the Stormers at the Cape Town Stadium, here are our five takeaways from the United Rugby Championship (URC) derby.

The top line

A North-South derby epic as the Bulls held onto their lead to secure a first-ever victory over the Stormers at the Cape Town Stadium – which was PACKED – and now boast an impressive seven wins from nine fixtures.

The rescheduled round one URC fixture, moved to accommodate the end of the Currie Cup, provided all the spills, thrills, twists and turns expected of this famous fixture between two of South Africa’s proudest unions.

Ultimately, it was the men from the north that emerged victorious thanks largely to the sheer brilliance of Akker van der Merwe who picked Herschel Jantjies’ pocket and cantered away like his nickname suggests, an angry warthog, before being dragged down just shy of the line. The Bulls recycled the ball with Ruan Vermaak finishing off the opportunity that gave his side just a six-point buffer with ten minutes to play.

David Kriel missed the ensuing conversation that would have made things a lot more comfortable but fortunately for him, Clayton Blommetjies’ gaffe saved his blushes.

That was after Ben-Jason Dixon smartly scored what looked to be a match-winner for the Stormers and with Blommetjies looking to wind down the clock, he waited until the last second only to scoff his effort wide.

Goal kicking was the Stormers’ undoing as they outscored the Bulls five tries to four but Jurie Matthee converted just two of the tries and a penalty with Kriel converting three conversions and two penalties.

Tries from Cobus Wiese, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Harold Vorster and Vermaak meant that the Bulls come away with the bonus-point win while the Stormers will rue another defeat after scores from Frans Malherbe, Salmaan Moerat, Evan Roos, Warrick Gelant and Dixon.

The Le Roux trial

It’s not the first time that Willie le Roux has slotted into the fly-half channel but today we saw the veteran Springbok start in the number ten jersey for the Bulls for the first time. This coming off the back of his impressive cameo off the bench in the role against the Lions.

Today, his performance was less glaringly brilliant but no less important. He ran the Bulls attack well and kicked superbly too. His ability to spot space and exploit is unmatched in South African rugby and he showed it with his clever dink into the Stormers’ 22 finding grass and putting the hosts under pressure.

Jake White was forced into the selection due to Johan Goosen’s injury and the underwhelming form of Boeta Chamberlain but Le Roux certainly rose to the occasion and when Chamberlain came onto the pitch, he was deployed at full-back, a sign of just how well Le Roux performed in the role.

With Le Roux’s contract expiring at the end of the season, it is rumoured that the Bulls are eager to extend his contract and have now added the incentive of him playing more fly-half next season if he opts to stay.

The 35-year-old could have quite easily looked to overplay his hand but he didn’t as he picked his moments well and on the whole made more right decisions with the ball in hand than the wrong ones. Le Roux’s defence is still a bit suspect for the frontline defence but the Bulls covered him well with the likes of Marcell Coetzee, Hanekom and Reinhardt Ludwig providing him with assistance.

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Stormers’ aimless kicking

It’s been a theme of the Capetonians’ game of late that they spoil fantastic attacking positions by attempting to thread cheeky grubbers in behind the defence. On occasion, it comes off, but far too often, it has not and has proved costly for John Dobson’s side.

Today, they certainly got lucky as Gelant’s kick cannoned off the boot of JF van Heerden and land fortuitously into the grasp of Moerat who made a fantastic slip catch if there was ever such a thing in a rugby match.

Again that was an outliner and the one that comes off in the 80 minutes but too often it is just aimless and wasteful.

Gelant attempted a similar kick from a scrum, one which the Stormers actually managed to hold their own and get a decent platform but what the full-back did with that possession was simply wasteful. With a big openside, Gelant attacked the blind with just one back following him and with the Bulls reading the play simply, the number 15 attempted a kick which again was blocked and went into touch.

This is just one example and in this case, the Stormers still retained possession with the lineout but more often than not, it results in turnover ball.

Particularly with the new laws protecting the half-backs at scrum and maul time, trying the grubber from first-phase possession is simply daft and something the Stormers need to cut out of their game if they are to turn their season around.

Pulling the trigger on occasions, particularly with an advantage is worth a crack but wasting possession like that will not win titles.

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Springboks’ rude back-row health

The cameras may not have spotted the Springboks head coach but Rassie Erasmus was in the stadium prior to kick-off and surely stayed on to see some of his men in action.

A former back-rower himself, Erasmus will have surely been impressed by the performances that he saw today, particularly in the number eight jumpers.

Hanekom was crowned man of the match for his efforts despite him admitting to ‘stupid errors’ but there was far more good about his game than bad. From the first minute of the game, he made his presence felt with a mighty carry that set the groundwork for Wiese’s try and he continued to rampage through Stormers defenders all game long.

He finished the game with the most running metres (75) by a Bulls player beating a match-high of seven defenders (four more than any Stormer) and pilfered over for two turnovers. It was another breath-taking and simply brutally effective outing.

His opposite number, Roos, was just as influential for his side as he too carried with real ferocity and tackled manfully. The pair are both down in the pecking order to the likes of Jasper Wiese and the injured Elrigh Louw.

This is without dismissing the performances of Deon Fourie, Dixon and the uncapped Bulls rookie Ludwig.

Bulls pack powers White’s charges as Stormers top-four hopes end

Stormers boss Dobson vehemently defended his team in the post-match and rightly so as his charges were back-tracking in the set-pieces and struggled to contain the Bulls’ pressure at the breakdown but still emerged one-point adrift of White’s men.

The defeat does mean that the Cape-based team’s chances of finishing in the top four are all but gone, which Dobson admitted to while adding that anything less than a play-off spot would be a huge disappointment.

Ultimately, the Stormers lost the battle up front and that reflected on the scoreboard with the excellent Wessels impressing at loosehead yet again against Frans Malherbe, which Rassie will be pleased about, before being forced off while Gerhard Steenekamp picked up from where he left off. Wilco Louw was outstanding in the set-piece as well as he gave Sti Sithole a real tough time in the scrums.

On the subject of Malherbe, suggestions that he is past it are far too premature as the veteran tighthead produced an incredible shift in the loose scoring a try and assisting another while laying down the law on defence. He may not have been at his best at scrum time but that won’t be too much of a concern for the Boks as their eight-man scrummaging effort is far more effective than the Stormers.

But that won’t stop White from being smitten about the performance of his pack who caused the Stormers issues all over the park and at set-piece time.

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