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Cape Town - The Blue Bulls were able to fight off Boland with a 48-26 win in Currie Cup action in Wellington on Friday.
Both sides scored over four tries in what many thought would be very a one-sided affair but turned out to be a incredibly exciting game of rugby. The score really doesn't depict the the game as the Blue Bulls ran away with things right in the end.
Victory was vital for the Pretoria side as it sees them jump straight up the table into first place, replacing the unbeaten Cheetahs for the lead. The win was especially important as the Blue Bulls do not play in the last round of the tournament next weekend as they have a bye, so if they had lost their fate would be out of their hands.
Boland put up an incredible performance but could not do enough to outdo their visitors. They will take solace in their four-try bonus-point but will feel aggrieved they could not get the win.
The Blue Bulls opened the scoring through a try from full-back Ulrich Beyers who scored from five metres out. The Blue Bulls were camped out on the Boland line for an age before Beyers was able to side step the Boland number 10 and go over for the five-pointer.
The visitors then added to their score line as Boland found themselves in a favourable position for the first time in the game as they drove up to the Bulls 22 metre. As the Cavaliers sent the ball wide, former Springbok Bjorn Basson snapped the ball out of the air and had no one in front of him as he raced for the line and touched down.
Boland finally got onto the score board after the home side put the Bulls under far too much pressure. The Bulls defence just managed to hold off the probing Boland defence before Kotze sold a deceptive dummy and dove over the line.
Boland then equalled the score-line after a great run of play saw Danwell Demas cross the line in the corner and unfortunately for the home side, Kotze could not convert which would have given them the lead.
Schoeman scored the Bulls's third try and got them back into the lead, after he received the ball running across the field and cut inside to bamboozle the Boland defence and scored for his side.
Boland were not beaten yet and number eight Zandré Jordaan wrapped up a great attacking surge from the Boland to score on the wing.
The Wellington outfit then took the lead for the first time when the Blue Bulls tried to get out of their 22 metre but the ever-aware Theuns Kotze scored the second intercept try of the game after plucking the ball from the air mid-pass.
The Bulls managed to take the Boland forwards out of the game with a powerful scrum which sent them tracking back to the Boland five metre line, before the ball popped out of the scrum and Roelof Smit gathered the ball and made no mistake in dotting down for the try.
Rudy Paige with some good distribution skills from the base of the ruck found his forwards with an accurate pass before Hanro Liebenberg fended off his tackler on the wing and crashed over for the five pointer.
The Bulls scored another try from pressure at scrum time as Hanro Liebenberg barged over for the try after a big shove from the Bulls forwards on the Boland five metre line.
Scorers:
Boland
Tries: Kotze 2, Demas, Jordaan, Cons: Kotze 3, Yellow card: Hanekom
Blue Bulls:
Tries: Beyers, Basson, Schoeman, Smit, Liebenberg 2, Cons: Schoeman 3, Pens: Schoeman 2
