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Cape Town - The Bulls ended their Australasian tour winless and saw their hopes of reaching this year's Super Rugby playoffs extinguished when they crashed to defeat against the Rebels in Melbourne on Saturday.
As it happened: Rebels v Bulls
The Rebels won 21-20 after the Bulls led 17-14 at half-time.
The Rebels scored three tries through flank Sean McMahon, flyhalf Jack Debreczeni and lock Lopeti Timani. Fullback Mike Harris was on target with all three conversions.
The Bulls replied with tries by prop Dean Greyling and flank Lappies Labuschagne. Flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter added both conversions and two penalties.
The Rebels picked up four points for their victory, but stayed third in the Australian Conference and 10th in the Overall standings.
The Bulls picked up a single point for losing by seven or fewer points, but stayed third in the South African Conference. They did however move temporarily into eighth spot in the Overall log, but too far adrift of any possibility of reaching the playoffs and adding a fourth Super Rugby title to their collection.
In next weekend's Round 18 action, the Rebels host the Force in Melbourne (Friday, June 12 at 11:40), while the Bulls welcome the Cheetahs to Loftus Versfeld (Saturday, June 13 at 17:05).
Teams:
Rebels
15 Mike Harris, 14 Dom Shipperley, 13 Tamati Ellison, 12 Mitch Inman, 11 Cam Crawford, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 9 Nic Stirzaker, 8 Scott Higginbotham (captain), 7 Colby Fainga’a, 6 Sean McMahon, 5 Lopeti Timani, 4 Luke Jones, 3 Paul Alo-Emile, 2 Pat Leafa, 1 Toby Smith
Substitutes: 16 Tom Sexton, 17 Cruze Ah-Nau, 18 Tim Metcher, 19 Sam Jeffries, 20 Jordy Reid, 21 Ben Meehan, 22 Bryce Hegarty, 23 Tom English
Bulls
15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Travis Ismaiel, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Pierre Spies (captain), 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Lappies Labuschagne, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Dean Greyling
Substitutes: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Grant Hattingh, 20 Arno Botha, 21 Tian Schoeman, 22 Bjorn Basson, 23 Jurgen Visser
