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Cape Town - The Bulls' Super Rugby playoffs hopes suffered a blow when they went down to the Chiefs in their clash in Rotorua on Friday.
As it happened: Chiefs v Bulls
The Chiefs won 34-20 after the scores were dead-locked at 15-all at half-time.
The Chiefs scored five tries through flank Liam Messam, wing Bryce Heem, scrumhalf Augustine Pulu (2) and replacement back Tim Nanai-Williams. Flyhalf Damian McKenzie was on target with three conversions and a penalty.
The Bulls replied with two of the more fortunate tries seen in this year's Super Rugby by centre Jan Serfontein and wing Bjorn Basson, and a rolling maul five-pointer by replacement Lappies Labuschagne. Flyhalf Handre Pollard, who had an off-night with the boot, added a conversion and a penalty.
The Chiefs picked up a full-house of five points for their victory, but stayed second in the New Zealand Conference and fourth in the Overall standings.
The Bulls left empty-handed, but stayed top of the South African Conference and third in the Overall log
In next weekend's Round 16 action, the Chiefs travel to Invercargill to face the Highlanders (Saturday, May 30 at 09:35), while the Bulls head for Canberra to tackle the Brumbies (Friday, May 29 at 11:40).
Teams:
Chiefs15 Tom Marshall, 14 Hosea Gear, 13 Charlie Ngatai, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Bryce Heem, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Augustine Pulu, 8 Michael Leitch, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Messam (captain), 5 Johan Bardoul, 4 Michael Fitzgerald/Ross Filipo, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Hika Elliot, 1 Mitchell Graham
Substitutes: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Siate Tokolahi, 18 Pauliasi Manu, 19 Brian Alainu'uese, 20 Maama Vaipulu, 21 Brad Weber, 22 Andrew Horrell, 23 Tim Nanai-Williams
Bulls
15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Pierre Spies (captain), 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Flip van de Merwe, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Trevor Nyakane
Substitutes: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Dean Greyling, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Arno Botha, 20 Lappies Labuschagne, 21 Burger Odendaal, 22 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 23 Travis Ismaiel
