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Cheetahs v Bulls: As it happened
Goosen kicked four penalties and a drop goal in pouring rain to give his side a 15-9 victory and with that valuable momentum before their departure for their Australasian tour on Sunday.
The Cheetahs started at a frantic pace, wanting to rectify their mistakes against the Lions last weekend. They put the Bulls under pressure early on and that led to points for the home side.
The Cheetahs practised the drop goal scenario, the same one that cost them the game against the Lions, all week and Goosen chose that option as early as the second minute, slotting a good effort to give the hosts the early lead.
The hosts kept building on that pressure and Goosen also kicked a penalty in the sixth minute to stretch the lead to six points.
One area where the Cheetahs struggled early on was in the scrums.
After two free-kicks for delayed put-ins by scrumhalf Shaun Venter, they were pinned for scrumming on the angle. Bulls flyhalf Louis Fouché however missed with his attempt.
Fouché got a second bite of the cherry in the 23rd minute and slotted home a penalty kick to get the Bulls on the scoreboard for the first time.
It was not long however before Goosen got the chance to stretch the Cheetahs lead, kicking two penalties within five minutes.
In the last couple of minutes before half-time, the Bulls played some good attacking rugby, with stalwarts like lock Flip van der Merwe and prop Werner Kruger making good progress.
The Cheetahs defence held steady, even when the Bulls were awarded a scrum five metres from their tryline.
Fouché almost had the last say in the first half, but his kicking boot let him down once again and the Cheetahs ended the first half with a comfortable lead of 12-3.
The second half started with some aerial ping-pong between the sides before Fouché squandered another penalty attempt. He was replaced shortly thereafter by Handré Pollard and the Bulls backline started to look a little more attacking.
Pollard got the chance to reduce the deficit shortly after his appearance, but missed to the right for what was the third missed attempt for the Bulls.
Pollard finally got one right in the 52nd minute, kicking a much needed penalty to reduce the deficit to six points.
That inspired the Bulls to new heights, but Goosen again opened up the lead to nine points with a penalty in the 60th minute.
With the rain pouring down in the last 20 minutes, the Bulls started throwing the ball around. This however did not have the desired effect, with many passes going astray. The Cheetahs, with star playmaker Willie le Roux at the forefront, opted to play more tactically, putting kicks in behind to pin the visitors in their own half.
With the rain pouring down, the Cheetahs gave a huge defensive effort, with Pollard's final penalty in the 79th minute giving the Bulls a bonus point.
In next weekend's action, the Cheetahs head to Australia where they will tackle the Rebels in Melbourne, while the Bulls host the Lions in Pretoria.Scorers:
Cheetahs
Penalties: Johan Goosen (4)
Drop goal: Goosen
Bulls
Penalties: Handré Pollard (2), Louis Fouché
Teams:
Cheetahs
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Shaun Venter 8 Phillip van der Walt, 7 Lappies Labuschagné, 6 Boom Prinsloo, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Lodewyk de Jager, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Caylib Oosthuizen
Substitutes:16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Maks van Dyk, 19 Rynard Landman, 20 Jean Cook, 21 Sarel Pretorius, 22 Elgar Watts, 23 Rayno Benjamin
Bulls
15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht , 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Louis Fouché, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Jono Ross, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Flip van der Merwe (captain), 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Dean Greyling
Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Marcel van der Merwe ,19 Victor Matfield, 20 Wiaan Liebenberg, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Ulrich Beyers
