Publications
Partners
Pretoria - The Bulls secured a hard-fought 39-33 victory over the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday to move in to the playoff places.
The men from Pretoria take a giant leap on the overall standings from 12th in to eighth place on the overall standings and in to the playoff places, leapfrogging the Sharks, Reds and Jaguares in the process.
The match was a great advert for South African rugby, with both sides playing at a high tempo with great width.
The Bulls have now done the double over the Sharks, following up their 40-10 victory in Round Eight in Durban with victory here.
The Bulls took the lead when Curwin Bosch was sin-binned for tripping up opposite number Warrick Gelant in the 10th minute, resulting in the Sharks having a try disallowed.
The Bulls opted for touch from the resulting penalty and their decision to do so was vindicated. The ball was taken off the lineout from the right touchline to the left where Jesse Kriel put in a wickedly bouncing grubber kick which deceived Makazole Mapimpi and was snaffled up by Warrick Gelant who gratefully accepted the gift, collecting and diving over for his sixth try of the season. Fly-half Handre Pollard slotted the conversion for a 7-0 lead.
Soon after, Kriel truned from creator to try-scorer when he spotted a hooker in front of him, threw a dummy and stepped his way through a floundering Sharks defence to dot down for a quickfire second as Pollard added the extras for a 14-0 lead.
But just five minutes later, the Sharks were right back in the game when Curwin Bosch received a defence-splitting offload from Tendai Mtawarira to sneak in under the poles. Sbu Nkosi had made the initial break, with Akker van der Merwe also instrumental in the build-up with an offload for the 'Beast'.
The topsy-turvy nature of the game, continued, however, as the Bulls reasserted their superiority and restored their lead when Travis Ismaiel did brilliantly to keep his body within the field of play and release the ball for Roelof Smit to pick up and dot down. Pollard's conversion made the score 19-7 to the Bulls with 27 minutes gone.
Soon after, RG Snyman received a yellow card for a late and unecessary hit on Robert du Preez with the Sharks immediately capitalising from the resulting penalty as flanker Jacques Vermeulen went over courtesy of a well-worked move at the front of the lineout straight from the training ground.
A 37th minute Pollard penalty extended the Bulls' lead to eight. But a Curwin Bosch penalty from inside his own half would cut the deficit to just five as the sides went in to the interval.
Akker van der Merwe did well to win a penalty for his side five minutes after half-time and fly-half Robert du Preez made no mistake from the tee as the Sharks moved to within just two points of the Bulls, trailing 20-22.
Soon after, Robert du Preez put the Sharks in to the lead for the first time in the match with another well-struck penalty.
This sparked the Bulls in to a response as they immeditely upped the ante, taking the ball the width of the field and stretching the Sharks defence before Jonny Kotze dotted down in the left-hand corner after great combination play between Kriel and Gelant. Pollard's conversion made it 29-23 to the Bulls after 55 minutes as the home side regained the lead.
And the Bulls extended their lead after some relentless pressure. Kriel was halted inches short by a good last-ditch tackle from Nkosi. The ball was recycled to Lood de Jager, who capped a superb individual performance with a try, showing good control and reach with the finish to dot down one-handed.
The Sharks' cause wasn't aided when Lukhanyo Am received a yellow card for tackling the player in the air as Pollard took the lead out to 39-23 with the resulting penalty.
Shortly afterwards, the Sharks scored their third through Jean-Luc du Preez after good interplay between backs and forwards to set him on his way over the line. Robert du Preez's conversion meant the Sharks were nine points behind at 39-30 with ten minutes to go.
Although the Sharks were unable to come back, Robert Du Preez would ensure they at least took a losing bonus-point from the game with a penalty which closed out matters at 39-33 in the end.
Scorers:
Bulls 39 (22)
Tries: Warrick Gelant, Jessie Kriel (2), Roelof Smit, Jonny Kotze, Lood de Jager
Conversions: Handre Pollard (4)
Penalty: Pollard
Sharks 33 (17)
Tries: Curwin Bosch, Jacques Vermeulen, Jean-Luc du Preez
Conversions: Robert du Preez (2)
Penalties: Du Preez (3), Curwin Bosch
Teams:
Bulls
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal (captain), 11 Johnny Kotze, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Marco van Staden, 7 Jason Jenkins, 6 Roelof Smit, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Lizo GqobokaSubstitutes: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Frans van Wyk/Nqoba Mxoli, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Thembelani Bholi, 20 Nic de Jager, 21 Andre Warner, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Divan Rossouw
Sharks
15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Cameron Wright, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Ruan Botha (captain), 4 Tyler Paul, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Ross Geldenhuys, 19 Stephan Lewies, 20 Wian Vosloo, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Lwazi Mvovo
