Cape Town — Despite the incessant rain at Loftus Versfeld, the Bulls and Sharks still tried to create a Currie Cup spectacle, and it was the Pretoria team who emerged 35-21 victors on Wednesday night.
Captain Arno Botha scored the decisive try around the hour mark, and the home side held on in the final quarter to record a bonus-point triumph.
But both outfits deserve credit for the way they tried to keep the ball-in-hand, making offloads in the tackle and adopting a positive mindset in difficult, slippery conditions.
The Durbanites were quick out of the blocks, with the forwards giving them momentum with a series of pick and go carries, before flyhalf Jordan Chait put centre Murray Koster over in the second minute.
The Sharks were dominant in the scrum as well, with loosehead prop Wiehahn Herbst giving Bulls rookie tighthead Kowie Roos a true examination in the set-piece.
But it wasn’t long before Gert Smal’s team hit back. Wing Canan Moodie did well to catch a Morné Steyn cross-kick on the right, before centre Harold Vorster delivered a perfect grubber that in-form No 11 Madosh Tambwe gobbled up to dot down.
Chait put the visitors ahead with a penalty to make it 8-7, but then the Bulls nearly scored the try of the match, as multiple offloads ended up with scrumhalf Keagan Johannes just needed to catch the ball and score. Unfortunately, he was unable to hold onto the slippery ball, and the opportunity was lost.
The Sharks, though, were punished for their ill-discipline as they conceded two yellow cards in as many minutes – No 8 Celimpilo Gumede for foul play, and then lock Hyron Andrews for collapsing a maul, which led to a Bulls penalty try.
But once they were back to 15 players, coach Etienne Fynn’s team charged back into the game. Chait slotted another three-pointer, and then former Bulls utility back Marnus Potgieter showed good pace and strength to score off a Yaw Penxe offload.
Suddenly the Sharks were leading 18-14 at halftime, but their advantage didn’t last long. Johannes made up for his earlier mistake by finishing off a terrific line-break by Vorster to put the Bulls 21-18 up, and even though Inny Radebe levelled the scores with a penalty, the Sharks were on the back foot.
Steyn strangely missed two goal-kicks in a row, but that didn’t deter the Bulls from taking the fight to the Sharks. With courageous fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse setting the tone with a number of thrilling runs, they kept on testing the Sharks defence, and the black-and-white wall came tumbling down when Botha forced his way over.
Elrigh Louw completed a commanding display with a typically barn-storming surge to score the fifth Bulls try, and the Sharks’ unbeaten run came to an end.
Points-Scorers
Bulls 35 – Tries: Madosh Tambwe, Penalty Try, Keagan Johannes, Arno Botha, Elrigh Louw. Conversions: Morné Steyn (4).
Sharks 21 – Tries: Murray Koster, Marnus Potgieter. Conversion: Jordan Chait (1). Penalties: Chait (2), Inny Radebe (1).
IOL Sport