Bulls ouplay Chiefs for bonus point victory in Hamilton
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Blue Bulls
The Bulls returned to the top of the Super 14 standings for now with their first ever win in Hamilton over the Chiefs, the 33-19 result denying the home side revenge for their hammering in last year’s final.
It was a Bulls performance that was as cynical as it was clinical as the defending champions restricted the Chiefs to penalty shots by disrupting play near their own line and kicked their way into safe territory for much of the second half before striking with a late, game-breaking try to hooker Gary Botha that made the result safe.
A further try to Dewald Potgieter three minutes from time gave the Bulls a crucial bonus point following first half efforts from Gerhard van den Heever and Pierre Spies. Brendon Leonard crossed early for the Chiefs but the Bulls ensured all other points would have to come from the boot of Stephen Donald, who racked up four penalties.
Morne Steyn kicked 13 points for the visitors despite missing a number of simple kicks by any kicker’s standards, but it was his basketball-style knock-down to inside runner van den Heever that got the Bulls off to a flying start in the 8th minute. Leonard’s response came immediately after when Steyn clumsily failed to field a grubber near his line.
Bulls scrumhalf Fourie de Preez rifled a pair of cutout passes to put the Bulls back on the front foot in a flowing first half, both of which created linebreaks. The latter landed on the chest of Spies, the fastest forward in the competition, and he gratefully dived over.
A string of Donald penalties either side of the break were the first back-to-back scores for one team and put the Chiefs in front as the Bulls disrupted any phases near their own line and came out with a new conservative kicking game. It worked to the extent that they stayed in touch with two strikes of their own and when du Preez decided it was time to run in the 67th minute, the hosts were caught unaware, allowing Botha to crash over soon after.
[Info from Scrum.com]
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