Bulls flyer Sergeal Petersen celebrates on his way to the tryline in their United Rugby Championship match against Benetton.
Image: Backpagepix
It was not quite the massacre that many had anticipated, but the bottom line is that the Bulls banked the five log points they needed from their Benetton encounter to ensure they will play their United Rugby Championship quarter-final in Pretoria.
The Bulls scored seven impressive tries in the 45–19 win, but Benetton showed grit and scored three of their own.
It took the Bulls just three minutes to get their first try — Canan Moodie split the defence and his run set up Sergeal Petersen to score at the corner flag. It was 14–0 after 12 minutes when a penalty kicked to the corner a few phases later saw Handre Pollard put Willie le Roux through a gap for a dart to the posts.
Benetton are packed with proud Italian internationals and were never going to roll over and die. They fought hard, and Louis Lynagh scored as the first quarter ended. Ominously, the Bulls’ scrum was gaining in ascendancy, and when Pollard kicked a scrum penalty to the corner, it was virtually guaranteed that Johan Grobbelaar would go over off the back of a maul. Some things in rugby are a given. Having said that, Pollard promptly fluffed a sitter of a conversion.
Still, at 19–5 after half an hour, the Bulls were just about over the hills and far away. That appeared to be the case shortly before half-time when a kick to the Benetton 22 produced the inevitable. This time, inside centre Harold Vorster made the running and offloaded to support runner Ruan Nortje, and the captain barged over. However, tiresome TMO deliberations suggested Embrose Papier might have brushed the ball forward at a ruck in the build-up, and the try was cancelled.
Almost to prove a point, Papier, a minute later, sniped through a gap near the try-line and dotted down, but, believe it or not, the TMO once more intervened and ruled that the scrum-half had inched the ball forward at a ruck. But the frustrated Bulls maintained their territory, and this time, burly Cobus Wiese took the TMO out of the occasion by picking the ball up in two meaty paws and blasting over.
However, the visitors had the last say in the half — on the hooter, fly-half Rhyno Smith — who had moved from 15 to 10 for the suspended Jacob Umaga — burst through a gap near the half-way line and scampered to the posts.
And there was stillness in the crowd when Benetton scored the first points of the second half. Again, it was Paarl Boys' High product Smith who did the business. This time, a strong run set up Lynagh for his second try, creating a tight 26–19 scoreline after 47 minutes.
The contest remained tight for the next ten minutes until a sweeping Bulls backline movement saw Petersen cut in from the openside touchline and take a pass that split the defence wide open. He showed immense pace to sprint 40 metres to the line.
Shortly after the restart, the Benetton rebellion was fully quelled when replacement flanker Mpilo Gumede picked up and dived over off the back of a ruck near the visitors’ try-line. Nortje, denied a score in the first half, struck the final nail in the coffin with a well-deserved try five minutes from time.
Point-scorers:
Bulls — Tries: Sergeal Petersen (2), Willie le Roux, Johan Grobbelaar, Cobus Wiese, Mpilo Gumede, Ruan Nortje. Conversions: Handre Pollard (5).
Benetton — Tries: Louis Lynagh (2), Rhyno Smith. Conversions: Smith (2)