Pretoria - The Bulls may have momentarily moved to the top of the South African conference courtesy of a bonus point, but their play-off aspirations took a serious dent after their 23-18 loss at the hands of the Blues in Auckland on Friday.
It is possible that the Bulls could still finish the weekend on top of the SA standings depending on the outcome of the encounter between the Lions and Brumbies on Saturday.
But their biggest concern will be how they failed to seize an opportunity to win their first game abroad in two seasons.
The self-inflicted loss to the Blues was the Bulls’ eighth consecutive defeat in Australasia, with their last win abroad back in the 2013 season, ironically against the Blues at Eden Park.
Bulls coach Frans Ludeke on Friday conceded that their failure to capitalise on the overwhelming possession and territory, especially in the first half, was their undoing.
For most of the first half, the Bulls had managed to lock the Blues in a vice grip that had the hosts pinned deep in their half.
And with the Blues buckling under the pressure from the Bulls rolling maul, it seemed inevitable that the visitors would cruise to an easy victory.
However, the men from Pretoria found a way of turning matters against themselves, as they tripped over their own feet with the tryline at their mercy on numerous occasions.
If it was not an obstruction from a rolling maul with the try having been scored, then it was the failure of their backs to make that decisive final pass that had try written all over it.
The Bulls dominated the scrums, with Trevor Nyakane again the anchor of the set-piece, while Adriaan Strauss and Marcel van der Merwe were clinical in their timing of the hit and getting enough power in their legs to shunt the Blues pack backwards.
But with all their dominance, the Bulls seemed to have a phobia for scoring, and constantly left the Blues with a glimmer of hope.
“We dominated the game especially in that first half. Our maul functioned effectively and we were unlucky not to get a lot of reward from it,” Ludeke said. “We stayed in the game throughout and we were positive that we could get something from the maul, but we didn’t which was a real pity. I believe we were good enough to win on the night but our execution wasn’t there.”
What compounded the Bulls’ woes was the ease with which the Blues were able to pick points off them.
The Bulls defence looked brittle, especially against the hard-running and elusive attacks by the Blues backs led by centre George Moala, who scored the winning try in the 67th minute, and the lapses in concentration at crucial times ultimately led to their demise.
Every time the Bulls bagged points they left the backdoor open, and the Blues waltzed through and were given the freedom of the park in striking back with points of their own.
In the end, it was their persistence, and the Bulls keeping them alive in the game, that handed the Blues victory and left the Bulls’ tour in tatters, with serious doubts about their ability to overcome the pressures of playing themselves into play-off contention.
“It is crucial that we stay in the race and win our next game on tour,” said Ludeke.
“The opportunities were there but we didn’t convert them. It doesn’t get easier on tour and we are getting more desperate.”
l The Reds piled on 40 unanswered points in a 33-minute blitz to come from behind and thrash the Rebels 46-29 in Brisbane.
Trailing 17-6 just before the halftime break, the Reds turned the match around with a brilliant display of running rugby, crossing for six, quick tries.
The Rebels, who would have gone to the top of the Australian conference standings with a win, did pick up a four-try bonus point, but had no answer to the Reds’ onslaught, suffering their sixth loss of the year.
“What can you do, we just didn’t have the ball for about 30 minutes in that second half,” Rebels captain Scott Higginbotham said. “That what’s good sides do, they can turn the table, stop your momentum and turn it to their own advantage.”
For the Reds, it was just their third win of a poor season, but enough to lift them off the bottom of the standings.
“We had to stick to our game plan. It was just about looking at everyone’s own backyard rather than pointing fingers,” Reds skipper and prop forward James Slipper said.
“We just dumbed everything down and did the basics right. We came out on top, but it’s still been a tough year.”
Saturday Star