Strauss and Co save their best to snap run in Perth

Marcel Brache taken down by Adriaan Strauss. Photo: RICHARD WAINWRIGHT

Marcel Brache taken down by Adriaan Strauss. Photo: RICHARD WAINWRIGHT

Published Apr 30, 2016

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Pretoria - The Bulls begun their tour of Australia on a winning note as they outplayed and outwitted the Western Force 42-20 at nib Stadium on Friday.

The bonus-point win ended a four-year drought on Australian soil for the Pretoria outfit, and a six-year winless run against the Force in Perth.

But more than just rewriting the history books, the Bulls ensured that they remain abreast of the leading pack within the South African conference. Nollis Marais’ men are now equal on points (28) with the Stormers in the Africa 1, and are one point ahead of the Lions who are currently leading Africa 2 on 27 points.

While the Stormers and Lions have an opportunity to open a gap between themselves and the Bulls on Saturday when they play face the Waratahs and Hurricanes respectively, it is the Bulls who are proving to be the surprise package.

There was no surprise, though, in how they dismantled the Force as they did much of the damage up front with a powerful showing in the scrums, and an assured lineout laid the foundation for their driving mauls.

As much as it was a collective effort from the tireless work from the Bulls forwards to establish dominance, there was a notable contribution from captain Adriaan Strauss who carried the ball well and was even better at the point of breakdown.

Strauss has had a quiet season by his standards but he has seemingly reserved his best performance of the season for his side’s most important game so far, and his influence filtered down to his teammates.

Making his first Super Rugby start, lock Marvin Orie oozed confidence in the lineouts and made the right calls. But his biggest contribution was on defence, as he finished the match with the third-best tackling figures of 11 behind teammate Lappies Labuschagne (18) and Force skipper Matt Hodge (13).

Orie was not alone in putting in a massive defensive effort as the rest of the Bulls were outstanding in repelling the Force and limiting them to just two tries on the day.

“I think this was one of our best defensive performances and at times we did well to keep them out, especially when they were on our tryline. It was a real collective effort on defence,” Marais said.

But as good as the Bulls were on defence, they were even better with ball in hand as they ran in an impressive five tries. Inside centre Jan Serfontein scored a brace in what was also his best performance of 2016.

The Bulls ran with purpose and wit as Serfontein carved up the Force defence with ease and gained the visitors valuable yardage whenever they spread the ball to all corners of the ground.

“I am very happy with the result and the way we played for 80 minutes with the only disappointment being the two tries we allowed them to score,” Marais added.

“The win was good for us and I’m happy with Adriaan and Jan who played very well. We needed some of the senior guys to come through so that the youngsters can feed off them, and they played well with the rest of the guys following them.”

The Bulls have now won their last three matches and have stretched their unbeaten run to seven after losing the first game of their campaign to the Stormers.

Marais believes that the momentum his side has picked up in recent weeks will stand them in good stead ahead of their game against the Brumbies in Canberra next week.

“I’m really happy with the momentum we’ve built and this first win on tour was important to get the guys into the right mind because we are facing a big challenge with the Brumbies next week,” he said. “We will make sure we are properly prepared for what will be a much tougher task.”

Scorers

ForceTries: Matt Hodgson, Kyle Godwin. Conversions: Ian Prior (2). Penalties: Prior (2).

Bulls – Tries: Hanro Liebenberg, Jan Serfontein (2), Adriaan Strauss (2). Conversions: Francois Brummer (4). Penalties: Brummer (3).

Saturday Star

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