Cape Town - Three late tries saved Western Province from embarrassment as the Blue Bulls surged to a 45-26 bonus-point win in the Currie Cup opener at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.
The Bulls led 38-0 after 55 minutes in Pretoria as they over-ran Province with a heady mixture of power, pace and skill to run in five tries, but once the match had been won, WP scored four of their own in the last quarter to gain a bonus point.
Province dominated the early exchanges and had a surfeit possession in the opening quarter, but looked like they didn’t know what to do with the ball.
At one stage they went through 15 phases, most of them inside the Bulls 22, but had very little creativity in their backline as mainly one-off runners went straight into waiting defenders. Eventually the Bulls won a breakdown penalty and the danger was averted, and that was the last real scoring chance of the opening 40 minutes for the Cape side.
In sharp contrast, a much more urgent Bulls outfit overcame a back-pedalling scrum to leave Province chasing shadows. After flyhalf Tian Schoeman slotted an early penalty, they had to wait until the 19th minute to get another chance, and they made it count.
A brilliant turnover inside his own 22 by Bulls loosehead prop Pierre Schoeman saw the ball shifted wide quickly. Captain and No 8 Arno Botha broke the defensive line and surged forward, and waited until the right moment to put scrumhalf Piet van Zyl over the line.
That gave the dynamic Bulls belief, while Province’s heads dropped further as fullback Scott van Breda kicked the ball out on the full, while shaky flyhalf Robert du Preez missed touch with a penalty. Du Preez’s decision-making was all over the place as he didn’t take charge of the backline on attack, while his kicking out of hand was largely inaccurate, which wasted the forwards’ hard work in winning the ball.
The Province players looked like they had never met each other, despite boasting a number of Stormers who had trained together over a number of months. The Bulls capitalised fully on a disjointed WP side to score two tries in as many minutes before halftime.
The home side took a quick lineout that caught the WP defence napping, and lock Jason Jenkins rumbled through a tackle to score the second try.
A minute later, fellow second-rower Marvin Orie got on to the score-sheet as a ball-and-all tackle by Jamba Ulengo on Khanyo Ngcukana saw the ball squirt out, and the Bulls moved it quickly for Orie to walk over.
And the Bulls weren’t finished yet as soon after the break, right wing Jade Stighling danced around Van Breda to round off a delightful move.
At 31-0, it looked like the record books may have to be rewritten, and things didn’t get much better for WP as Bjorn Basson broke down the left flank and chipped in-field for Ulengo to gather and run in try No 5.
When replacement back Johnny Kotze finally opened Province’s account in the 62nd minute, it was too little too late, and consolation tries by Leolin Zas, Huw Jones– who showed off his terrific footwork once more – and Van Breda just papered over the cracks.
WP coach John Dobson sat with his face in his hands during the second half, and he will have to seriously rethink his selection and leadership group if Province are going to be title contenders in this Currie Cup.
POINTS-SCORERS
Blue Bulls– Tries: Piet van Zyl, Jason Jenkins, Marvin Orie, Jade Stighling, Jamba Ulengo, Bjorn Basson. Conversions: Tian Schoeman (6). Penalty: Tian Schoeman (1).
Western Province– Tries: Johnny Kotze, Leolin Zas, Huw Jones, Scott van Breda. Conversions: Brandon Thomson (3).