DURBAN – For long periods of this game, it looked like the plucky Pumas would bring the Bulls crashing down to earth in Nelspruit but the champions showed true grit to find a way back from a 14-26 deficit with 15 minutes to go to triumph 33-26.
The Pumas had undergone 11 changes from the side that had drawn with Western Province at Newlands on Sunday but their depth did a fine job in stretching the Bulls to their limit.
The Bulls could do no right at the breakdowns and felt the full blast of referee Aimee Barrett-Theron’s whistle — again and again. In the first half, the Bulls were penalised eight times (to four against the Pumas), all of them at the breakdown, either for holding on or the tackler not rolling away.
So there was no debate as to what Jake White’s half-time talk would be about when his team went into the shed 14-16 down, not that the Bulls were vastly improved in this area in the second half.
The Pumas started the match like a house on fire and after a succession of penalties in the Bulls 22, flank Neil Otto crashed over for the opening score and a conversion and a penalty later, they were leading 10-0 after five minutes.
The first quarter of the game ended with the Bulls finally getting on to the board via a maul try to hooker Schalk Erasmus, and ten minutes later they took the lead when a slick, multi-phase build-up ultimately saw Stravino Jacobs cruise over unmarked.
Two penalties by Eddie Fouche gave the Pumas the half-time lead and when they lost centre Alwayno Jacobs to a yellow card for a high tackle, it seemed the Bulls would take control but, instead, wing Sebastian de Klerk pounced on a Bulls pass on the Pumas line and ran the length of the field for an effective 14-point turnaround.
Jacob’s opposite number, Stedman Gans, was then sin-binned for the same offence and Fouche pushed his side into what appeared to be an unassailable 26-14 lead.
But the Bulls dug deep and maul tries by Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Mornay Smith, plus a penalty try — awarded when a Bulls scrum advancing towards the tryline was illegally stopped — got the Bulls back in the game and then over the line.
Scorers
Bulls: 33 – Tries: Schalk Erasmus, Stravino Jacobs, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Penalty Try, Mornay Smith. Conversions: Johan Goosen (2), Chris Smith.
Pumas: 26 – Tries: Niel Otto, Sebastian de Klerk. Conversions: Neil Marais, Eddie Fouche. Penalties: Neil Marais, Eddie Fouche (4)
IOL Sport