Bulls defeat Sharks 23 – 32 at Kings Park to keep their play-off hopes alive – Rugby news
Bulls defeated Sharks 23 – 32 in front of the Kings Park Stadium crowd at Durban to increase their chances of securing a place in the play-offs. Bulls are defending Super Rugby champions and this is their second win over the South African conference rivals
Sharks in the Super XV.
Bulls have retained their eighth position in the combined table while Sharks slipped by two points after their super xv round 15 encounter on Saturday, May 21.
Bulls started the game aggressively and that was their strategy throughout the match. Bulls’ aggressive attack paralyzed the Sharks as they slowly responded to their adversary’s advances. The Bulls won an early penalty on which their fly half, Morne Steyn,
capitalised and put the first points on the board during the first minute of the match. His squad displayed some exceptional kicking, ball handling and territory possession as they slowly started to dominate the proceedings.
Bulls winger, Francois Hougaard, set off for a try after winning the line out to score the first try of the match in the 7th minute. Steyn followed by his conversion to leave the hosts trailing by 10 points.
Sharks managed to reduce the lead by three points courtesy of their fly half Patrick Lambie’s 11th minute penalty. Bulls on the other hand were reluctant to ease the pressure off the Sharks defence. Bulls lock, JP Botha, scored the second try of the match
during the 14th minute followed by the Steyn’s conversion to leave the scorecard reading 17 – 3 in favour of Bulls at the end of the 1st quarter .
Lambie scored his penalty of the game during the 17th minute as Sharks attack found it hard to keep ball possession. Steyn replied for Bulls with a penalty in the 21st minute. In the following passage of the game, both teams fought
for the ball and territory possession. However, only Bulls were able to score courtesy of Steyn’s 34th minute drop goal which took the score to 23 – 6. The score remained the same until the end of the first half.
Both teams started the second half trying to put the other side under the pressure. Bulls enjoyed temporary success as their fly half scored their first points of the second half with his 46th minute penalty.
Sharks managed to give their fans something to cheer about as their hooker, Bismarck du Plessis, crossed the tryline to score Sharks first try of the match during the 53rd minute of the game. Lambie followed with a conversion and his 59th
minute penalty to take the scorecard reading 16 – 26.
Bulls extended the lead as their fly half scored penalties during 62nd and 67th minute. Sharks in the remaining time tried their best to reduce the lead and earn the losing bonus point from the match. However, Bulls denied them from
doing so.
Sharks in the remaining 13th minutes of the game managed to score a try courtesy of their centre Adrian Jacobs and Lambie’s conversion in the 74th and 75th minute respectively.
Bulls will now host the Cheetahs at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday May 28, while on same day Sharks will host the Waratahs.
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