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Bulls masters of their own Christmas demise

football14 December 2024 15:40
By:Brenden Nel
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Vodacom Bulls against the Northampton Saints © Gallo Images

The Vodacom Bulls campaign in the Investec Champions Cup hangs by a thread after they put up their worst performance of the season to go down 30-21 against English Premiership champions Northampton Saints on Saturday afternoon.

If December is part of the season of giving, it was the home side that was in a giving mood as they played Santa Claus and handed the Saints a famous victory at a ground teams normally struggle to win at.

The festive atmosphere may have got to the home side a bit, and to be fair they have been on the road for the past nine weeks, so it may not have been a surprise that the heat caught them as much as it did the Saints.

But there was little excuse for an afternoon where they had 67 per cent of the possession and 64 per cent of the territory and conspired to throw away six clear cut chances, allowing the Saints to go into halftime 12-7 ahead from scoring from the only two chances they had.

The Bulls had no less than three tries disallowed, while the Saints were extremely lucky with Tommy Freeman’s first score, as it looked as if the ball hadn’t been grounded properly. Either way, it seemed like a day where nothing would go right for the Bulls as they fluffed chance after chance, and made a mockery of their Loftus fortress tag.

There were a few spots of light in the darkness though. Cameron Hanekom’s performance in scoring two tries laughably got him the man of the match award. In truth it should have been given to Juardo Augustus, Henry Pollock or Tommy Freeman, as it normally goes to the winning side.

All three were massive for Northampton while Pollock, who is still 20, is seen as the next big thing in English rugby. On the evidence at Loftus you could see why.

HANEKOM THE BULLS HIGHLIGHT

Hanekom though, was exceptionally good, scoring two breakaway tries that on any other day would have been enough. His physicality, ability to break off the back of the scrum and make metres is something that will make him a firm favourite at Loftus, and no doubt in a Green and Gold jersey as well.

He was ably assisted by good performances by Marcell Coetzee, Gerhard Steenekamp and Wilco Louw, Akker van der Merwe and Devon Williams, who all did their part, but there was something seriously missing in the finishing touches on a hot, balmy day.

The fact that the heat hit the Bulls as badly as it did the Saints made it a bizarre, stop-start game, which would hardly be called a classic. But if anyone looks for a reason why the Bulls were beaten on the day that spotlight should fall firmly on the Bulls themselves.

STRANGE DECISIONS

Yes some of French referee Luc Ramos’ decisions were more than strange. The fact he yellow carded Emmanuel Iyogun after a half dozen Bulls scrum penalties was understandable, but after that he suddenly didn’t blow more than one scrum penalty the entire second half, and the dominance hadn’t changes.

The knock on he saw as Freeman tapped the ball back in an aerial challenge, with the game poised at 25-21 was a killer blow. Replays showed no such knock, and despite countless protests by Elrigh Louw, Ramos wasn’t interested. From the next play Freeman scored the knockout blow and while the Bulls were soundly beaten, it was hard not to ask what happened to TMO intervention for these errors, and there were more, but the man in the tv box was missing in action.

EXCEPTIONAL SAINTS PERFORMANCE

Still, you can’t take away from the Saints win. Coming on a balmy 35 degree summer afternoon to Pretoria and winning at altitude is some doing. The Bulls will kick themselves for this, and while they can still qualify through the back door, this victory will hurt in their ambitions to be seen as a big side in Europe.

Sides in this competition turn up for the big games, and as much as Jake White can bemoan the weather in the loss against Saracens, there simply is no excuse for losing at home in the summer heat with all the factors that should be in your favour.

The simple fact after this game is that the Bulls may be contenders in the URC but until they prove they can not let their own standards slip at home and perform against the odds abroad, they will always have questionmarks over their heads.

MISSED CHANCES

There will be so many Bulls supporters wondering how they weren’t ahead at halftime, despite the scrum penalties, and tries for Devon Williams, who went in at the corner after a looping pass from Embrose Papier, and Akker van der Merwe (obstruction), that weren’t allowed.

There was an open goalline that Johan Goosen dropped the pass that should have been a try, and a kick to the corner that evaded Williams as well - after it looked as if the Bulls should just run the ball into the goal area.

By contrast when Northampton had one chance, they stretched the Bulls wide and George Hendy scored.

Marcell Coetzee broke two tackles to even up the scores and after the yellow card, the Bulls were shocked again as a quick penalty saw Augustus go in at the corner.

The Bulls emerged better and had another try disallowed - this time when Canan Moodie and Willie le Roux both dived for a good chip from Goosen, and the TMO ruled it was knocked on before it was scored.

AWOL ON DEFENCE

Finn Smith pumped home a penalty when he got the chance to widen the score, and then the Bulls went awol on defence, with Freeman scoring off a simple lineout loop, even though there was doubt about the grounding.

Hanekom broke loose twice to run in and score untouched, giving the home side hope of a revival, but a Smith penalty and Freeman getting free down the touchline to score the knockout blow was criminal.

The way that the Saints celebrated at the end was clear they couldn’t believe their luck. They had rolled the dice at Loftus and won. It will go down as one of their biggest victories away from home.

The Bulls though, sit zero from two and contemplating an early exit from the Champions Cup. Loftus deserved a better Christmas present. But the Saints left with all the goodies they were handed.

Scorers

Vodacom Bulls - tries: Marcell Coetzee, Cameron Hanekom (2)

Conversions: Johan Goosen

Northampton Saints - tries: George Hendy, Juarno Augustus, Tommy Freeman (2)

Conversions: Finn Smith (2). Penalties: Smith (2)

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