The Vodacom Blue Bulls continued their unbeaten streak in the Carling Currie Cup after they beat the NovaVit Griffons 55-21 at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.
The home side outscored the Griffons by nine tries to three to clinch the bonus-point victory, meaning that Phiwe Nomlomo's charges moved top of the standing to 26 points and have a three-point gap over second-place Fidelity ADT Lions who earlier on the day beat Airlink Pumas 55-12 at Emirates Airline Park.
FULL TIME at LOFTUS ⚡️🏆#BackTheBulls | #DefendTheHerd pic.twitter.com/14i0Ph4yLT
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) August 10, 2024
Blue Bulls left winger Sibongile Novuka drew first blood for the home side and finished off a brilliant set-piece try from the back of a lineout on the 22m line just five minutes into the game.
From then on it was one way traffic with the Bulls controlling the territory and ball possession.
They kept on knocking at the Griffons' door and camped in their half.
The immense continuous pressure led to former Springbok winger Cornall Hendricks crossing over for the Bulls' second try of the evening in the 24th minute after slicing through the Griffons' defence just a few metres from the whitewash.
Boeta Chamberlain did the honours and converted the try.
A few minutes later Novuka thought he had scored his brace and the Bulls' third, but the try was disallowed by referee Peter Martin after the TMO judged that Hendricks's last pass to Novuka close to the half metre line was forward.
That did not dampen the Bulls' spirit as they hit back immediately with a long-range try via Canan Moodie in the 29th minute but Chamberlain failed to convert.
TOUGH DAY AT THE OFFICE
With the Griffons dumbfounded by the Bulls' flurry of attacks, their captain Keanu Vers eventually scored his first Currie Cup try and opened their account for the evening, beating a plethora of defenders in the Bulls' 22m to cross the line.
Griffons' kicker Qhamani Kota slotted the easy conversion in front of the poles and made the score 24-7 with eight minutes till halftime.
The tough day at the office continued for the men from Welkom as Juann Else scored the Bulls' fourth try off a well-oiled driving maul from just outside Griffons' 22m.
The Bulls went to the break with a healthy 24-7 lead.
The halftime pep talk did not seem to have worked for the Griffons as the Bulls continued from where they had left off in the early stages of second half.
The Bulls showed great patience in their attack inside the Griffons territory and this eventually led to scrumhalf Zak Burger sniping in for a converted try in the 50th minute from a ruck that was five metres away from the scoring line.
Nine minutes later Lionel Mapoe added to the home side's try tally for the day after slicing through the Griffons' defence close to the line as well.
Substitute backline player Cheslin Arendse finished off a slick interchange off passes from the visitors for the Griffons' second try off the day.
But as it was the story of the evening, the Bulls managed strike back and halted the Griffons' momentum with Keagan Johannes crossing over the whitewash for the home side.
Curley Thomas scored another try for the Griffons, but it was a consolation one as the Bulls closed off proceedings with two tries from loose forward Nama Xaba and Novuka.
First Bulls try 🤝 Man of the Match
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 10, 2024
A beautiful assist from Mpilo Gumede secures Nama Xaba his first Curie Cup try 🤩🔥#CurrieCup pic.twitter.com/1fZskV6Q0y
SCORERS
Griffons: Tries - Keanu Vers, Cheslin Arendse, Curley Thomas Conversions - Qhamani Kota(3), Jaco Van der Walt(2)
Blue Bulls: Tries -Sibongile Novuka(2), Cornal Hendricks, Canan Moodie, Juann Else, Zak Burger, Lionel Mapoe, Keagan Johannes, Nama Xaba Conversions - Boeta Chemberlain (3)