Bulls make heavy weather of beating 14-man Pumas

The Vodacom Bulls made heavy weather of it but scored 19 unanswered points in the second half to come from behind and beat a 14-man Airlink Pumas side 31-26 in their Carling Currie Cup match at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

The Bulls had the majority of possession and looked the better side throughout, but couldn’t put the Pumas away despite having a one-man advantage for almost 50 minutes in the game and at times a two-man advantage when the Pumas had their second yellow card of the night.

It would have been a frustrating time for coach Gert Smal as his young charges did a lot of things right, but couldn’t plant a knockout blow against a side that played with exceptional heart but were let down by their own discipline in the 80 minutes.

Considering the Pumas also had a try disallowed for a flying wedge, they would have been proud of coming so close against the odds and had their discipline been better, they could easily have scored an upset win against the Bulls.

As it is, the two points they got on the night could be valuable as the competition heads into the final few weeks while the Bulls took another step towards claming top spot, with only the Toyota Cheetahs, who are still unbeaten before the weekend’s games, being able to overhaul them.

Either way, the Bulls youngsters still have a lot to learn about being streetwise against a Pumas side that found ways to stay in the game despite the disadvantages they had numerically.

HAT-TRICK OF TRIES

There was a hat-trick for Pumas winger Sebastian de Klerk in the first half and despite the red card to Thinus de Beer, the Pumas went into halftime 26-12 in front, only to be caught in the second half and not receive any points for their effort.

De Klerk’s first was a regulation score in the corner after the forwards had paved the way for him, but the second was a gut punch that the Bulls didn’t expect to get.

On attack in the Pumas’ 22, the pass to Stedman Gans was forced, bounced forward and was kicked ahead by Devon Williams to bounce perfectly for De Klerk to pounce and score what amounted to a 95 metre try.

Just the Airlink Pumas scoring a try that started behind their own tryline ??

Take a bow, definite try of the season contender ??#CarlingCurrieCup pic.twitter.com/U4d4wKdF2P
— SuperSport ?? (@SuperSportTV) May 27, 2022

The Bulls' forwards dominance was rewarded for the first time when they took a rolling maul over the line, which was stopped illegally, and referee Marius van der Westhuizen gave a penalty try, sending the same De Klerk to the bin for entering the maul from the side.

Two minutes later the Pumas hit back as their forwards made inroads and Eduard Swart went over from the back of a maul.

But then things got bad for the visitors as the Kriel brothers combined on the near right hand side of the field for the elder David to score, but in the process the younger brother Richard was airlifted above the horizontal in the tackle and dumped on his neck, prompting an automatic red card.

As the night was to turn out, it didn’t stop the Pumas from rattling the Bulls and the younger Kriel gifted De Klerk his hat-trick shortly afterwards with a poor clearance kick that was charged down for the winger to score.

NOT THE PUMAS' NIGHT

The Bulls made their intent clear in the second half as debutant Ruan Vermaak went over to score thanks to a great pass from Sydney Tobias in the lead-up, and for once the luck went their way as a dropped ball was grubbered through by James Verity-Amm, who had a great evening on the field, for the fullback to run 70 metres to score.

With the scores level and the Bulls scrum dominating it looked as if they would run away with the match, but the Pumas kept them in check.

It took a try in the corner by David Kriel to get them ahead, but they were never certain of victory until right until the end.

When the Pumas’ try was disallowed in the 66th minute it seemed it wasn’t going to be their night.

But they pushed the Bulls hard, and almost got over the line several times in the final minutes.

The young Bulls side held out, but they were far from impressive and it showed just how much fight is left in the Pumas.

#BULvPUM
FT: It was a very close game, as expected. Both sides gave as good as they received. In the end, it is the home side, the Vodacom Bulls, that claim a 31-26 victory over the Airlink Pumas.
Well done, boys! #TrueToTheBlue @Vodacom @TheCurrieCup pic.twitter.com/6c9oOt82kB
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) May 27, 2022