The Vodacom Bulls pulled off another Lazarus act as they came back from 17-5 down to beat Edinburgh 19-17 in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship match in the Scottish capital on Friday night.
The result is the Bulls’ first win in the URC in Edinburgh and while it backed up their win against French side Pau in the Investec Champions Cup last week to stop a seven-game losing streak, it was a tense, nerve-wracking win that won’t answer completely whether the Bulls have turned the corner and are on the right track after their poor run earlier in the season.
The victory came on the back of a rather controversial try, scored by Springbok Marco van Staden, that looked to be grounded, but was called held up by referee Gianluca Gnecci.
The Bulls players protested and Gnecci went upstairs to the television match official, who after watching several replays that didn’t seem to show clear evidence of a try, told him to overturn his initial decision and award the score to the Bulls.
The probability, watching it live, was that Van Staden had scored in any case, but there was a case that fellow Bok Boan Venter may have held him up in the movement and normally when television evidence is not conclusive, TMOs are hesitant to give tries.
BULLS HAD A BIT OF LUCK
It was a bit of luck that went the Bulls way after a performance that they will again say came down to desperation and guts, and where they certainly have a lot more work to do.
Because while there was so much good in the fightback, the Bulls were poor in several areas - not the least in their lineouts and protecting the ball in their rucks.
When they were on attack, a lack of patience turned several scoring opportunities into nothing.
They can, however, be very proud of their scramble defence, which stopped the linebreaks that came and allowed them to stave off more than the three tries scored.
Earlier in the season that may not have been the case, but this Bulls performance showed that there is still a lot of fight left in this side.
The Bulls will note that Edinburgh did seem to get away with taking a number of players away off the ball and were allowed to disrupt the Bulls' rucks a lot, but their own inability to put the hammer down when the momentum was in their favour is still a concern.
The side will have most of their eight injured Springboks back for their next match against the Lions, and will be hoping the bounce of back-to-back wins sets them up with some momentum for a good run in South Africa.
LOADS OF WORK STILL FOR BULLS
Still, the way they played in the first half gave Edinburgh a lot of belief, as players were passive on defence and Edinburgh were allowed to make some really good yards in the tackles, or evade tackles almost at will.
It wasn’t a surprise when the first attack saw the ball spread wide twice before Duhan van der Merwe got it into his hands to carry two Bulls players over the line and score.
The Bulls did hit back six minutes later with their first chance at a driving maul, after kicking a penalty to the corner and the lineout maul did their thing, rumbling downfield fast so that captain Marcell Coetzee could go over in a heap of bodies for the try.
Edinburgh continued making metres upfield, and were making them rather easy with pick and goes, with players marching towards the Bulls' line.
Despite some stern defence in the 17th minute, the Bulls eventually ran out of numbers as a mismatch saw Pierre Schoeman go through Cheswill Jooste’s tackle on him from close range to score.
The irony of two former Bulls’ players scoring tries for their adopted club against their former club may be lost on many, but certainly stood out in the first half.
The Bulls were the masters of their own demise with Edinburgh’s third try. After winning the ball, Kurt-Lee Arendse tried to run it up from inside his own 22 metre area, got caught and conceded a penalty for holding on.
Edinburgh kicked to the corner and assaulted the Bulls' line again, this time for prop D’arcy Rae to power over under the posts to give them a handy 17-5 lead at the break.
BETTER SECOND HALF
But the second half was to see some sterner stuff from the Bulls, even though they weren’t quite the well-oiled machine of last season.
It started with another dominant lineout maul in the 44th minute, where man of the match Johan Grobbelaar guided the maul from the back before breaking off and crashed over the line to bring the Bulls within five.
YOUR @Vodacom #URC Man of the Match 😍 pic.twitter.com/qLnbLEkzgF
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) January 23, 2026
It stayed that way for a long time in the second half as both sides struggled with the wind and driving rain, shadow boxing before Van Staden’s try broke the deadlock.
Handre Pollard put over the conversion to give the side the slimmest of leads, and then they needed to hold out for the last 10 minutes.
There was a massive sigh of relief when Darcy Graham got into space on the outside, only to grubber the ball forward and see it trundle over the sideline.
Pollard, dead centre. 🎯🐃
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) January 23, 2026
📺 Watch all URC matches LIVE on SuperSport 🏉@Vodacom #URC | #EDIvBU pic.twitter.com/2byYN8BC1P
SCRUM STEPPED UP
And when it mattered, it came back down to their scrum. The same one that dominated throughout the night and gave the Bulls something to cling to when all went wrong.
The reserve front row stepped up and won a superb penalty in the 79th minute, and for once the lineout worked well, and the Bulls closed the game out.
It may not be the turnaround their fans wanted, but after seven losses, back to back wins may feel almost like anything is possible.
What happens next is up to the Bulls, but they will return to South Africa buoyed by the results, and with the knowledge they can get themselves back into contention for a playoff spot.
Scorers
Edinburgh - tries: Duhan van der Merw, Pierre Schoeman, D’arcy Rae. Conversion: Ross Thompson.
Vodacom Bulls - tries: Marcell Coetzee, Johan Grobbelaar, Marco van Staden. Conversions: Handre Pollard (2)