It took the Vodacom Bulls just an hour to confirm their passage to Treviso for next weekend’s Rainbow Cup final against Benetton as they maintained their recent dominance over the Cell C Sharks with a comprehensive 34-22 win at Jonsson King’s Park in Durban on Saturday.
It was on the hour mark that the Bulls crossed for their fourth try, with debutant lock Janko Swanepoel dotting down.
And as that was all the Bulls needed to ensure they would end the South African leg of the Rainbow Cup on top of the log, meaning a solitary bonus point, that meant that all speculation on who would be going to Italy was ended there and then.
Although Marco van Staden was carded not long after and then fellow Springbok Trevor Nyakane after that for repeated Bulls infringements on defence, the 32-15 lead that the visitors had built up at that point was never going to be erased as the Bulls confirmed once again that they are the best team in South Africa and worthy representatives in next week’s north/south final.
The Sharks did start with intent and if you hadn’t seen this movie before when it comes to the Bulls, you might have scratched your head in bewilderment that it was the Bulls who were ahead by three points (13-10) at halftime.
Had the Sharks converted their scoring opportunities, they could have been well in front at the halfway point.
As anticipated, the Bulls had the early ascendancy in the set-scrums and used that avenue to exert the early pressure on the Sharks.
However, the Sharks were good in every other aspect of forward play, with the two loose-forwards, No 8 Phepsi Buthelezi and blindside flank Thembelani Bholi, both delivering stand-out performances as the Sharks spent most of the first 40 minutes in Bulls territory.
Not far behind them was lock JJ van der Mescht, who dotted down the first Sharks try as the forwards drove over the Bulls’ line in the 28th minute.
That score and Curwin Bosch’s conversion enabled the Sharks to take the lead for the first time in the game after Morne Steyn, who did miss an easy kick early in the game, had given his team a 6-0 lead with two penalties.
GAME WON AND LOST IN CRUCIAL 10-MINUTE PERIOD
If the Sharks were going to win the game and achieve their objective of doing so with a bonus point, they needed to get more out of the next 10 minutes of the game than they did.
It was in that period that they had a couple of chances of scoring, with on one occasion Bholi having the ball dislodged from his grasp as he was going over the line, and had they done so, thus making it two tries to nil and more than a seven-point advantage, their goal of spending next week in Italy might have become a realistic one.
But not for nothing are the Bull renowned for their ability to win the big moments, which is one of the main reasons people say they have championship qualities.
And sure enough, they did that as Cornal Hendricks profited from an Ivan van Zyl charge down as the Sharks built up yet another attack in the Bulls half and the former Springbok win won the foot race against Curwin Bosch to cross for a crucial score in the context of the game.
Instead of the Sharks having two tries and holding an eight-point lead, it was the Bulls who were propelled back into their six-point lead from before the Van der Mescht try.
GOOD SECOND-HALF TEAM
And although Bosch did kick a penalty as the Sharks continued to impress with their driving off the lineouts and some other aspects of forward play they weren’t expected to do well at, the Bulls leading by three points at halftime was bad news given their reputation for being a good second-half team.
Time and again since Jake White took over as coach, the Bulls have stepped up a gear after halftime, and they did so again.
Their territorial ascendancy paid off when fullback David Kriel took a clever tap penalty under the Sharks’ post to score the second try for his team 10 minutes into the half.
The Sharks did strike back with a good try finished by Siya Kolisi and created by Lukhanyo Am and Werner Kok to give them a flicker of hope.
But when Stravino Jacobs ran off scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl off a set-move which had an attacking lineout as it’s platform to go over untouched near the posts, the Bulls had opened a 12-point lead.
JACOBS TRY EXTINGUISED SHARKS HOPES
The Sharks obviously needed to win by more than seven in addition to scoring four tries if they still wanted to go to Italy, so in terms of that objective it was really with that try that the Sharks’ hopes were extinguished.
But it was Swanepoel’s try at the start of the last quarter that confirmed it.
The Sharks did profit from the period when the Bulls were down to 13 men by scoring a good try to Anthony Volmink in the left corner after 71 minutes but it was no more than a consolation effort on a night where the hosts were well beaten.
SCORES
Vodacom Bulls 34 - Tries: Cornal Hendricks, David Kriel, Stravino Jacobs and Janko Swanepoel; Conversions: Morne Steyn 4; Penalties: Morne Steyn 2.
Cell C Sharks 22 - Tries: JJ van der Mescht, Siya Kolisi and Anthony Volmink; Conversions: Curwin Bosch and Manie Libbok; Penalty: Curwin Bosch.