It wasn’t always their best rugby, but it was still good enough to get the job done as the Vodacom Bulls powered to a 54-19 win over Italian strugglers Zebre Parma in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
With the victory, and the obligatory bonus point, the Bulls moved temporarily into third spot on the log, although that is likely to change after the later games have been played.
Still, they have set themselves up for a crack at a top four spot next weekend in the final league fixture against Benetton after this win.
And yes, they got the job done at Loftus Versfeld. Playing against a gutsy Zebre side that is firmly rooted at the bottom of the table, this was always going to be a tricky fixture for the Bulls.
Tricky in the fact that unless they won and won well, there would be criticism. Tricky because fixtures of this nature tend to let players stray away from game plans and get too loose. Tricky because everyone expects a big win and anything but that can seem like a disappointment.
On all the boxes they needed to tick, they did. The win, the bonus point and few injuries from an early afternoon outing at Loftus Versfeld would have put a smile on Johan Ackermann’s face.
And yes, there were still plenty of work-ons, plenty of things that could have gone better and which would have inflated the scoreline even more.
But as these games often go, these are best left for the what could have been column.
JOB DONE
The point is, the Bulls came to do a job, get five points and move on and here they succeeded.
That isn’t to say there weren’t times that Zebre looked dangerous and showed them up. The experiment with the front row was far from flawless, the Bulls didn’t get the scrum dominance they normally did, and for a large part of the latter first half and eary second half they were on the back foot.
But they were never troubled on the scoreline, and they never looked like even giving Zebre a sniff of winning.
The forward pack, in general, had the upper hand, especially in the final 20 minutes, while the backline scored some superb tries. Willie le Roux added 19 points alone and showed as a stand in, he isn’t half bad at 10.
Canan Moodie had a sensational game, and could easily have won the man of the match award, although it wasn’t surprising that it went to Cameron Hanekom, physical as ever around the breakdown and impressive on attack.
Jeandre Rudolph’s dream season continued as he made a big impact as well, leaving Ackermann with a lot of food for thought ahead of the playoffs.
While it wasn’t as contentious as the Stormers game, the first try also attracted a lot of interest, after Canan Moodie’s busting run from his own tryline saw an inside pass picked up on the bounce by Willie le Roux to score.
OVERRULED TMO
While the celebrations were going on, the TMO called a forward pass from Moodie, and with nothing on the big screen, referee Ben Whitehouse scratched the try, only to stop proceedings when the replay appeared and overruled the TMO, saying he thought the pass was good and the try for Le Roux stood.
It was a strange moment in a game where there was very little niggle, and where the Bulls squandered several opportunities. Cheswill Jooste was held up in the ninth minute over the line but Moodie got his try shortly afterwards, courtesy of Sergeal Petersen ghosting through a defensive hole before sending the ball his way.
Moodie did throw an intercept pass when trying to break out of the 22 for a long range attack, passing the ball to Jacopo Trulla, who never was going to be stopped to the tryline and put Zebre on the board.
It didn’t stop the Bulls though. A lineout move and a drifting Kurt-Lee Arendse drew the backline defence enough to send Jooste through for try No 3, one that seemed almost too easy.
Petersen got the bonus point try on the half hour mark, again thanks to the Bulls moving the ball through the hands with enough pace to beat the defence.
But then four penalties in a row put them on the back foot and it wasn’t long before Zebre would find a hole, with Giampietro Ribaldi going over on the stroke of halftime.
Zebre were competitive at the start of the second half and there was a moment where they looked as if they were going to close down the scoreline gap, only for the Bulls to turn a turnover attack into gold as Harold Vorster grubbered the ball through for Ruan Vermaak to pick up and go over untouched.
BULLS PULLED AWAY
From that moment on, it seemed the only real question was going to be the scoreline - even when scrumhalf Thomas Dominguez scored on the hour mark. This was always going to be a Bulls win.
The home side added tries by Hanekom, Vorster and Rudolph in the last 20 to balloon the scoreline, but will be satisfied at getting the job done.
Against Benetton next weekend they will need to be better, and they know bigger challenges wait once the playoffs arrive. But for now, job done, and that is all that matters.
SCORERS
VODACOM BULLS - tries: Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie, Cheswill Jooste, Sergeal Petersen, Ruan Vermaak, Cameron Hanekom, Harold Vorster, Jeandre Rudolph. Conversions: Le Roux (7).
ZEBRE PARMA - tries: Jacopo Trulla, Giampietro Ribaldi, Thomas Dominguez. Conversions: Martin Roger Farias.