The Vodacom Bulls booked their place in the top four of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship playoff rounds with a workmanlike albeit sloppy 45-19 win over Italian side Benetton at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The win completed the remarkable turnaround from earlier this season, where the side were on a seven- game losing streak in all competitions, and their coach Johan Ackermann had already said they were out of the running for the top four more than once.
But on a warm Autumn afternoon in Pretoria, they did what they came to do: get the five points on offer and book the home quarterfinal.
Winning momentum secured 😮💨
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) May 16, 2026
Quarter-Finals next for the @Vodacom Bulls 🐂⚡@Vodacom #URC | BULvBEN pic.twitter.com/BGsHxzeJIv
As always with Benetton games it seems, they were given a scare and often their own penchant for trying to run every ball they got worked against them, most notably before and after halftime when their exuberance gifted Benetton two tries to bring them within seven points of the home side.
It should never have been that close. With scrum and forward dominance, and finding holes in the Bennetton backline, the Bulls were always going to win this game.
What made it frustrating at times was the way that they got carried away on attack, looking for the big plays instead of often letting the ball do the work.
The scoreline looks very one sided and in a sense it was, but for any future opponent watching the Bulls there was enough to not feel overawed by a visit to Loftus for that quarterfinal.
After all, we have seen this season how Bordeaux, Bristol and the possible quarterfinal opposition, the Lions, have all gone toe to toe with this approach and won.
And while the Bulls will be a lot more circumspect and will have a message delivered to them, there is no doubt that their intent was to try and put on as many points as possible.
TMO TO THE FORE
In the Bulls defence, it is understandable that when the holes open up like they do, that there tends to be a boost of confidence, and they can point out they scored two more tries to the seven on the scoreboard that weren’t allowed, only to be chalked off by a bizarre set of circumstances involving the referee and television match official.
Those moments came on the half hour, when first Allessandro Garbisi dived over a ruck and knocked the ball out of Embrose Papier’s hands, only for the Bulls to regather and captain Ruan Nortje to go over for the try.
That try was chalked off when the TMO intervened, showing the briefest of knock-ons by Papier - coming from the illegal and cynical action from Garbisi, for which referee Craig Evans had yellow carded him.
But while the Bulls asked if that didn’t mean the illegal action constituted grounds for a penalty try, Evans bizarrely said “It didn’t prevent the try from being scored.”
As strange as that was, Papier scored from the back of a scrum that demolished Benetton seconds later, only to have that also chalked off because of a knock-on - again with intervention from the TMO.
Sanity finally prevailed when Cobus Wiese got the bonus point try - again after the Bulls had dominated the set-piece and No 8 Cameron Hanekom tapped the penalty and came close, only for Wiese to power over.
While many of the calls may have been technically correct, the bizarre sequence took more than five minutes and would have left most people confused by the outcome.
BOOST FROM THE BENCH
Still, the Bulls did get their scare shortly afterwards when their own actions brought Benetton back into the game.
This was after Canan Moodie’s first break led to Sergeal Petersen opening the scoring, quickly followed by 400-game veteran Willie le Roux, who doubled the score.
Stedman Gans opened the door. Sergeal Petersen took flight 😮💨
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) May 16, 2026
Give Petersen a gap and it’s already too late ⚡
Watch it all unfold LIVE on SuperSport 👀@Vodacom #URC | #BULvBEN pic.twitter.com/eljlLw8X8j
Benetton had hit back through Louis Lynagh.
Johan Grobbelaar had scored the third from close range before the bizarre sequence of events.
But from the restart, an ambitious move to chip over the defence by Handre Pollard for Le Roux went wrong, with the bounce beating both Bulls and landing in Rhyno Smith’s hands, to sprint in the opposite direction to score.
Just after the break a similar audacious move and attempted chip over the defence was charged down, only to be recycled by the Italian side for Lynagh to get his second and move the visitors within an uncomfortable seven points of the Bulls.
But the bench provided the impetus and the power game returned, with the Bulls scoring through Petersen and Mpilo Gumede either side of the hour mark to take control of the game and settle the result.
The hard-working Nortje got his try four minutes before the end to cap a successful day at the office, and to confirm their path to a home quarterfinal.
Scorers
Vodacom Bulls - tries: Sergeal Petersen (2), Willie le Roux, Johan Grobbelaar, Cobus Wiese, Mpilo Gumede, Ruan Nortje. Conversions: Handre Pollard (5).
Benetton - tries: Louis Lynagh (2), Rhyno Smith. Conversions: Rhyno Smith (2)