Springbok veteran Willie le Roux put on a tactical masterclass as his Vodacom Bulls routed Irish side Ulster 47-21 in their final Vodacom United Rugby Championship home game this year on Saturday.
Le Roux popped up at 10 and 15 and was everywhere as he directed the dangerous Bulls backline, utilising the weapons at his disposal to underline just what an asset he is to the side.
While the 97-test veteran still waits for his chance to get to the magical century, with a host of young players vying for game time at test level, returning to the franchise he has made his home since last season, he was nothing short of gold for the Bulls side as they continued their unbeaten start to the season.
The combination of afternoon spring heat in Pretoria and altitude was, much like last week, a problem for the Irish side as they struggled to contain the pacey Bulls back and physical forwards, although the Bulls defence was noticeably better than last week and kept Ulster at bay on several occasions.
SILENT ASSASSIN
And while Le Roux was solid gold for the Bulls, it was only fitting that the official man of the match went to Springbok “Silent Assassin” Gerhard Steenekamp, who along with the rest of the front row, laid the groundwork with a particularly impressive scrum time demolition that will make so many other sides quake in their boots.
In fact, you could give it to any of the front row on the day as they simply seemed to have a penalty waiting on almost any scrum. It was mercy from referee Ben Whitehouse that he failed in the second half to reward the home side for what continued to be collapsed scrums.
But it didn’t matter. The Bulls Bok brigade did their bit and the sublime combination of speed and physicality was something to behold. While the Bulls may not get the chance to play with this team like it is again until the Champions Cup campaign, their Boks certainly made a difference.
The home side had a magnificent start, crossing the tryline for the first time in the sixth minute as Springbok winger Kurt-Lee Arendse found himself at first receiver, with too much space for the scrum capped flyer, and twisted his way through two tackles to stretch over and score.
CLASSIC WINGER TRY
Ulster hit back almost immediately in sensational fashion after a magnificent run by winger Jacob Stockdale, who first beat Arendse, then chipped over the last line of defence and collected to score a classic winger try.
If there was an example of Le Roux’s incredible skill, a turnover ball in the 14th minute in the Bulls 22 was shovelled back to him, and he responded in style with a kick pass to Boeta Chamberlain on the wing, and with one defender to beat, Boeta passed inside to David Kriel to score.
The Bulls threatened to trouble the scorers several times, but were unable to get any reward for their dominance until their scrum demolition finally claimed its first victim and Corrie Barrett was yellow carded in the 32nd minute.
Johan Grobbelaar made the advantage count by scoring from a rolling maul shortly afterwards and sending the home side 21-7 up at the break.
The Bulls were quick out of the blocks and much more clinical in the second half, scoring in the second minute when Le Roux put Kriel through a half gap, and in the momentum, Kriel offloaded to Canan Moodie to go over for an easy-looking try.
ENDED THE GAME AS A CONTEST
Cameron Hanekom ended the game as a contest with a try from a lineout maul that took the scoreline to 33-7 and even though Le Roux put Moodie through for a try that was disallowed because it was judged to be obstruction, the Bulls put the hammer down and scored just afterwards as they outflanked the Ulster defence and several players were on Chamberlain’s outside, only for the pivot to be left alone to run in untouched.
Ulster sparked a bit of life to put themselves into double figures with two late tries in three minutes, as first Ben Carson bumped off Aphiwe Dyantyi in a hit worthy of a replay to score on the one wing and then Stewart Moore finished off a length-of-the-field try to give the scoreline some respectability.
But it was the Bulls who would have the last say as Elrigh Louw bludgeoned his way over in the 78th minute to complete the big win and set the Bulls off on their overseas three-week tour next week unbeaten and full of confidence.
SCORERS
Vodacom Bulls - tries: Kurt-Lee Arendse, David Kriel, Johan Grobbelaar, Canan Moodie, Cameron Hanekom, Boeta Chamberlain , Elrigh Louw. Conversions: Boeta Chamberlain (3), David Kriel (2), Keagan Johannes.
Ulster - tries: Jacob Stockdale, Ben Carson, Stewart Moore. Conversions: Nathan Doak, James Humphreys (2)