The Vodacom Bulls produced a second half surge to score three tries and take the game away from the Cell C Sharks, earning themselves a bonus point 40-27 Vodacom United Rugby Championship win at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday.
The game, billed as the United we win match in aid of the fight against Breast Cancer, saw the Bulls don their pink jerseys, and while the mood was festive, the seriousness of the derby was quickly remembered as the teams fought an arm wrestle for almost 60 minutes before the home side pulled away with three quick tries.
Up until then the Sharks perhaps had the edge, ensuring they were ahead on the scoreboard and upsetting the Bulls rhythm at home but never seemed to plant the knockout blow.
When it mattered it was Jake White’s side that stepped up.
Back to back tries by Embrose Papier and Stravino Jacobs, both coming off the bench and then a clincher by Jan-Hendrik Wessels in the last five minutes gave the Bulls the bonus point and an unassailable lead to claim a famous victory.
To be fair to the Sharks, they were missing several big name Springboks, something that only underlines the one big fault in the URC when teams are not evenly matched and without their international players, but for 60 odd minutes it certainly seemed there was little difference.
It was a good farewell for Marcell Coetzee, who now leaves alongside Walt Steenkamp for Japan, with Coetzee likely to be back for the final rounds in May and for the occasion, the result couldn’t have been better.
The day started without the hint of rain that had soaked Pretoria for part of the week and in the sunshine both sides went hard at it from the start, anyone thinking this would be an easier game would easily have been reminded early that it was the opposite.
And despite the Sharks overwhelming early possession it was the Bulls that used their chances early for Chris Smith to put them 6-0 up.
It was only in the 36th minute that the Bulls hit hard - coming from a turnover and a David Kriel break, who put captain Coetzee over with an inside pass to score under the posts.
The Sharks hit back shortly afterwards as replacement midfielder Marnus Potgieter, who went to school in Pretoria, beat Ruan Nortje at close range to run in just before the halftime whistle.
The Sharks then took the lead early in the second half when Aphelele Fassi ran a beautiful line against a stretched defence to go over under the posts.
While the Bulls grabbed it back with a Chris Smith penalty, they infringed from the kickoff and Boeta Chamberlain took the lead back a minute later.
Then the benches were emptied and the Bulls clearly took a boost, first from Embrose Papier who scored almost a minute after coming on, and then the coup de grace was when a turnover ball was sent wide to Johan Goosen who held on a second longer before passing the ball to Stravino Jacobs, who bobbled the ball before collecting to score a massive try.
The two tries not only took the lead back but also took the Bulls more than a score ahead of the Sharks.
And when Jan-Hendrik Wessels corkscrewed his way over from the back of the maul to claim the bonus point, the Bulls had doubled the Sharks scoreline.
A late try by Phepsi Buthelezi, who was probably the pick of the Sharks forwards, gave the Sharks hope of a losing bonus point but the Bulls quickly snuffed it out for a famous victory.
Scorers
Vodacom Bulls - tries: Marcell Coetzee, Embrose Papier, Stravino Jacobs, Jan-Hendrik Wessels. Conversions: Chris Smith (4). Penalties: Smith (4).
Cell C Sharks - tries: Marnus Potgieter, Aphelele Fassi, Phepsi Buthelezi. Conversions: Boeta Chamberlain (3). Penalties: Chamberlain (2).