Vodacom Bulls coach Jake White promised the side would play their best rugby at the business end of the competition, but not even he would have predicted the mayhem the Bulls produced to thump runaway log leaders Leinster 62-7 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.
This wasn’t a beating, it was a massacre, and while it has to be pointed out that Leinster were the makers of their own demise by sending an Academy side to Loftus Versfeld and sending more players home earlier this week with coach Leo Cullen, the Bulls still had to put it all together.
White has often been criticised for his tactics in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, but everything clicked on the night for the Bulls as they played champagne rugby and gave themselves a chance to finish fifth when the dust settles after the rest of the weekend’s fixtures.
To put this in perspective, Leinster hold an 11-point lead at the top of the table, so while it was understandable that their minds would be on next weekend’s epic Heineken Champions’ Cup showdown with Toulouse, they would never have seen this coming.
This was - for the record books - Leinster’s worst defeat ever in Pro14 and URC competition, surpassing the 37-point loss to Connacht in the 2017-18 season. It was their worst-ever loss if you include Europe as well, surpassing the 41-point drubbing by Wasps in 2015-16.
Leinster had never seen a defeat of this magnitude in their lives.
BULLS' UNBEATEN RUN
The Bulls, to their credit, kept up their unbeaten run against European opposition at Loftus Versfeld, their fortress, and whoever they face in the quarterfinals will know they’re facing a team in supreme form.
The rout started early on after Johan Goosen put them ahead with a penalty, as Canan Moodie broke early and took them up to Leinster’s line and Ruan Nortje crashed over from close range.
Then Kurt-Lee Arendse, the Bulls other attacking twin, got into the act. Arendse started and finished a blindside move, doing a one-two with David Kriel to score under the posts.
He added a second after Elrigh Louw made an audacious intercept to run 60 metres before kicking ahead, regathering and putting the Bulls on attack. Moodie took the grubber and sent it through for Arendse to collect and score.
A rolling maul try from Johan Grobbelaar gave the Bulls their bonus point and Leinster sat in disbelief as at halftime, they were 31-0 down.
The mauling continued in the second half with an exceptional attack that went through a number of hands, before Embrose Papier took the final break, drew the defenders and twisted around to put Grobbelaar in for his second try.
Moodie got his second in the 45th minute by outjumping the defence to collect a crosskick before Gans, who was a magician in the backline, got his name on the scoresheet, with a loop around textbook training ground move that saw Arendse send the ball inside to put the midfielder away.
Leinster briefly put up some resistance and watched as Michael Milne went in from close range, but it was to be their only points of the night.
The Bulls came storming back as Harold Vorster and Canan Moodie added tries to see them past the 60 mark.
And it was a telling reminder. Three weeks ago the Bulls seemed down and out. In the last two weeks they scored 140 points, and conceded 19.
Their end-of-season form has hit at the right time and while they will have to do it - in Jake White’s words - the hard, hard, hard, hard way, they have given themselves form and a chance.
And at this time of the season that is all they could have hoped for.
SCORERS
VODACOM BULLS - tries: Ruan Nortje, Kurt-Lee Arendse (2), Johan Grobbelaar (2), Canan Moodie (2), Stedman Gans, Harold Vorster. Conversions: Johan Goosen (7). Penalty: Johan Goosen
LEINSTER - try: Michael Milne. Conversion: Sam Prendergast