A last gasp touchline conversion from centre David Kriel enabled the Vodacom Bulls to rise above illness and their own high error rate to clinch a nail biting 17-15 win over Benetton in a tightly fought Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash in Treviso on Friday night.
The Bulls trailed from the first minute, when Tomas Albornoz kicked his first of four penalties for the home team, until the 79th minute, which was when the Pretoria team finally got their struggling lineout to function when presented with an attacking position and they swivelled over the line for reserve hooker Akker van der Merwe to dot down.
Kriel is not normally the frontline place-kicker but the Bulls were playing with a hastily changed team following an overnight illness. The selected flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain had to drop out of the team, with reserve scrumhalf Keagan Johannes replacing him on the day of the game. The other changes were also at the back, with centre Stedman Gans and wing Sebastian de Klerk also having to drop out.
Johannes did produce one brilliant break followed by a well targeted hoisted kick that led to the impressive Rynhardt Ludwig going over in the 58th minute, only for the referee to rule that Kurt-Lee Arendse had knocked the bouncing ball forwards and not backwards (it was marginal). So the try was disallowed.
But Johannes didn’t have the same ability as Chamberlain to kick Benetton into the corners, which was needed in a game played in damp conditions. Benetton were certainly better at the kicking game in the first half, despite one really good aerial win by Canan Moodie early in the game, and they also put in a massive defensive effort as they prevented the Bulls from crossing the whitewash even though they enjoyed 65 per cent of the possession.
It's 2/3 for the Vodacom Bulls in Europe ✅
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 25, 2024
A 79th-minute kick from David Kriel secures the win ⚡ #VURC pic.twitter.com/K95nolWnGx
Benetton were very effective in keeping the Bulls at arms length by not contesting the breakdowns and fanning their players out on defence. What made it particularly difficult for the Bulls though was their malfunctioning lineout.
There were four lineouts that went awry in the first half and then quite a few more in the second half, something that made it a struggle for the Bulls to get forward momentum and maintain it. They also gave away a crucial scrum penalty when on attack.
Albornoz’s first penalty was added to six minutes later by former Sharks fullback Rhyno Smith to make it 6-0 before Johannes, who has played flyhalf for the Bulls in the Currie Cup but had not started in the No 10 jersey in the URC before this game, slotted his only successful penalty. He missed a kickable one in the second half.
FRUSTRATION
Albornoz added a third penalty 10 minutes from halftime to make it 9-3 to the Italian team at the break. The Bulls’ frustration, in terms of their failure to convert territory and possession dominance into points, continued into the second half, and was accentuated by the decision that went against Ludwig. To compound matters, Albornoz was on target with his third penalty not long after that as Benetton transitioned pressure on themselves into an attacking position where they forced yet another penalty against a Bulls team that struggled with its discipline on the night. A nine point deficit was significant given that the game was played in wet conditions/
The Bulls though showed great character and resolve to fight back as Ludwig finally got his reward for the earlier miss by driving over for a try in the 68th minute that with Kriel’s first successful conversion made it 12-10.
Benetton might have thought they’d clinched the game when Albornoz kicked an easy penalty in the 74th minute to make it a five point game. But the Bulls weren’t finished. They were presented with a penalty inside the Benetton half with less than three minutes to go and rightly chose to kick for the corner rather than for the posts.
Kriel executed the field kick perfectly as it went out on the corner flag, and the word perfect was also the right one to describe the good lineout take and impressive drive over the line. It was 15-all with less than a minute left when Kriel lined up the difficult kick but it sailed comfortably through the uprights to put the Bulls in the lead for the first time in the game with one play left.
David Kriel comes in clutch for the Vodacom Bulls in the closing moments of the game 👇
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 25, 2024
📺 Stream #VURC on DStv: https://t.co/0P0NNhnwKw pic.twitter.com/L6UzclY01l
The Bulls comfortably managed the restart and hoofed the ball into touch to end a tightly fought fixture with a narrow win that was nonetheless crucial in terms of determining their tour and the initial five match phase of the URC season before the month long international break a success. The Bulls will rest up feeling fairly comfortable with a record that reads four wins in five starts, two of those wins coming overseas, and the only loss being the unlucky referee marred one point defeat to Scarlets last week.
SCORES
VODACOM BULLS 17 - Tries: Rynhardt Ludwig and Akker van der Merwe; Conversions: David Kriel 2; PENALTY: Keagan Johannes.
BENETTON 15 - PENALTIES: Tomas Albornoz 4 and Rhyno Smith.