The Vodacom Bulls produced another poor performance away from home to slump to their second defeat on their short Vodacom United Rugby Championship tour, falling 31-17 to Munster in a game they never really fired a shot in.
Whatever happens to this Bulls team when they leave South Africa is something that coach Jake White still hasn’t been able to figure out, but on a night where they were supposed to take advantage of a struggling Munster team, it was the other way around as the Bulls made Munster look unstoppable, and it was hard to believe this was the same team that last season surged to the final of the competition.
It was a night where Munster looked massive, and the Bulls certainly didn’t seem to want to challenge for the game. The lack of any rugby intellect in the game cost them dearly as they hardly had any ball for most of the game, and that which they had certainly wasn’t used for anything productive.
To find positives in that performance would be a push for any Bulls fan, but it was a performance that started poorly and while the Bulls did score late points in the game, it was more poaching on late Munster mistakes than creating chances of their own.
In fact, one of the moments that summed up the Bulls' attack was the fact they camped on Munster’s line for the last 10 minutes, yet all they could come up with was a repeated pick and go, something that Munster’s forwards stopped with routine ease and there wasn’t any leadership to try anything different.
The poor performance started up front - it may be that Jan-Hendrik Wessels is a star of the future, but under the lights of Thormond Park it is the hooker’s first job to find his jumpers. Three lost lineouts and a skew throw meant the Bulls had no platform to launch any attack from.
But it didn’t stop there. Their kicking game was poor, and they failed to produce even one contestable kick in the game, meaning all they did was kick away the little ball they had.
The forwards clearly came off second best in the exchanges, and the Bulls pack lost the physical battle, and this was compounded by the fact that behind the pack the decisions were poor.
For instance, from the base of the ruck, the Bulls failed to produce one contestable kick, kicking too far every time for their chasers to get close and giving Munster an easy time to run the ball back at them.
At 10, Johan Goosen still looked rusty and only lasted 40 minutes. His replacement Chris Smith had a nightmare as well, letting in a horror try after only being on the field for seconds.
DEATH BLOW
In short, where the Bulls desperately needed someone to inspire them, they found only disappointment. If the poor performance against Glasgow Warriors was a one-off, then this will be a concern.
Unless the Bulls can find some form overseas, they will make it tough for themselves when the season gets to its crunch phase.
It was a far cry from what was expected, and the Bulls did soak up early pressure to take the lead from a Goosen kick, but it was downhill from there.
It took almost a half hour for Munster to break through but when they did they never looked back. There were back-to-back first-half tries from Gavin Coombes, almost carbon copies of each other, as he barged over from close range put them 17-3 ahead at the break.
But it was the opening moment of the second half that really summed up the Bulls' half. Chris Smith, who had just arrived on the field, was set to gather a ball kicked through, but misjudged the bounce, knocking it on as he slipped past the ball and watched as Jeremy Loughlan toed it through to score.
It was a horror try for any team, but it was a death blow for the Bulls.
David Kriel’s arrival on the field sparked some life and it wasn’t surprising he was involved in the two quick tries the Bulls scored in the second half, both from turnovers.
The first saw him put WJ Steenkamp away in the corner while the second was a ball that spilt out of a ruck and he pounced to run 50 metres to score.
Both were instinctual tries, but ineffective when Tadgh Beirne scored in between them from close range to ensure the victory for the home side.
The Bulls were camped on Munster’s line in the last 10 but repeated the same mantra of pick and go, making marginal gains but coming nowhere near crossing the tryline. They tried again and again, shunning any other plans and tried again.
And they failed again, making themselves easy targets for Munster’s defence.
The warning lights are flashing after the last two weeks and the Bulls will know it. Somehow they need to find answers, and they need to find them soon.
SCORERS
Munster 31 - tries: Gavin Coombes (2), Jeremy Loughlan, Tadgh Beirne. Conversions: Joey Carbery (4). Penalty: Carbery.
Vodacom Bulls 17 - tries: WJ Steenkamp, David Kriel. Conversions: Chris Smith (2). Penalty: Johan Goosen.