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Bulls answer their critics with seven-try whipping

wwe18 January 2025 15:10
By:Brenden Nel
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Their Investec Champions Cup campaign may be long over, but the Vodacom Bulls produced a dominant performance in their final pool game to smash French club Stade Francais 48-7 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

In the process the Bulls earned themselves a spot in the EPCR Challenge Cup as they leap-frogged Stade into fifth place in the pool by denying their opposition a bonus point, grabbing one themselves and overturning a 46-point points difference on the pool log.

But in so many ways this was a bigger victory for the Bulls, who were always favoured for the victory when Stade didn’t send many of their frontline players for the game.

In essence the Champions Cup campaign has been a disaster for the Bulls, and this wasn’t only about keeping themselves alive in some form in Europe, but also stopping a four-game losing streak and proving to themselves that they aren’t as bad as people may say.

It wasn’t a surprise that Director of Rugby Jake White lashed out at media for being negative a day before this game.

The Bulls are still in a healthy spot, despite a festive season that brought them more lumps of coal than diamonds.

They sit fourth on the Vodacom United Rugby Championship log, and now have something to play for in the second tier European competition, even if it is nowhere near the games they wanted.

But it also gives them momentum going into a tough derby season where they face the Lions, Stormers, Sharks and Stormers again in the space of little more than a month.

These derbies can make or break the season and the Bulls know they needed momentum for that.

TEXTBOOK BACKLINE MOVE

It was also a great tribute for former captain Marcell Coetzee, who celebrated his 50th cap for the Bulls and put in a strong performance.

It was a reminder that Cameron Hanekom, who easily won the man of the match, has so much more in store for the Loftus faithful and after the Bulls' failings earlier in this competition it underlined they can again score tries, despite what the stats before this game said.

In fact, they scored seven on the afternoon, two more than they did in their previous games in the Champions’ Cup and put on a display for the little more than 10 000 that turned up to watch.

The match tone was set early as the Bulls got a penalty try early on in the game, when with their first attack Stade Francais’ flyhalf Louis Carbonel was adjudged to have deliberately knocked on, and received a yellow for his troubles while the Bulls received a penalty try.

Their second try was a textbook backline move, as Embrose Papier moved off the back to find a flying Devon Williams, who passed to Stedman Gans, who did the same to Sergeal Petersen.

The veteran flyer grubbered perfectly inside for Williams to collect and score, capping a perfect move in the end.

Another deliberate knock-on shortly afterwards stopped the Bulls' momentum, but only allowed Embrose Papier to tap and go, catching the defence sleeping and scoring untouched 20 metres downfield.

Stade got themselves on the board when Sekou Macalau went over from close range, but it was the only happiness the French side would experience on Saturday.

Ruan Vermaak scored next, courtesy of a blindside break where Hanekom looped the final pass to him on the wing to score and while Boeta Chamberlain added a penalty to break the try-scoring pandemonium, it was Elrigh Louw who finished the half with a barging try to take his side 36-7 ahead into the break.

A series of interceptions, with the most important one coming from Gans, led to Chamberlain’s try shortly after halftime before Hanekom showed just how determined the Bulls were with a heart-stopping moment when he picked up Stade midfielder Leo Monin and carried him back 30 metres in a show of strength that is sure to light up highlight reels.

Hanekom was on hand to turn over the ball in the ensuing ruck, and then powered his way over from close range to take the Bulls close to 50.

They never added to their score in the last half hour, but the message was clear.

They’re not done by a long shot. Seven tries proved that at Loftus on Saturday.

Scorers

Vodacom Bulls - tries: Penalty try, Devon Williams, Embrose Papier, Ruan Vermaak, Elrigh Louw, Boeta Chamberlain, Cameron Hanekom. Conversions: Johan Goosen (2), Boeta Chamberlain (2). Penalty: Chamberlain.

Stade Francais - try: Sekou Macalou. Conversion: Louis Carbonel.

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