The Vodacom Bulls secured five United Rugby Championship log points with a six-try win over Edinburgh on Friday at Loftus Versfeld.
The Bulls started the match, conceding an early try; however, thereafter they played with discipline and scored five unanswered tries to lead 33-07 at the halftime break. The second half became a bit of a bore with the Bulls scoring the only points of the half with a try.
Cardiff started like a house on fire and pounced on a fumbled ball by the Bulls to score the first try of the match. Sheedy converted to extend Cardiff’s lead to 07-00 after just four minutes of play.
Following a yellow card to Cardiff, the Bulls opted for a five-meter lineout off which Marcell Coetzee scored off the back of the ensuing maul. Pollard converted to level the scores 07-07 after ten minutes of play in the first half.
Four minutes later, the Bulls continue to up the pressure on Cardiff. Following another penalty, it was Johann Grobbelaar who scored off the back of a lineout-maul.
The Bulls continued to dominate and launched an attack from within their half. Kurt-Lee Arendse made the initial break and then offloaded to David Kriel, who had an easy run in to score the Bulls' third try. Pollard converted to extend the Bulls' lead to 19-07 with ten minutes still to play in the first half.
Cardiff made a mistake on the attack, which was pounced on by Kurt-Lee Arendse, who offloaded to Embrose Papier, who had the speed to score the Bulls' bonus point try. Pollard added the extra two points to extend their lead to 26-07.
With time up on the clock, the Bulls once again struck off a turnover when Elrigh Louw controlled a miracle kick-pass by Nizaam Carr to score in the corners. Pollard converted to extend the Bulls’ lead to 33-07 going into the second half.
The first fifteen minutes of the second half were a bit of a bore; however, the Bulls attacked off a dominant scrum, and Ruan Vermaak crashed over for the Bulls' sixth try. David Kriel converted to extend the Bulls' lead to 40-07.
Scorers:
Vodacom Bulls: Tries: Marcell Coetzee, Johann Grobbelaar, David Kriel, Embrose Papier, Elrigh Louw, Ruan Vermaak. Conversion: Handre Pollard (4), David Kriel.
Cardiff Rugby: Tries: Harri Millard. Conversion: Callum Sheedy.
Teams:
Vodacom Bulls: 15 David Kriel, 14 Cheswill Jooste, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Stedman Gans, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marcell Coetzee (c), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Francois Klopper, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements: 16 Marco van Staden, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Khuta Mchunu, 19 Ruan Vermaak, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Jeandre Rudolph, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Willie le Roux.
Cardiff Rugby: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Mason Grady, 13 Harri Millard, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Jacob Beetham, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Taine Basham, 7 Dan Thomas, 6 Alun Lawrence, 5 George Nott, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Javan Sebastian, 2 Liam Belcher (c), 1 Rhys Barratt. Replacements: 16 Daf Hughes, 17 Danny Southworth, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 James Botham, 21 Taulupe Faletau, 22 Ellis Bevan, 23 Ioan Lloyd.