The Vodacom Bulls held on to a 26-24 bonus-point win over Section Paloise. The Bulls are currently in the playoffs for the Investec Champions Cup, placed fourth in Pool 4. However, if the Scarlets achieve the impossible against Northampton Saints, the Bulls will qualify for the EPCR Challenge Cup playoffs.
The Bulls had a great start, and Mpilo Gumede crashed over in the corner following a brilliant turnover by the Bulls following just three minutes of action.
PAU slowly clawed their way back into the game, and hooker Youri Delhommel crashed over to score PAU’s first points. Clément Mondinat converted to extend PAU’s lead to 07-05 after ten minutes of play.
Despite Pau dominating statistics, the Bulls started to dominate the scrums, earning several penalties. This led to a lineout five meters from PAU’s tryline, off which Akker van der Merwe crashed over off the back of the lineout maul. Pollard converted to extend the lead of the Bulls to 12-07 with ten minutes still to play in the first half.
PAU hit back immediately when lock Jimi Maximin crashed over, shrugging off two halfhearted efforts to stop him. Thomas Souverbie converted edging PAU into a two-point lead.
A yellow card to Reinhardt Ludwig led to a quick tap by PaU five meters out and eventually led to a five-meter line-out off which Youri Delhommel scored his second try of the back off the resulting maul. Thomas Souverbie converted for PAU to lead 21-12 going into the second half.
The Bulls’ defence kept on bleeding penalties when under pressure, and after eight minutes of play in the second half, Thomas Souverbie converted a penalty to extend PAU’s lead to 24-12.
After twenty minutes of play in the second half, individual brilliance from Cheswill Jooste, who controlled his own chip, led to him scoring a forty-meter try, cutting PAU’s lead to 24-19.
With time running out, the Bulls attacked, using their big boys to attack around the edges, and eventually Nizaam Carr crashed over for the Bulls’ bonuspoint try. Pollard converted to edge the Bulls 26-24 in the lead with seven minutes to play.
PAU spent the final minutes on the attack, patiently gaining meters with pick-and-drives; however, time ran out, and the Bulls edged PAU 26-24 to keep their hopes alive to qualify for the play-offs. The Bulls must wait for the match between the Scarlets and Northampton Saints, with the Scarlets needing a big win to edge into fourth place on the Pool 4 log.
Scorers:
Section Paloise: Tries: Youri Delhommel (2), Jimi Maximin. Conversions: Clément Mondinat, Thomas Souverbie (2). Penalty: Thomas Souverbie.
Vodacom Bulls: Tries: Mpilo Gumede, Akker van der Merwe, Cheswill Jooste, Nizaam Carr, Conversions: Handre Pollard (3).
Teams
Section Paloise: 15 Jack Maddocks, 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Nathan Decron, 12 Quentin Valentino, 11 Aaron Grandidier Nkanang, 10 Clément Mondinat, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Carwyn Tuipulotu, 7 Loic Credoz, 6 Luke Whitelock (c), 5 Jimi Maximin, 4 Hugo Auradou, 3 Guram Papidze, 2 Youri Delhommel, 1 Daniel Bibi Biziwu. Replacements: 16 Julian Montoya, 17 Remi Seneca, 18 Thomas Laclayat, 19 Thomas Jolmes, 20 Remi Picquette, 21 Facundo Isa, 22 Thomas Souverbie, 23 Fabien Brau-Boirie
Vodacom Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheswill Jooste, 13 Sebastian de Klerk, 12 Harold Voster, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Mpilo Gumede, 6 Marcell Coetzee (c), 5 Reinhardt Ludwig, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels. Replacements: 16 Marco van Staden, 17 Alu Tshakweni, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Ruan Nortje, 20 Cobus Wiese, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 David Kriel, 23 Jeandre Rudolph.