The Vodacom Bulls secured the top spot on the URC Table, although temporarily with a 25-10 bonus point win against the Emirates Lions.
Despite a shaky start by the Vodacom Bulls, conceding two early penalties, they were the dominant side for the first 20 minutes of the match. The Emirates Lions' up-and-under tactics resulted in the visitors using the resulting possession to attack.
Great play by Embrose Papier down the blind side put Canan Moodie away to score a great try in the corner. The Vodacom Bulls led 05-03 after 20 minutes of play.
The second quarter of the match was a physical arm wrestle and despite the Vodacom Bulls' territorial dominance a failed penalty attempt with seconds to go left them with no points for their effort during the 2nd quarter.
Minutes after a brilliant "try" from the Emirates Lions the Vodacom struck from the back of a 5m lineout maul to extend their lead to 10-03 after ten minutes was played in the second half.
Despite the spirited defence of the hosts, the Vodacom Bulls' wave after wave of attacks became more effective and the try from Marcell Coetzee extended the Vodacom Bulls lead to 20-03 with ten minutes still to play.
However, the fat lady did not stop singing yet, and the Emirates Lions' Quan Horn scored their first try of the match falling on a bouncing ball in the Vodacom Bulls in-goal area, to reduce the Vodacom Bulls lead to 20-10.
Unfortunately for the Emirates Lions, David Kriel controlled his own kick up field from the kick-off, to score the Vodacom Bulls' bonus point try and extend their lead to 25-10, which was also the final score.
Scorers:
Emirates Lions: Try: Quan Horn. Conversion: Jordan Hendrikse. Penalty: Sanele Nohamba.
Vodacom Bulls: Tries: Canan Moodie, Akker van der Merwe, Marcell Coetzee, David Kriel. Conversion: Johan Goosen. Penalty: Johan Goosen.
Teams:
Emirates Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk 12 Marius Louw (c), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Sanele Nohamba, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Hanru Sirgel, 5 Reinhardt Nothnagel, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 JP Smith. Replacements: 16 PJ Botha, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Darrien Landsberg, 20 Izan Esterhuizen, 21 JC Pretorius, 22 Jordan Hendrikse, 23 Erich Cronje.
Vodacom Bulls: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 David Kriel, 11 Canan Moodie, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje (c), 4 Reinhardt Ludwig, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements: 16. Simphiwe Matanzima, 17. Akker van der Merwe, 18. Francois Kloppers, 19. Janko Swanepoel, 20. Marcell Coetzee, 21. Keagan Johannes, 22. Johan Goosen, 23. Mpilo Gumede.