The Vodacom Bulls were made to work hard against Edinburgh Rugby to secure their first win of the URC season with 22-16.
The first half was an arm wrestle with Edinburgh dominating territorial statistics. Edinburgh opened the scoring with a converted penalty after fourteen minutes of play. However, it was the Bulls that scored the first try when Jannes Kirsten bulldozed his way over the tryline after twenty-nine minutes of play.
Three minutes later Jaco van der Walt's individual brilliance created a gap for himself to score the Bulls' second try and extend their lead to 12-03 and eight minutes to play in the first half.
Edinburgh upped the tempo of their attack and with minutes to play Edinburgh's hooker Ewan Ashman bulldozed his way over the Bulls' tryline to trail 12-10, which was also the halftime score.
Edinburgh's flyhalf Ross Thompson converted his second penalty after seven minutes of play in the second half to lead the Bulls 13-12.
Despite Simphiwe Matanzima's yellow card, the Bulls attacked and spread the ball wide to Canan Moodie who scored the Bulls' third try to extend their lead to 22-13 and seventeen minutes still to play in the second half.
A penalty converted by Edinburgh's Ross Thompson cut the Bulls' lead to 22-16 and despite desperate attacks by both teams the Bulls did just enough to secure the win.
Scorers:
Vodacom Bulls: Tries: Jannes Kirsten, Jaco van der Walt, Canan Moodie. Conversions: Jaco van der Walt, Boeta Chamberlain. Penalty: Boeta Chamberlain.
Edinburgh Rugby: Tries: Ewan Ashman. Conversion: Ross Thompson. Penalties: Ross Thompson (3).
Teams
Vodacom Bulls: 15 David Kriel, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Barend Smit, 11 Sebastian de Klerk, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 Cobus Wiese, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Armand van der Merwe (c), 1 Alulutho Tshakweni. Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Francois Kloppers, 19 JF van Heerden, 20 Marcel Coetzee, 21 Keegan Johannes, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Aphiwe Dyantyi.
Edinburgh Rugby: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (c), 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Boan Venter, 18 D’arcy Rae, 19 Jamie Hodgson, 20 Tom Dodd, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Ross McCann.