The Vodacom Bulls faced Benetton Rugby in a Vodacom United Rugby Championship Round 16 match at Loftus Versfeld with revenge on their minds. Revenge they did take after a win with 46-29, however, Benetton did more than what was expected and dominated most of the play.
For the first forty minutes, Benetton was the dominant team putting the Bulls under pressure from the first whistle. Benetton was leading 16-12 at the halftime break with the score flattering the home team.
The Bulls score nineteen unanswered points during the third quarter to take the lead 29-19. The last twenty minutes saw several tries scored by both teams.
06:48 Rhyno Smith converted a penalty to put Benetton in the lead. (00-03)
10:36 Tommaso Menoncello scored Benetton's first try. (00-10)
18:12 Rhyno Smith converted his second penalty. (00-13)
20:00 Benetton was quick out of the blocks and applied pressure on the Bulls for most of the first twenty minutes of the match. Benetton's lead of 00-13 was well deserved and a true reflection 0f the match at that stage.
24:48 Cyle Brink scored the Bulls' first try after most of the team handled the ball on their way to Benetton's tryline. (05-12)
32:02 Rhyno Smith converted his third penalty for Benetton. (05-16)
40:00 Kurt-Lee Arendse goes over in the corner with a try after the Bulls were on the attack for a good seven minutes, to go into halftime trailing by just four points. (12-16)
44:43 Rhyno Smith converted his fourth penalty. (12-19)
47:03 Chris Smith converted a penalty for the Bulls. (15-19)
48:57 Kurt-Lee Arendse picked up a dropped ball from Benetton to run a good 50 meters to score his second try of the match. (22-19)
58:59 Marcell Coetzee scored the Bulls' bonus-point try after the Bulls took a quick tap from a penalty seven meters from the Benetton try-line. (29-19)
64:40 Rhyno Smith converted his fifth penalty for Benetton. (29-22)
68:16 Chris Smith converted his second penalty. (32-22)
71:11 Niccolò Cannone (Benetton) was sent off with a red card.
73:23 A break from Kurt-Lee Arendse in his own 22m was ended with a try by Canan Moodie. (39-22)
75:58 Tommaso Menoncello scored his second try after he collected a great grubber from Tomas Albornoz (39-29)
79:08 Simphiwe Matanzima goes over for the Bulls (46-29)
Scorers:
Vodacom Bulls: Tries: Cyle Brink, Kurt-Lee Arendse (2), Marcell Coetzee, Canan Moodie, Simphiwe Matanzima. Conversions: Chris Smith (3), Morne Steyn (2). Penalties: Chris Smith (2).
Benetton: Tries: Tommaso Menoncello (2). Conversions: Rhyno Smith (2). Penalties: Rhyno Smith (5).
Teams:
Vodacom Bulls: 15. Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14. Canan Moodie, 13. Lionel Mapoe, 12. Cornal Hendricks, 11. Madosh Tambwe, 10. Chris Smith, 9. Embrose Papier, 8. Elrigh Louw, 7. Cyle Brink, 6. Marcell Coetzee (c), 5. Ruan Nortje, 4. Walt Steenkamp, 3. Mornay Smith, 2. Johan Grobbelaar, 1. Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements: 16. Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17. Simphiwe Matanzima, 18. Dylan Smith, 19. Janko Swanepoel, 20. Arno Botha, 21. Zak Burger, 22. Morne Steyn, 23. Stedman Gans.
Benetton: 15. Rhyno Smith, 14. Mattia Bellini, 13. Ignacio Brex, 12. Tommaso Menoncello, 11. Monty Ioane, 10. Tomas Albornoz, 9. Dewaldt Duvenage (c), 8. Lorenzo Cannone, 7. Manuel Zuliani, 6. Giovanni Pettinelli, 5. Carl Wegner, 4. Irné Herbst, 3. Simone Ferrari, 2. Corniel Els, 1. Ivan Neme. Replacements: 16. Giacomo Nicotera, 17. Federico Zani, 18. Tiziano Pasquali, 19. Niccolò Cannone, 20. Michele Lamaro, 21. Alessandro Garbisi, 22. Filippo Drago, 23. Edoardo Padovani.
