Zebre Parma hoped to end their nineteen-match losing streak against the visiting Vodacom Bulls. The Bulls change their game plan in the second half to a more direct and aggressive approach. This helped the Bulls to dominate and score twenty-eight unanswered points in the second half, on their way to an impressive 45-07 win.
The first thirty minutes was extremely frustrating for the Bulls with all of their efforts spoiled by the defence of the hosts with individual efforts. In the last ten minutes, the Bulls scored two tries to build scoreboard pressure and led 17-07.
The second half was all the Bulls which dominated and bullied their hosts on their way to an easy win.
20:00 The Vodacom Bulls dominated proceedings from the kick-off and had a try disallowed after twelve minutes of play. As the first quarter proceeded Zebre got their hands on some quality ball and clawed their way back into the game. At this stage, a lot of unforced mistakes from both teams resulted in a stop-start game with limited moments of excitement.
22:00 Marcel Coetzee (Bulls) was sent off with a yellow card.
23:10 A great individual try by Zebre flyhalf Antonio Rizzi to carve through the visitors' defence to score the first try of the match. (07-00)
28:12 Chris Smith converted a penalty to open the Bulls' account on the scoreboard. (07-03)
30:51 Johan Grobbelaar scored the Bulls' first try from the bak of a 5m lineout-maul. (07-08)
34:20 Great work from Kurt-Lee Arendse sent Embrose Papier over for the Bulls' second try. (07-17)
40:00 The first thirty minutes was extremely frustrating for the Bulls with all of their efforts spoiled by the defence of the hosts with individual efforts. In the last ten minutes, the Bulls scored two tries to build scoreboard pressure and led 17-07.
51:28 Marcell Coetzee scored the Bulls' third try as the Bulls wrestle control away from their hosts. (07-24)
57:50 Arno Botha scored the Bulls' fourth and bonus point try. The Bulls are using their physical dominance to dominate their hosts at this stage. Ugly but brilliant. (07-31)
60:00 The Bulls are in full control at this stage as they bullied Zebre with an aggressive and direct attack spearheaded by their big forwards.
61:58 Lionel Mapoe scored a great try made by a great pass from Embrose Papier after the Bulls forwards had the hosts on their back feet after a 5m line-out. (07-38)
67:46 Brilliant interplay by the BBulls forwards and backs allowed Kurt-Lee Arendse to dance past a defender to score his second try. (07-43)
Scorers:
Zebre Parma: Try: Antonio Rizzi. Conversion: Antonio Rizzi.
Vodacom Bulls: Tries: Johan Grobbelaar, Kurt-Lee Arendse (2), Marcell Coetzee, Arno Botha, Lionel Mapoe. Conversions: Chris Smith (6). Penalty: Chris Smith.
Teams:
Zebre Parma: 15. Junior Laloifi, 14. Jacopo Trulla, 13. Erich Cronjé, 12. Timothy O’Malley, 11. Asaeli Tuivuaka, 10. Antonio Rizzi, 9. Marcello Violi, 8. Giovanni Licata, 7. Iacopo Bianchi, 6. Maxime Mbandà, 5. Liam Mitchell, 4. Potu Junior Leavasa, 3. Eduardo Bello, 2. Oliviero Fabiani (captain), 1. Paolo Buonfiglio. Replacements: 16. Luca Bigi, 17. Daniele Rimpelli, 18. Ion Neculai, 19. Gabriele Venditti, 20. Luca Andreani, 21. Guglielmo Palazzani, 22. Enrico Lucchin, 23. Giulio Bisegni.
Vodacom Bulls: 15. Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14. Cornal Hendricks, 13. Lionel Mapoe, 12. Harold Vorster, 11. Madosh Tambwe, 10. Chris Smith, 9. Embrose Papier, 8. Elrigh Louw, 7. Arno Botha, 6. Marcell Coetzee (c), 5. Ruan Nortje, 4. Walt Steenkamp, 3. Jacques van Rooyen,2. Johan Grobbelaar, 1. Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements: 16. Bismarck du Plessis, 17. Simphiwe Matanzima, 18. Robert Hunt, 19. Janko Swanepoel, 20. WJ Steenkamp, 21. Keagan Johannes, 22. Ruan Mostert, 23. Canan Moodie.