The Vodacom Bulls secured their place in the 2025/26 United Rugby Championship final with a 22-21 win over Glasgow Warriors. The final will be against the winner between Leinster and DHL Stormers in two weeks' time.
Despite Glasgow’s fast and dominant start, it was Handre Pollard who converted an early penalty to edge the Bulls 03-00 in the lead after 6 minutes of play in the first half.
A yellow card for Handre Pollard for a deliberate knockdown opened up space for Glasgow’s attack, and eventually it was Kyle Steyn who crashed over in the corner to edge Glasgow 07-03 into the lead following the conversion by Dan Lancaster.
3 minutes later, Kyle Steyn scored his second try, and following Lancaster's conversion, Glasgow led 14-00 after 20 minutes of play. Pollard’s yellow card proved to be expensive as Glasgow scored 14 points in his absence.
5 minutes later, Ruan Nortje’s ill discipline led to a yellow card, and a penalty try was awarded to Glasgow to lead 21-03.
The Bulls clawed their way back into the match, and following several penalties conceded by Glasgow in their red zone, it eventually led to Johan Grobbelaar bulldozing his way over Glasgow’s tryline. Pollard converted to cut Cardiff’s lead to 21-10 with 8 minutes still to play in the first half.
The Bulls launched wave after wave of attacks, and following 5 minutes of a physical assault in the second half, Embrose Papier sniped from the back of a ruck to score the Bulls' second try to cut Glasgow’s lead to 21-15.
7 minutes later Francois Klopper bulldozed his way over Cardiff’s tryline, following a great run by Cameron Hanekom. Pollard’s conversion edged the Bulls 22-21 into the lead.
Scorers:
Vodacom Bulls: Tries: Johan Grobbelaar, Embrose Papier, Francois Klopper. Conversions: Handre Pollard (2). Penalty: Handre Pollard.
Glasgow Warriors: Tries: Kyle Steyn (2), Penalty Try. Conversions: Dan Lancaster (2).
Teams
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Kyle Steyn (c), 13 Stafford McDowall, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Kyle Rowe, 10 Dan Lancaster, 9 George Horne, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Alex Samuel, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Gregor Hiddleston, 1 Patrick Schickerling. Replacements: 16 Seb Stephen, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Jare Oguntibeju, 20 Euan Ferrie, 21 Sione Vailanu, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Adam Hastings.
Vodacom Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marcell Coetzee (c), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Francois Klopper, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements: 16 Marco van Staden, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Cobus Wiese, 20 Jeandre Rudolph, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Stedman Gans, 23 Nizaam Carr.