The Vodacom Bulls lost their final match of their tour 23-31 against Edinburgh. Unfortunately the referee was more intent on hearing his own voice and whistle which robbed the spectators of a fair match.
Despite the Vodacom Bulls being in the lead for the first forty minutes of play their defence was tested by Edinburgh on the attack. The Bulls led 13-11 at the halftime break, however, Edinburgh dominated possession and territory for most of the first half, while the Bulls scrum was dominant.
Unfortunately, in which was a great game of rugby, two cards, a red and yellow, against the Bulls withing four minutes, robbed the match's result of any credibility. Edinburgh eventually won 28-23.
The first eight minutes of the match were even, however, a brilliant grubber forced an error by Edinburgh in their in-goal area. Devon Williams was on hand to fall on the ball to score the Vodacom Bulls' first try of the match.
Ben Healey converted two penalties for Edinburgh to reduce the Bulls' lead to 07-06 after 19 minutes of play in the first half.
Johan Goosen replied and converted two penalties following two failed attempts to extend the Bulls' lead to 13-06 with 12 minutes still to play in the first half.
Minutes later Edinburgh's hooker Ewan Ashman scored from the back of a 5-meter lineout-maul to reduce the Bulls' lead to just two points.
The Bulls led 13-11 at the halftime break with the game balanced on a knife's edge with Edinburgh just slightly the better team at that moment.
A red card was followed almost immediately with a yellow card, reducing the Bulls to 13 players on the pitch. From the resulting penalty, Ewan Ashman scored from the back of a 5-meter lineout-maul to put Edinburgh in the lead for the first time of the match after just 3 minutes of play in the second half.
The Bulls conceded five penalties in the first eight minutes of the second half. Duhan van der Merwe scored out wide following a lineout maul from which the ball was spread quickly wide. Edinburgh led 21-13 with 30 minutes still to play in the first half.
Despite the desperate defence of the Bulls, Edinburgh were dominating at that stage. Phase after phase set up by the hosts eventually led to Viliame Mata scoring Edindinburgh's fourth and bonus-point try to lead 28-13.
Two minutes later Elrigh Louw caught Edinburg by surprise, taking a quick tap from 5 meters out to reduce Edinburgh's lead to 28-20.
Jaco van der Walt added three points for the Bulls to reduce Edinburgh's lead to just 5 points and 6 minutes to play in the second half.
A second yellow card shown to the Bulls led to a converted penalty by Ben Healy to secure a 31-23 win for Edinburgh.
Scorers:
Edinburgh: Tries: Ewan Ashman (2), Duhan van der Merwe, Viliame Mata. Conversion: Ben Healy. Penalties: Ben Healy (3).
Vodacom Bulls: Tries: Devon Williams, Elrigh Louw. Converted: Johan Goosen, Jaco van der Walt. Penalties: Johan Goosen (2), Jaco van der Walt.
Teams:
Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Wes Goosen, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 James Lang, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ben Healy, 9 Ben Vellacott, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Connor Boyle, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Glen Young, 3 WP Nel, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Tom Dodd, 21 Ali Price, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Chris Dean.
Vodacom Bulls: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 David Kriel, 11 Sergeal Petersen, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marcell Coetzee (c), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements: 16 Simphiwe Matanzima, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Mornay Smith, 19 Reinhardt Ludwig, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 24 Cyle Brink.