The Vodacom Bulls secured a home semi-final with a 42-33 win over Edinburgh, scoring three tries in the first ten minutes of the second half.
Edinburgh had a brilliant start to the match and scored two "easy tries" to lead 14-03 after fifteen minutes of play in the first half.
The Bulls clawed their way back into the match, and following a five-meter lineout maul, Papier fed the ball wide to Cameron Hanekom to score in the corner to cut Edinburgh's lead to 14-08.
Edinburgh patiently built the pressure until, once again, the horrible defence by the Bulls allowed Ross Thompson to break two tackles and score next to the upright. Thompson converted to extend Edinburgh's lead to 21-08.
The Bulls struck back almost immediately, and some bling by Willie le Roux put David Kriel in space to score a great try. Johannes converted to cut Edinburgh's lead to 21-13, and eleven minutes still to play in the first half.
Brilliance by Wille le Roux once again created space out wide, and this time it was Harold Vorster who scored in the corner, to reduce Edinburgh's lead to 21-18, which was the halftime score.
The Bulls opened the second half with tries by Canan Moodie, Keagan Johannes and Ruan Nortje to lead 39-21 after twelve minutes of play in the second half.
Edinburgh replied with two tries by Ewan Ashman and Wes Goosen's second, to trail 33-42 and fifteen minutes to play in the second half.
The Vodacom Bulls scored six tries to five by Edinburgh to secure their place in a semi-final at home against the winners between Hollywoodbets Sharks and Munster later tonight.
Scorers:
Vodacom Bulls: Tries: Cameron Hanekom, David Kriel, Harold Vorster, Canan Moodie, Keagan Johannes, Ruan Nortje. Conversions: Keagan Johannes (3). Penalties: Keagan Johannes (2).
Edinburgh Rugby: Tries: Wes Goosen (2), Ross Thompson (2), Ewan Ashman. Conversions: Ross Thompson (4).
Teams:
Vodacom Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 David Kriel, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Sebastian De Klerk, 10 Keagan Johannes, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Ruan Nortje (c), 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels. Replacements: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Mornay Smith, 19 Jannes Kirsten, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Stedman Gans, 23 Devon Williams
Edinburgh Rugby: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Harry Paterson, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Magnus Bradbury (c), 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Sam Skinner, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Paddy Harrison, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Liam McConnell, 20 Ben Muncaster, 21 Conor McAlpine, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Mark Bennett.
