Bulls do double over Lions
January 31 2010
The Super 14 reigning champion Bulls overcame a plucky Lions XV 42-12 on Saturday, scoring five tries to two in a pre-season friendly.
Dick Muir's side were not totally outplayed, despite the scoreline, and the Bulls were undoubtedly good value for their win.
The Lions made a real match of it despite never leading - and more importantly, there was plenty for their director of coaching, Muir, and his assistants to work from as a base for this term.
Two of the Bulls' five tries came in the dying minutes and the Lions were denied on three occasions when they squandered tries through poor handling.
It must also be remembered that this was not the Lions' best team, and despite their 25-3 defeat in the early match on Saturday, there were enough individual performances to show that they can further strengthen their best XV.
They scrummed well, were competitive at the breakdown and the backs displayed some good skills, with Emerging Springbok Deon van Rensburg's pass to set Wandile Mjekevu free for his try probably the highlight of the game - and that's taking into account the cross kick by Morne Steyn after a quickly taken penalty that ended with John Mametsa scoring.
Todd Clever gave his all and may just have solved the problem of Willem Alberts' availability for the foreseeable future as a battle over his contract is waged with the Sharks.
But as good as Clever was, Pedrie Wannenburg was equally impressive for the Bulls. He set up a try, had a hand in another and linked throughout until he was replaced late on.
Derick Kuun showed how well he can play the flanker's role - and generally the teamwork from the Bulls, even with seven Boks not considered for various reasons, was simply too good for a Lions side that showed promise but will have to find their feet within the next two weeks.
In the early match between the pair, the Bulls' B-side, playing as the White team, scored three tries in a dreary affair which they won 25-3 against a mix-and-match Lions side.
The first half was uninteresting and mistakes abounded. After the break the quality of rugby was a little better, but it remained a disjointed affair.
The early game lacked structure. It was more obvious on the Lions side with a number of newcomers to their squad trying to find one another while the Bulls' unity from playing in the same structure last year made a difference to their cohesion.
There were nevertheless some good individual performances on both sides with double try-scorer Devin Oosthuizen and Dries van Schalkwyk catching the eye while Jonathan Mokuena of the Lions was probably the outstanding player in the match, with Chris Jonck also doing good work behind the scrum.
The scorers:
Bulls Blue 42 Lions Red 12
For the Bulls 'Blue':
Tries: Van den Heever 2, Kruger, Mametsa, Van Schalkwyk
Cons: Steyn 4
Pens: Steyn 3
For the Lions 'Red':
Tries: Mjekevu, Engelbrecht
Cons: Kruger
Bulls White 25 Lions Black 3
For the Bulls 'White':
Tries: Oosthuizen 2, Willes
Cons: Brummer, Boshoff
Pens: Brummer 2
Lions "Red" team: 15 Michael Killian, 14 Wigan Pekeur, 13 Deon Van Rensburg, 12 Walter Venter, 11 Henno Mentz, 10 Herkie Kruger, 9 Alex Koch, 8 Todd Clever, 7 Derrick Minnie, 6 Cobus Grobbelaar (capt), 5 Willem Stoltz, 4 George Earl, 3 Kevin Buys, 2 Hannes Franklin, 1 Heinke Van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Charles Enslie, 17 David Bulbring, 18 Robert Kruger, 19 Alistair Siegelaar, 20 Trompie Nontshinga, 21 Wandile Mjekevu.
Bulls "Blue" team: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 12 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 11 John Mametsa, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Derick Kuün, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (capt), 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Engels, 17 Bandise Maku, 18 Bees Roux, 19 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 20 Ruan Snyman, 21 Francois Brummer, 22 Stephan Dippenaar, 23 Dries van Schalkwyk, 24 De Wet Barry.
For the Lions 'Black':
Pen: Francis
