The Bulls’ performance had a feeling of pre-season hit-out more than the first game of the United Rugby Championship, yet the tenacity shown in holding off Edinburgh 22-16 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday bodes well for the rest of the tournament.
Both teams struggled to find their rhythm in Pretoria, almost cancelling each other out with their individual and system errors, as well as the Scottish visitors’ approach to make the breakdowns scrappy and almost stop the Bulls from playing.
But it was a much more experienced and streetwise Edinburgh side compared to the Bulls, who were missing their current Springboks involved in the Rugby Championship decider against Argentina on Saturday.
They also lost stalwart tighthead prop Wilco Louw to illness on match-day, and they conceded several penalties in the scrums and were disrupted in the lineouts and breakdowns by the likes of seasoned internationals such as Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie and Hamish Watson.
Edinburgh’s South African head coach Sean Everitt would also have had inside info on the Bulls, having been part of the Loftus set-up not too long ago.
But Jake White’s team hung in there, especially on defence in a titanic last 10 minutes in their 22, to secure the four log points after tries by Jannes Kirsten, Jaco van der Walt and Canan Moodie.
“When you look at the team sheet, Hamish Watson, Jamie Ritchie, and you look at how hard they go at the ball, we were never going to get rhythm and continuity,” White said afterwards.
“Then you put in Cameron Hanekom, who is hard on the ball, Grobbies (Johan Grobbelaar) is hard on the ball, (Nama) Xaba is incredibly hard on the ball, you were never going to get a fixture where there would be lots and lots of flow in the game, attack, rhythm, players running onto the ball...
“That’s why I think people look at that game and go, ‘It wasn’t what we expected’.
“But I think anyone who understands rugby will know that one thing about Edinburgh is that they don’t give you lots of room, they don’t give you lots of space.
“They don’t allow you to run onto the ball, and yet we still scored three tries and found a way to win.
“We didn’t allow them to score more than one try, which – if you look at their backline and attack generally over the years – that is one of the strengths of that team.
“They scored one maul try, so it wasn’t like we were exposed defensively by the way we defended. And that is what I’m also pleased about.
“There’s a lot to be chuffed about, there’s a lot to be positive about. The things that didn’t work, I know we will be able to get those things right.”
The touchdown by Springbok wing Moodie – who had a busy game and was the Player of the Match – was the turning point in the game, and it came in style in the 65th minute.
MAN OF THE MATCH 🔥😮💨
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) September 29, 2024
What a performance from Moodie🏆#ForeverBlue | #ComeHome@Vodacom #URC@URCOfficial_RSA pic.twitter.com/eBRHYHI4Pd
The Bulls had defended 16 phases in their half with 14 men after Simphiwe Matanzima’s yellow card, and just when it looked like Edinburgh would score, Marcell Coetzee ripped the ball in a tackle on Watson.
The ball was quickly spread wide and wing Sebastian de Klerk put in a superb 50-22 kick that rolled out within 10m of the Edinburgh tryline.
Replacement flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain took a quick line-out throw-in to scrumhalf Keagan Johannes, who fed centre Chris Barend Smit, who put Moodie over under the posts.
“There’s no doubt that a couple of years ago, the Bulls wouldn’t have been good enough, under that pressure, to win that game,” White said.
“But they showed in that block of defence from the line-out; it was basically 20 phases, turnover, kick down the field, 50-22, quick line-out...
“We’ve struggled to beat Edinburgh in the last three years – it’s been tough games against them. We lost there (31-23 last year), and we just won here at home (33-31 in 2022).
😍 Free-flowing magic from the Vodacom @BlueBullsRugby with Canan Moodie pulling the strings!
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) September 28, 2024
A dazzling way to score the first try of the contest 🌟 @Vodacom #URC | #BULvEDI pic.twitter.com/RPohA5Ntch
“But we’ll take the win. To be fair, I’ve coached long enough to know that there would be many teams who wouldn’t have won that game in the last 20 minutes.”
Next up for the Bulls will be Ulster – who lost 35-22 to the Lions in Johannesburg at the weekend – at Loftus on Saturday (4pm start).
White is hoping he will get at least a few Boks back this week from the likes of Willie le Roux, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Elrigh Louw, Ruan Nortjé, Gerhard Steenekamp, Marco van Staden and Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Points-Scorers
Bulls 22 – Tries: Jannes Kirsten, Jaco van der Walt, Canan Moodie. Conversions: Jaco van der Walt (1), Boeta Chamberlain (1). Penalties: Chamberlain (1).
Edinburgh 16 – Try: Ewan Ashman. Conversion: Ross Thompson (1). Penalties: Ross Thompson (3).
