The Blue Bulls hosted the Vodacom Free State Cheetahs in round 2 of the Currie Cup. The Bulls won 30 / 27 in a nail-biter.
The official web site of the Bulls summarises the match as follows:
A workmanlike performance by the Vodacom Blue Bulls saw them beating the courageous Vodacom Free State Cheetahs 30-27 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon.
Captain Victor Matfield said during the week that he expects the Blue Bulls to take two or three games to ‘settle in’ after ten players have been involved in the Vodacom Tri-Nations, but they started off pretty well and after 13 minutes the Bulls have built up a neat 10-0 lead thanks to a Gerhard van den Heever try and five points coming from the boot of Morne Steyn.
Shortly after Van den Heever’s try Dewald Potgieter, who was again at his rampant best, charged down a kick to dive over for the Bulls’ second and with the score at 17-3 the Bulls were dominating all aspects of the game.
With Matfield and big Danie Rossouw back in the mix the Bulls had no problems in the lineouts and the set scrums were fairly evenly contested throughout the first 40 minutes although neither of the teams could stamp down their authority at tighthead (but on this point it has to be noted that there isn’t a tighthead in world rugby that consistently dominates the right hand side of the scrum because you scrum in effect against two opponents).
The Bulls’ fetching duo of Potgieter and Deon Stegmann had a titanic battle with Heinrich Brussow and Ashley Johnson in the loose and with Steyn continuing where he left off in the Super 14 the Bulls’ scoreboard were constantly ticking.
Steyn kicked three penalties and converted both tries in the first half to take the Bulls into a 23-10 lead at the break after the Cheetahs’ Fabian Juries scored a brilliant individualistic try shortly before halftime.
As underdogs playing away from home the Cheetahs had absolutely nothing to lose and could therefore afford play high risk rugby and this eventually paid off in the 44th minute when Juries’ partner on the wing Lionel Mapoe scored another five pointer.
With the score at 23-17 the Bulls realized they were in for a game and being one of the world’s most professional outfits they immediately shifted to a higher gear and it wasn’t long before Wynand Olivier cut through the visitors’ midfield for try number three.
Olivier scored a minute after Johnson (Free State’s number 8) had to leave the field following a yellow card for a professional foul, but with Johnson on the sideline the Cheetahs showed that they are NOT going to be pushovers as they succeeded in quickly scoring ten points of their own as a result of another try by Juries and five points via Potgieter’s boot.
During the last 15 minutes the Bulls were clinging to their 30-27 lead and although they could not score the fourth try they did enough at the end to see off the desperate Cheetahs.
Points:
Blue Bulls: 3 Penalties & 2 Conversions Morne Steyn, Try Gerhard van den Heever & Dewalt Potgieter & Wynand Olivier
Cheetahs: 2 Penalties & 3 Conversions Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Try Fabian Juries (2) & Lionel Mapoe
Sat Sep 26 2009 at 17:05 (local time)
Venue: Loftus Versveld, Pretoria, South Africa
Altitude: 1330m / Capacity: 52 000
Teams:
Blue Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 François Hougaard, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Derick Kuün, 1 Gürthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Ross Geldenhuys, 18 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 19 Pedrie Wannenburg, 20 Dean Greyling, 21 François Brummer, 22 John Mametsa.
Free State: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Lionel Mapoe, 13 Corné Uys, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Fabian Juries, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 JP Joubert, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Frans Viljoen, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 David de Villiers, 4 Nico Breedt, 3 Western Province Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Izak van der Westhuizen, 19 Hendro Scholtz, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Louis Strydom, 22 JW Jonker.
Referee: Ian Smith (Australia)
Assistant referees: Dilbert November, Cobus Wessels
TMO: Johann Meuwesen
Sjoe…. Bulls cling on by the nails to win by 3 points.
The Bulls Boys hold their breath……So………?????
SHIT!
Well done to the Bulls and their supporters. It was close. Bonus Point for us.
174@SA Barbarians – Actually I think they played better without the Boks!!
@Loosehead – 177
Bad luck LH.
Your team should have won this game. They were on top in the 2nd half
Congratulations to the Bulls.
:dance: :jump: :highfive:
Wooo Hoooo – I am smileyed out you will be glad to hear…!!
Puma is going to love these little guys (If he can see them)!!
Look at the time, have to get dressed and go to work.
Cheers All
Congrats are in order to both the Bulls AND the Cheetahs.
Freegin hard match.
…. just glad the Bulls won….
I was worried about this game !
@Loosehead – See you….are you in the States too?
Geluk Bulle en respek Cheetahs
Was ‘n harde game wat enige kant toe kon gegaan het
@grootblousmile – 189 Would you care to check your blood pressure and heart rate now?
How about those sweaty palms?
192@carol – All calmed down now…. heart rate back to 62 per minute… hehe
@grootblousmile – OK WRS and I are going out for dinner, catch up with you soon. Have a great evening oh yes you have :mail: !
Bulls next hurdle is Griquas… with a win the Bulls will pass the Griquas on the Log and move into third… then an easy game after that… against the Leopards.
It would mean that the Sharks play Griquas or Cheetahs or Lions in a semi… AND WP plays the Bulls
Who will the finalists be? Sharks and Bulls or Sharks and WP?
Byee All, have a good one….
194@carol – Cheers… no :mail: yet by the way.
Voor ek die bulle geluk se net twee vrae aan die rev
1.hoe moes pottie weg rol met sewe bulle dikgatte wat hom plat le die strafskop het die cheetahs die game gekos
2.Mapoe jaag die bal vang hom uit die lug skoon en word gestraf VIR WATTER OORTREDING moontlike drie vir die cheetahs gaan verlore
Dit gese moet ek seker se geluk bulle op die einde was weinand olivier se klas vir julle 4 liga punte werd
Moosa game geqwees julle gatvelle sit nog aan die hek vas
@grootblousmile – Lees my cyber lippe chomma dis bulls cheetahs op loftus en julle weet wat op loftus gebeur as ons in finals daar speel :-))
200 Leeus
200
@smallies72 – Cheaters done and dusted!
Cheaters is n goeie span wat goed gesettle is. Die Bulle moes al weer span verander, maar hulle behoort beter te raak met Bakkies en Habana wat moet inval.
Wel ek sal like as dit n Bulls/Cheaters final is.
Ek like die Cheaters nie baie, maar vir WP het ek niks tyd nie. Selfs die Sharks kan liefs in die Final speel.
Good luck en gelukkig is die CC nou weer kookwater met krag teen krag.
@smallies72 – Hehehehe, Sorry Smallies72
@Ed_the_Lion – dammmmmm :curse: :vampire: :-/
@smallies72 – Jy en die Cheetahs het baie naby gekom vandag. 😮
199@smallies72 – Hehehe
Cheetahs lê nou 6de…. eishhhhhhh… maar julle behoort ‘n volle 10 te vat met julle 2 opkomende games.
Beide die Kwas en die Lions het 2 mooooooooooooooosa games teen grotes oor… kannie sien dat die Lions 10 punte kan kry in die oorblywendes nie en Kwas behoort darem vas te val teen beide die Bulle en die Sharks.
@smallies72 – cheetahs kan ook pokol wen vandag nie
@grootblousmile – ja maar ons moes 4 gekry het vandag om ons eie lot te bepaal net net kort gekom,se my gou hoekom is mapoe gestraf ek verstaan nie die ref se redenasie so lekker daar nie
Griekwas gaan semis toe. Hulle gaan verloor. Daai frats begin van hulle kos die Leeus en Cheetahs nou. Ek gaan nie opkom vir die Leeus nie. As jy teen die Griekwas en Sharks verloor op Ellis Park is dit jou eie skuld.
@smallies72 – Dit was ‘n swak beslissing. Selfs die kommentators het so gesê. Dit is die hartseer van rugby. Skeidsregters het te veel sê oor wie gaan wen en verloor. Hulle moet begin finansieel gestraf word vir kak beslissings.
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