The Vodacom Bulls left it late, beating the Force 25 / 24 with a late penalty.
Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard kicked 20 points as his Vodacom Bulls side sneaked home against the Western Force in their Vodacom Super Rugby match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Marcel van der Merwe scored a try but his team were outscored 3 to 1 in the try-scoring stakes, as the Force’s spoiling game worked exceptionally well on their opponents. The Bulls failed to capitalise on the Force being down to 13 men at one stage.
The Bulls, who had just returned from a BYE week, were poor and out-of-sorts, and for large periods of time it looked as if it was the Force who were the home side with the way they played.
But thanks to Pollard they managed to sneak home through a penalty in the last minute, shortly after Sias Ebersohn kicked a 59-metre bomb that gave the Force the lead.
Scorers:
Vodacom Bulls:
- Tries: Marcel van der Merwe (1)
- Conversions: Handré Pollard (1)
- Penalties: Handré Pollard (6)
Western Force:
- Tries: Adam Coleman (1), Sam Wykes (1), Kyle Godwin (1)
- Conversions: Luke Burton (2), Sias Ebersohn (1)
- Penalties: Sias Ebersohn (1)
Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke says while his charges were not up to standard, he was proud of them for pulling off the nervous 25 / 24 victory over the Western Force in Pretoria on Saturday.
“We played against a desperate side and that is what happens, they play for 80 minutes and we could never build a score,” Ludeke said.
If it was not for Springbok flyhalf Handré Pollard’s successful pressure place kick at the death, the Bulls’ campaign would have taken a serious blow.
Instead they have now won 3 out of their 5 matches to keep them in the running for silverware.
While the Bulls produced a below-par performance, they came up against a negative Force side that were willing to concede penalties in order to disrupt the flow of the game.
The visitors conceded 22 penalties compared to the 10 by the Bulls, with the Force’s Adam Coleman and Tetera Faulkner copping Yellow Cards for their indiscretions on the home side’s maul.
Ill-discipline ultimately cost the visitors the match as Coleman gave away a penalty for a tip tackle on Pollard with 2 minutes to go.
The sharp-shooting Pollard succeeded with his shot at goal to see his side take the victory by 1 point.
“It was a stop-start game with a lot of penalties and perhaps from their side some negative play which worked for them,” Ludeke said.
“They conceded a lot of penalties and we could not make enough of it because we made too many mistakes ourselves.
“Our work rate wasn’t up to standard tonight and we hope to be back to our best next week.”
This performance by the Bulls was a far cry from what they have produced in their 2 victories before their rest week but Ludeke would not blame the break for their display on Saturday.
“The BYE came at the right time and we used it to our favour we had a good week’s build-up to the game, we take it on the chin and you obviously need your work rate to be spot on.
“That is the thing about Super Rugby and they dominated the gain line a few times in the game that led to penalties and to tries.”
Bulls captain Pierre Spies said the wet field thanks to a thunder storm before the start of the match had an influence in the amount of handling errors.
“The ball was a bit wet tonight, so that makes the attack a bit different and also the speed of the ball at the ruck,” Spies said.
“That had an influence on our attack but first we look at ourselves and the way we played tonight wasn’t good enough.”
Spies said the team had only themselves to blame for allowing the Force into the game.
“The intensity was not there the whole game, we let them into the game with some soft moments and we actually did well to win it in the end.
“We were trying to build a good lead so that we can get the game going and every time they got back.
“In the end of the day you are just looking for the victory and that is what we worked for till the end and we grafted it out until the last minute and we got that win.”
Force coach Michael Foley said his team did well to get 3 tries past the Bulls and he was confidence they would soon get on the winning track.
“Some of the things we practised during the week the players executed extremely well,” Foley said.
“To come here and score 3 tries and certainly in the fashion the players got them in, to resist the pressure at different times of the game.
“You are always disappointed when you don’t get the result but if you can play rugby like that week in and week out and we are going to get some good results.”
SuperSport