Search

Super 14

©Touchline

Review

Bulls put 50 past gutsy Highlanders

Saturday, March 13

The Bulls stretched their home winning streak to 14 when they secured a comfortable 50-35 bonus point victory over a gutsy Highlanders side at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Bulls returned from their bye and continued their dominance in a seven try effort to return to the top of the table after the Crusaders temporarily moved into pole position following their away win over the Chiefs on Friday.

The defending champions rushed into a 21-point lead inside the opening 15 minutes through tries by Gary Botha, Francois Hougaard and Gerhard van den Heever, all of which Morne Steyn converted, before Israel Dagg hit back for the visitors with his first of three tries on the day.

Wynand Olivier went over for the bonus point try in the 24 minute, after which man of the match Pierre Spies scored under the uprights. Dagg sliced clean through for his second for a soft set piece try while Steyn landed a penalty on the stroke of half time in an entertaining first half.

Half time: Bulls 36-14 Highlanders

The Bulls were guilty of taking their foot off the gas in what was their worst half of rugby this season after the interval. The Highlanders enjoyed most of the possession and cracked the defence in the 54th minute when Jason Shoemark put away Tim Boys with a good long ball.

Hougaard soon went over for his brace before Robbie Robinson gathered a chip kick from fellow replacement back James Paterson to secure the bonus point try. Spies soon powered over from the base of the scrum for his second before Dagg completed his hat-trick when he managed to dot down after taking a quick tap.

SARugby.com Man of the Match: Pierre Spies.



Bulls

13 Mar 10
17:05
Loftus Versfeld
Pretoria, South Africa

 Bulls
50
  
35
Gary Botha, Wynand Olivier, Pierre Spies (2), Francois Hougaard (2), Gerhard van den Heever Tries Tim Boys, Israel Dagg (3), Robbie Robinson
Morne Steyn (6) Conversions Matthew Berquist (2), Israel Dagg (3)
Morne Steyn Penalties
Drop Goals
     
Morne Steyn Missed Conversions
Missed Penalties
     
Yellow Cards
Red Cards
 
Team Stats for this fixture not yet available.
more stats...   more stats...

  • Threshold
  • RSS Feed
  • The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
By jakid - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
Went to sleep a bit there in the second half and defence slighty off but good overall win.Highlanders did better than I think people thought they would.GO BULLS!!!! Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad
| Parent

By jakid - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
van der Heever a flyer!!!
| Parent

By Gilbert - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
That van der heever is amazing!
| Parent

By BullsRob - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
Reasonably happy with that! Over 200 points in 4 games and 20 points from 4! Get in...
| Parent

By KaRmA77 - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
Now this is how I wish all South African teams played Wink

Maak al die Bulle Bokke Razz
| Parent

By jongbok - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
Brilliant attacking display by my beloved Bulls bt im still concerned about their defence. Points difference should have been bigger.
| Parent

By jauk - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
Well done Bulls.
| Parent

By zulustormer - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
good job bulls. keep on keeping on.!!! Very Happy Smile
| Parent

By jakid - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
Even though the Bulls won this game easily I think this was their worst game this season.They will really have to work on their defence because a team like the Crusaders will hammer them if they miss so many first time tackles.But it shows the class of the team to still make it seem so easy.Also they havent really played for 80 minutes either.The previous games they had slow starts and this weekend they went to sleep in the second half.Imagine the Bulls playing full steam for 80 minutes.Nobody will touch them.Van der Heever is going to be a legend.What a try.He is like the white Nokwe Very Happy It good to be a Bulls supporter. Twisted Evil
| Parent

By mampara - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
these guys are not even at full strngth yet with bakkies yet to return
| Parent

By Dribbler - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
Boys got another win under the belt, good work. Not their best game of the super 14 so far especially after they scored the 4th try. Can only get better to, lekker
| Parent

By pietplof - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
The Bulls is not good at all. Getting 35 points against you is shocking to say the least.
| Parent

By crazysharksman - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
Great game by Bulls.. They let it slip a bit.. At some stage I thought they would put a 100 points against them.

The bulls must sharpen up the defence.. They highlanders shouldn't have been allowed to ever even get close. Well done Bluo Balle. Very Happy
| Parent

By mikes - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
Spies was Awsome and proved why he is SA's and probaly the worlds best no 8 at the moment..
| Parent

By hakwa - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
Dag to be ABs fullback this year
| Parent

By bluebok - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
I thought that with the exception of his try which was great, Van Den Heever was selfish and tried to run the ball from anywhere and kept on getting caught out. Hougard had a better game in my opinion. As for Spies, what a monster!!!!
| Parent

By hakwa - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
only spies? I thought they were all monsters! Laughing
| Parent

By MasterMatfield - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
defense is a problem, we need to work hard on it. I know playing a expansive game opens holes in their defense, but playing against teams that can couter, will hurt us. Our wings our brilliant on attack, but they are not so good defending. Come on guys, please work on that defense. But it did look like they fell asleep second half... Anyways, well played Bulls!!! Behind you all the way!!!
| Parent

By bbvb - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
As a bulls fan I'm also concerned about the defence. Last week the highlanders were kept scoreless by the stormers, this time they scored 35 points. Not good at all.

Still good to see the Bulls being able to score tries almost at will. If they can beat the Canes this weekend, they should be able to take the Force next weekend and come close to securing a semi.
| Parent

By BullsRob - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
As a Bulls fan I don't care about defense issues. As long as we score more points than the other team and get 4 tries (which we are doing every week!) then neither should any of you....
| Parent

By green - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
Clever teams like the Crusaders will definitely be targeting out wide, cos that's where the weak defensive links are. Bulls let the Highlanders off the hook by dropping their intensity, a move which could come back to bite them on the backside.

When the Bulls hit the road, thats when the experience of Bryan Habana, is gonna be missed. The youngsters are awesome in attack, but I'd rather use Ndungane and perhaps Jaco VDW out wide for the overseas leg, cos when those monster-legged islanders come running at the youngsters, Bulls are gonna get hurt.
| Parent

By BoknBull - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
I think the one week break had a dampening effect on the Bulls momentum and they got a little complacent after reaching bonus points within 25 minutes. Defence def needs some work.

Really sad that Morne didnt break the record for 200 points in 4 games, they should have considered this and reached a hundred points in my opinion. I guess they as well as Morne are human after all

Its hard for me to say this as a huge Bulls fan, but I think in order to win the Super 14 again they will need to lose one game to give them the courage to take the tournament, otherwise they will get complacent and be too chilled in the Semi's and Final. Rolling Eyes

Bulls vs reds and stormers will be games of the season
| Parent

By Gron - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
Hmmm... ominous. No doubt the Bulls will score well against the Canes, but the Canes are a dangerous team. When they score they seem to get more and more dangerous... riled up. The Cheetahs and Stormers managed to bring them down by disallowing them to play, but if the Bulls allow them to score they will have a long night.

Warning signs!
| Parent

By crazysharksman - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
@ Bullsknob

Bulls management themselves are unhappy with defence genuis. Shocked
| Parent

By Willeklong - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
Newlands await the Bulls come May 15. The turf will be in good shape (I can see a few bodies making hard contact with it). On current standings the North vs South clash has all the makings of an EPIC. Hopefully these two teams still rank 1 and 2 that far down the comp. Both teams have adopted different styles of play. Both, however, look calm and colected. I CAN'T FLIPPEN WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck to the BULLE!

STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMEEEEEEEEERS
| Parent

By BullsRob - Castle Braai recommendations: 0
CrazyShirtLifter - I'm not on the Bulls management. Look, come back with an opinion about rugby when your team wins more than 1 in their last 12 super rugby games.
| Parent

No Comments Allowed for Anonymous, please register or login.
Login / Register
 
user poll
Will the Boks win any of their upcoming home games?


Results Votes: 1920
Fat Pig Productions
Designed and Implemented by DigIT Solutions All content supplied by SARugby.com Photographs supplied by Gallo Images/Getty Images. All logos and trademarks are the property of their respective owner. The comments are property of their posters, all the rest © 2005 Fat Pig Productions CC
The logos and trademarks used on this site are the property of their respective owners
We are not responsible for comments posted by our users, as they are the property of the poster
Advertise with SARugby.com | Legal Notices

 SARugby.com is hosted by Hetzner