Leopards closer to Top Eight finish

The Leopards took a giant leap towards a place in the Top Eight, the Currie Cup proper, when they scored a convincing 52-33 win over the Border Bulldogs in their qualifying match in Potchefstroom on Friday night.

Try scorer Colin Lloyd

The victory and bonus point, in this 11-try feast on a cold winters night, ensured that the Leopards moved into fourth place on the Section Y standings - fours points clear of the Bulldogs.

With the Pumas having scored their first win of the season in beating the Griffons, also on Friday night, it means that Leopards now need just two points - a draw or two bonus points - from their last qualifying match, against Griquas in Potchefstroom next Friday.

The Bulldogs and Griffons also still have a chance, with the Bulldogs requiring a win and a bonus point against the Pumas, while they need the Leopards to lose and not get any points. The Griffons are in an even more precarious position, needing a win and a bonus point against the Cheetahs, but requiring both the Leopards and Bulldogs to lose and not get points.

It will make for an interesting final weekend of qualifying matches.

The Leopards - who outscored their opponents by six tries to five - made their intentions clear early on in their encounter with the Bulldogs in Potch on Friday night, taking an 18-0 lead in a 12-minute blitzkrieg in the first half.

The Bulldogs managed to settle down after that initial onslaught, with their own high error rate contributing to the Leopards' scoring frenzy.

But every time they scored, the Leopards came back with a score or two of their own and the gap stretched steadily throughout the first half - with the Leopards taking a comfortable 38-14 lead into the half-time break.

The Bulldogs still held out hopes of a comeback in the second half, if they could get a couple of early scores. And they scored first in the second half, with fly-half Reinhard Gerber pulling the strings in a sweet backline move that resulted in a try for Richards.

But, with the score at 38-19, it was the Leopards who scored next and it was clear who was in charge of this contest ... and it was not the Bulldogs.

Before they knew it the deflated Bulldogs were down 52-19, before they came with a late rally to score another two tries that earned them a valuable bonus point.

They were just not good enough to catch up to the Leopards who always appeared to be two paces ahead of them - both on the field and on the scoreboard.

It was a game of much frenetic action, from both teams, who tried to run the ball at every opportunity.

It made for an entertaining affair and lots of exciting, sweeping movements, but there was also enough evidence to suggest that whoever gets through to the Top Eight will need to tighten up their game considerably when they face the big guns of South African rugby.

Mistakes there were plenty, with penalties and free-kicks littering the game.

But in the end the game belonged to the Leopards, whose forwards were just too big and strong for the Bulldogs and dominated the exchanges up front - generally making life unpleasant for the visitors in the scrums and also holding a clear edge in the line-outs.

The scorers:

For the Leopards:
Tries: Geel, Swanepoel, Lloyd, Mokuena 2, Uys
Cons: Olivier 5
Pens: Olivier 4

For the Border Bulldogs:
Tries: Richards, Van der Walt, Pickering, Mangweni, Coetzer
Cons: Gerber 4