Bulls maul Lions in the Park

The Blue Bulls showed that not even the absence of all their top Springboks could halt them, as they scored a resounding 39-24 win over the Lions in their Currie Cup Round Two match at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Points machine Morne Steyn

It is a scoreline that flatters the Lions somewhat - as the Bulls not only outscored them by five tries to two, but the Lions scored a consolation try in the dying seconds.

The Bulls secured the win through the dominance of their pack, which simply mauled the Lions' totally outclassed tight forwards.

Problems for the Lions started in the scrums, with the Bulls totally destroying them from the very first scrum. The line-outs were also a lottery.

The only aspect in which the Lions were competitive in was at the breakdown, where they turned over some handy ball - thanks mainly to some incredible work by captain Wikus van Heerden.

But once the Bulls had cleaned up their act in the second-half, the Lions were also denied the scraps of possession they had enjoyed from this aspect of the game.

And behind this dominant pack, No.8 Pedrie Wannenburg produce an inspired performance in the loose.

The other obvious was that the Bulls back were going to have a field day behind such dominance.

But it must be said that the Lions' problems were compounded by the indecisiveness and lack of creativity in the fly-half channel. Earl Rose, given that most of the ball he got was either slow or on the retreat, still failed to give the team direction.

His younger brother, Jody Rose, produced a far more mature performance in the No.10 jersey last week.

For the Bulls the most important aspect was that they came away from Ellis Park with a full-house of five points.

In the early stages of the game, when the Lions were still competitive at the breakdown, left-wing Louis Ludik scored from one of the turnovers won by his captain, Van Heerden. He chipped the defence from 40 metres out, latched onto his own kick and sped away to score.

And when new fullback Mark Harris kicked a penalty to make it 8-3, it looked like the Lions might be very competitive.

But the Bulls were not about to be deflated, and they started playing the more structured rugby.

Much of the first half followed that template - the Bulls doing most of the hard labour and moving the ball through phase after phase, and the rasping Lions using every half-chance to counter attack.

But in the 30th minute the Bulls' diligence began to pay off. The relentless Wannenburg was brought down centimetres from the tryline, and flank Tim Dlulane made the most of the recycled ball when he brawned through the sagging defence and stretched out a meaty hand to claim a try.

Fly-half Morne Steyn's conversion crept wide, leaving matters deadlocked at 8-8. Lions fullback Mark Harris nudged the home side ahead with a penalty on 34 minutes.

With half-time looming, Wannenburg was again denied close to the line following a superb rolling maul by the Bulls pack.

The Bulls retained possession after the ball ricocheted messily between opposing players, and Steyn skipped through the tattered Lions defence to touch down. He also converted to put the visitors 15-11 ahead.

But there was one last act in the half, with Harris pulling back three points with a penalty on the half-time hooter.

At 15-14 it looked like the home team was competitive. But it was more a case of waiting for the floodgates to open.

Within four minutes of the restart left-wing Marius Delport boosted the Bulls' lead to eight points, when he swerved past several would-be challengers and broke through a few half-hearted tackles to score.

Harris reeled in another three points with his fourth sweetly-struck penalty, but the Bulls streaked away in the 51st minute after they spun the ball to the right.

Wannenburg popped up on the touchline to take the final pass and crash over for a deserved try. Steyn converted, and stroked a penalty shortly afterwards to put the Bulls 15 points clear with 25 minutes left in the match.

The sting was drawn from the match then, but with two minutes left on the clock Wannenburg forged ahead for the umpteenth time. Back came the ball once more, and replacement Jaco Engels used his considerable bulk to smash through and score.

The Lions deserve plaudits for continuing to try and make a game of it. At least they got the consolation of scoring last, with Harris crowning a shining Currie Cup debut by tearing down the left hand touchline to take the final pass and score a second try for the home side.

Harris dusted himself off, and calmly slotted the conversion from the touchline to leave the scoreline flattering the Lions.

The scorers:

For the Lions:
Tries: Ludik, Harris
Con: Harris
Pens: Harris 4

For the Blue Bulls:
Tries: Dlulane, Steyn, Delport, Wannenburg, Engels
Cons: Steyn 3, Potgieter
Pens: Steyn 2

Teams:

Lions: 15 Mark Harris, 14 Wylie Human, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 12 Thabang Molefe, 11 Louis Ludik, 10 Earl Rose, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Pietie Ferreira, 7 Russel Winter, 6 Wikus van Heerden (captain), 5 Gerhard Mostert, 4 Cobus Grobler, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 James van der Walt, 1 Pietman van Niekerk.
Replacements: 16 Ethienne Reyneke, 17 JC Janse van Rensburg, 18 Jean Deysel, 19 Ernst Joubert, 20 Rory Kockett, 21 Jody Rose, 22 Grant Esterhuizen.

Vodacom Blue Bulls: 15 Stefan Basson, 14 Trompie Nontshinga, 13 JP Nel, 12 Frikkie Welsh (captain), 11 Marius Delport, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Tim Dlulane, 6 Warren Brosnihan, 5 Francois van Schouwenburg, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Rayno Gerber, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Wessel Roux.
Replacements: 16 Kobus van der Walt, 17 Jaco Engels, 18 Cliff Milton, 19 Emile Verster, 20 Neil Powell, 21 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 22 John Mametsa.

Referee: Mark Lawrence
Touch judges: Deon van Blommestein, Charlton Pick (Boland)
Television match official: Shawn Veldsman (Boland)