Cape Town — Not even a virtual full-strength team could stop the rot as the Bulls slumped to their sixth consecutive defeat across all competitions on Friday night in a 41-33 Currie Cup loss to Western Province at Loftus Versfeld.
Despite fighting back from a 15-5 deficit in the first half, which saw the Pretoria side regain the lead on a few occasions, the Capetonians’ endeavour on attack was too much to handle, and they emerged deserved winners.
Province coach John Dobson selected a well-balanced side that had a few URC players mixed with regular Currie Cup figures, and they played without fear against the strongest possible Bulls outfit that Jake White could choose.
But it was once again the defence that played a major role in the Bulls’ downfall as they conceded four tries and gave away far too many penalties, which saw WP flyhalf Kade Wolhuter slot five three-pointers, along with three conversions and a try for a personal tally of 26.
The Bulls made good progress whenever they kept the ball close to their forwards, who won the physical battle against a lighter and more inexperienced WP pack.
But the home side got sucked into Province’s all-out attacking style and opted to go toe-to-toe with the visitors instead of grinding them down upfront.
And in that regard, WP cut the Bulls to pieces, with Man-of-the-Match Clayton Blommetjies particularly lethal as he sparked a number of counter-attacks from poor kicks downfield by the opposition.
It was actually the Bulls who scored the first try when wing Sbu Nkosi rounded off following Harold Vorster’s break, but Province showed what was to come when they produced a superb effort by Paul de Wet — which was started by No 8 Keke Morabe’s charge down the left touchline.
Another counter-attack, this time from wing Ruhan Nel, led to Wolhuter’s touchdown, and at 15-5 after 20 minutes, WP were well on top.
But to their credit, the Bulls didn’t give up — like they did somewhat in last week’s 63-15 loss to the Pumas.
Centre Cornal Hendricks and scrumhalf Zak Burger crossed the whitewash to put the Bulls into a 19-18 halftime lead, and with their forwards increasingly dominant, it looked like the home side were finally going to break their drought.
But Province hit back early in the second with another wonderful passage of play that ended with Nel diving over in the right-hand corner.
As the game neared the hour mark, though, the Bulls took charge, with hooker Johan Grobbelaar and prop Francois Klopper striking off lineouts inside the WP 22, and suddenly the hosts were 33-25 ahead.
Dobson’s team, though, just don’t know how to lose at the moment, and they dazzled once more through Jean-Luc du Plessis’ extraordinary offload to Suleiman Hartzenberg, and that man Blommetjies scored to make it 33-32.
Soon after that, Wolhuter slotted two further penalties — which was interspersed with an outstanding 50-22 touch-finder by Blommetjies — and Province were 38-33 up with 10 minutes to go.
The Bulls looked like they were going to snatch a victory when they gained real momentum inside the WP 22, but Elrigh Louw’s pass was intercepted in acrobatic fashion by Juan de Jongh to save the day for the visitors.
Wolhuter landed a late three-pointer to stretch the lead to eight points, and Province closed things out for yet another memorable triumph at Loftus Versfeld.
For the Bulls and White, things will only get tougher as they now have to travel to Belfast to face Ulster in the URC next Saturday.
Points-Scorers
Blue Bulls 33 — Tries: Sbu Nkosi, Cornal Hendricks, Zak Burger, Johan Grobbelaar, Francois Klopper. Conversions: Chris Smith (4).
Western Province 41 — Tries: Paul de Wet, Kade Wolhuter, Ruhan Nel, Clayton Blommetjies. Conversions: Wolhuter (3). Penalties: Wolhuter (5).
IOL Sport