While the Bulls will be delighted to have got back into the winners’ circle on Saturday, they must find a way to cut out unforced errors if they want to be genuine United Rugby Championship contenders.
The Pretoria outfit will be thrilled about grabbing a bonus point in their 54-29 victory over Zebre in Parma, with inside centre David Kriel claiming a hat-trick at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi.
But having led 35-15 in the second half, they allowed the Italian minnows back into the encounter and had to survive a fierce comeback before closing out the win with Kriel’s third touchdown with 10 minutes left.
It should never have come to that, though, as Jake White’s team had clear dominance upfront and used that physicality to good effect at times.
The Bulls pack took a while to get going, but set up a 21-5 lead within the opening half-an-hour after an early five-pointer by Zebre flank Iacopo Bianchi.
Tighthead prop Wilco Louw – one of the chief off-season recruits – has already shown his value up to now, and he reinforced that by pulverising Zebre No 1 Danilo Fischetti all afternoon long in the scrums.
Several set-piece penalties gave the Bulls easy entries into the Italians’ 22, and that led to bustling hooker Akker van der Merwe scoring two of the first three tries off driving mauls.
The best Bulls five-pointer in the first half came from new left wing Sergeal Petersen, which involved some outstanding carries from the likes of co-captain Ruan Nortjé and right wing Sebastian de Klerk.
But the visitors made some unnecessary mistakes, especially after scoring points as they sometimes failed to clear their lines from kickoffs, or missed one-on-one tackles, which gave the hosts momentum with ball-in-hand.
One such incident saw a chip kick bounce well short of Bulls flyhalf Johan Goosen, and Zebre pounced as flyhalf Geronimo Prisciantelli rounded off after a number of defensive lapses.
Suddenly the Bulls’ lead was just six points (21-15) at halftime, and White got his team to come out after the break firing as they ran in tries by fullback Devon Williams and Kriel.
It should have been game over at 35-15, but Zebre fought back and showed the spirit that saw them run Ulster and the Ospreys close in their first two matches.
Wing Scott Gregory and fullback Lorenzo Pani took advantage of more lax Bulls defending to score a try each, and it became a six-point ball-game once more at 35-29.
The Bulls, though, showed enough composure in the last 10 minutes as Kriel and Williams produced three more tries to take their team over the 50-point mark.
White will hope that his team can kick on from here on the rest of the European tour, as they will face far sterner tests against Cardiff and Edinburgh over the next two weeks.
Points-Scorers
Zebre 29 – Tries: Iacopo Bianchi, Geronimo Prisciantelli, Scott Gregory, Lorenzo Pani. Conversions: Prisciantelli (3). Penalty: Prisciantelli (1).
Bulls 54 – Tries: Akker van der Merwe (2), Sergeal Petersen, David Kriel (3), Devon Williams (2). Conversions: Johan Goosen (6), Chris Smith (1).
IOL Sport