Cape Town – Powerful No 8 Elrigh Louw and captain Ruan Nortje praised the character shown by the Bulls in ending a three-match losing streak with a 29-14 United Rugby Championship victory over the Dragons in Newport on Friday night.
The Pretoria outfit were staring a fourth consecutive defeat in the face when they ran out at Rodney Parade on Friday night, but managed to flex their muscles for a change as the forwards laid the platform for the bonus-point triumph with a physical display that overwhelmed the home side’s pack at times.
The front row of Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar and Mornay Smith especially dominated in the scrums, and that allowed the likes of Louw, flank Cyle Brink and centre Harold Vorster to breach the advantage line with ease, and provided the space for flyhalf Johan Goosen to call the shots on attack.
Goosen was a late replacement for Chris Smith, who was ruled out on match-day with a cold that had also kept coach Jake White at the team hotel.
The Vodacom Bulls run in three tries on their way to a 29-14 bonus-point win against the Dragons away in the Vodacom #URC 👏 pic.twitter.com/j9GQHVI0cG
But despite such adversity, the Bulls scored four tries, with veteran hooker Bismarck du Plessis grabbing the bonus point with a touchdown from a driving maul in the final quarter.
“We’ve been struggling away from home, so we stood together as a team and were looking for a good away victory,” Man-of-the-Match Louw said in the post-match TV interview on SuperSport.
“I don’t think it could come at a better time than this! We were on the back foot a bit, but we’ve been through it and came out stronger.”
Skipper Nortje added: “We’ve been struggling a bit with our away games, so every point you get away is very good for the team.
“In the last two weeks, we were under the pump, and I’m just so happy with the character that the boys showed – especially after this week, where our coach is sick and one of our players is sick.
“We are just so happy with the character that the boys showed.”
Bulls scrum consultant Werner Kruger addressed the post-match press conference on Saturday in White’s absence, and was understandably beaming about the big men taking charge upfront.
“We had a good start, and all of a sudden, they came back – it was due to our lack of exiting our half… We didn’t kick the ball out, and they ended up scoring that try around the front of the lineout. We just said we need to manage that territory battle a little bit better and get out of our half,” the former tighthead prop said.
The Vodacom Bulls have made a positive start to their Vodacom #URC clash against the Dragons.
They lead 17-7 in the first half.
📺 Stream live: https://t.co/0BMWdeFwIB pic.twitter.com/Va6y710Xk3
“We said beforehand – myself and (forwards) coach Russell (Winter), it takes a special performance away from home (to win). It starts upfront, and it was good to see the boys fronting up, especially away from home, where it’s not always easy to get your mauls and scrums going.
“It was a great evening for the boys, and it’s always good to see them going forward. May it continue, and it is a crucial week for us now to back up what we did on the weekend.”
Kruger added that White and Smith were “feeling a lot better” on Saturday morning, and would travel back to South Africa with the team ahead of next Saturday’s Champions Cup clash against the Exeter Chiefs at Loftus Versfeld.
Points-Scorers
Dragons 14 – Tries: Bradley Roberts, Max Clark. Conversions: Sam Davies (2).
Bulls 29 – Tries: Kurt-Lee Arendse, Penalty Try, Harold Vorster, Bismarck du Plessis. Conversions: Johan Goosen (2). Penalty: Goosen (1).
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