Cape Town — Where has this Bulls team been over the last few months? Some will say it was “only Zebre”, but the Pretoria side were ruthless in Saturday’s 78-12 bonus-point victory at Ellis Park that kept their United Rugby Championship playoff hopes alive.
Jake White’s team took just 30 minutes to score their fourth try, via Canan Moodie, to get the job done without any fuss.
The Vodacom Bulls hunt down Zebre with a 𝙈𝘼𝙎𝙎𝙄𝙑𝙀 win 🟦
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) April 15, 2023
They keep their hopes of the Vodacom #URC play-offs alive! pic.twitter.com/KifxOidLeZ
It was that man Kurt-Lee Arendse who sparked the Bulls into action as early as the third minute as he dished up a perfectly angled grubber that bounced into Moodie’s path for the opening try.
Arendse weaved his magic once more from the subsequent kickoff as the Bulls spread the ball wide inside the 22 after a powerful Elrigh Louw charge, with the Springbok star accelerating before offloading to Harold Vorster, and eventually Embrose Papier motored over.
Zebre hit back soon enough, with former Bulls back Richard Kriel — who was playing against his brother David — dived over in the right-hand corner from a long pass by scrumhalf Alessandro Fusco.
But the Pretoria side overwhelmed the Zebre pack with strong carries around the fringes, with the likes of Louw, lock Ruan Vermaak and prop Gerhard Steenekamp prominent.
The Italians’ lineout also battled after starting hooker Jacques du Toit went off injured in the 13th minute, with replacement Luca Bigi struggling to find his jumpers against the likes of Bulls captain Ruan Nortjé and Co.
The South Africans became a bit too loose at one stage, though, and also wasted a few attacking chances by chipping the ball away inside the Zebre half.
But their third try arrived in the 22nd minute when David Kriel flew down the left touchline and hacked the ball to the inside for Papier to score his second five-pointer.
The Bulls then put the chips away for a while and held onto the ball, and it paid dividends as Moodie claimed the bonus-point fourth try and Vermaak dotted down for a fifth time to make it 36-5 at halftime.
But what epitomised the Bulls’ dominance and freedom in their play came early in the second half. The front row of Steenkamp, Johan Grobbelaar and Mornay Smith combined, with Smith popping it up to the hooker and Grobbelaar hurtled forward before putting Steenekamp away for a terrific score.
Zebre tried to stop the bleeding when replacement scrumhalf Chris Cook dummied and went over from close range, but the Bulls roared back to finish with 11 tries in total, including a hat-trick for Moodie.
The Bulls should take a lot of confidence out of this display, even though it came against a team who have now lost 24 matches in a row across all competitions, ahead of next week’s showdown with Leinster at Loftus Versfeld — where they will need another victory to be assured of a quarter-final spot and Champions Cup qualification.
Points-Scorers
Bulls 78 – Tries: Canan Moodie (3), Embrose Papier (2), Ruan Vermaak (2), Gerhard Steenekamp, Marco van Staden, Bismarck du Plessis, Chris Smith. Conversions: Johan Goosen (10). Penalty: Goosen (1).
Zebre 12 – Tries: Richard Kriel, Chris Cook. Conversion: Tiff Eden (1).
IOL Sport