Unbeaten Bulls dig deep to hold off spirited Griquas

Griquas had two tries disallowed and put up a real fight, but the Blue Bulls managed to absorb the pressure and maintain their unbeaten run in the Currie Cup with a 47-24 bonus-point victory at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

The Pretoria side grabbed seven tries to the four of the Kimberley visitors to extend their record without losing to eight (seven wins, one draw) and move up to 36 points on the log, eight ahead of the Lions, who have a game in hand.

But it was far from one-way traffic at Loftus, with Griquas racing into a 14-0 lead after just 16 minutes through touchdowns by Marco de Witt and Dylan Maart.

Both tries were assisted by Bulls errors, with De Witt bursting through a gap between Joe van Zyl and Nizaam Carr, while Maart pounced on a Connor Mahoney kick that wasn’t claimed by Stravino Jacobs.

Nothing seemed to go right for the home side, with flyhalf Jaco van der Walt putting in a few aimless kicks, while the likes of De Witt, Carl Els, Thabo Ndimande and Dylan Sjoblom got stuck in on attack and defence for Griquas.

But the Bulls finally managed to get going in the 21st minute when captain Carr stepped smartly and powerful No 8 Mpilo Gumede – who was also the Player of the Match – charged into the corner, before he got the offload away to Van der Walt to finish.

The scores were level three minutes later as the Bulls struck once more with a wonderful passage of play which saw the ball go through a series of hands before Van Zyl delivered the scoring pass for centre Chris Barend Smith to dot down.

There was a third Bulls try in seven minutes that signalled a momentum shift in the game as Carr got involved again, before a skilful pass from Gumede saw fullback Devon Williams burst into space and setting up the five-pointer for wing Henry Immelman.

There was still time for two more tries before halftime, with the barnstorming Gumede forcing his way over from close range for the Bulls, before Ndimande pulled one back for Griquas after a remarkable 23 phases on attack.

It was still a tight affair at 26-19 at the break, but the hosts took charge early in the second half when Gumede claimed his second try.

Griquas never gave up, but a number of handling errors on attack stymied their attempts to get back into the game, with two forward passes ruling out tries to Maart and Mahoney.

In between, Bulls replacement hooker Juann Else rumbled over from a lineout drive to put the result beyond doubt at 40-19, and Maart got a deserved second consolation try before Else finished things off with his double in the closing stages.

Points-Scorers

Blue Bulls 47 – Tries: Jaco van der Walt, Chris Barend Smit, Henry Immelman, Mpilo Gumede (2), Juann Else (2). Conversions: Van der Walt (4), Boeta Chamberlain (2).

Griquas 24 – Tries: Marco de Witt, Dylan Maart (2), Thabo Ndimande. Conversions: Zinedine Robinson (2).