Shaun Goosen takes a look back at all of the action as South African rugby made its first post-lockdown appearance.
Image Copyright – Steve Haag Sports
Bulls put Sharks to the sword
The Bulls scored seven tries to beat the Sharks 49-28 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. The visitors, who topped the Super Rugby standings earlier this year before the competition was abandoned, haven’t been helped by a number of injuries to key men over the past few weeks. They will have plenty to rectify ahead of Super Rugby Unlocked, which kicks-off on 10 October.
Jake White and the Bulls will be positively buzzing. It really doesn’t take the World Cup-winner long at all to get teams winning. His expert knowledge of the game, coupled with his meticulous planning, leads him to success on seemingly any continent in the world. If it wasn’t already obvious, the Bulls will be ones to watch over the course of the next few months.
Jeremy Ward’s early yellow card for a high hit on Cornal Hendricks cost his side dearly. Schalk Erasmus, Stedman Gans and Kurt-Lee Arendse scored tries to see the men in blue shoot out to a 21-0 lead inside 15-minutes. A rusty Sharks defence was cut to pieces by the effervescent Bulls, with Arendse grabbing his second and Travis Ismael dotting down before the end of the first-half – though the Durbanites did hit back through Grant Williams after a Marco van Staden yellow.
The Bulls scored two more five-pointers in the second-half through David Kriel. The Sharks managed another three via Marius Louw, Dan Jooste and Jaden Hendrikse, but they didn’t affect the outcome.
Stormers best Lions
The Stormers beat the Lions 34-21 at Loftus Versfeld to open their post-lockdown account in the best possible fashion. The match was a lot closer than the opener between the Bulls and Sharks, with both teams showing some good moments. Ultimately, though, the Stormers controlled the game for the majority of the evening.
A vintage Elton Jantjies cross-kick from first-phase play set up Courtnall Skosan for the opener inside the first five minutes. But a Damian Willemse penalty followed before a smart line from Dan du Plessis saw the son of former Springbok Michael send the men from the Cape into a lead from which they never looked back.
Marvin Orie was sent to the bin for 10 after a maul infringement, and the Stormers capitalised on that through tries to Scarra Ntubeni and Siya Kolisi before the break. A Warrick Gelant score and Willemse conversion thereafter extended the lead to 20-points, prior to two Lions tries from Jamba Ulengo and MJ Pelser. A late one from replacement scrumhalf Paul de Wet, though, secured a Stormers win.
Written by Shaun Goosen for Hollywoodbets.
