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Bulls maintain winning start to URC season at Ospreys’ expense

By PA
Vodacom Bulls head coach Jake White before the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Vodacom Bulls at the RDS Arena in Dublin. (Photo By Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Bulls maintained their winning start to the United Rugby Championship season following a 29-19 win over Ospreys at the Swansea.com Stadium.

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For the Welsh region it was a third defeat in four outings this season and sees them sit in 12th place in the fledgling table after they failed to take advantage of the South Africans playing more than half-an-hour with 14 men following the dismissal of David Kriel.

Elrigh Louw, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Embrose Papier scored early tries as the Bulls raced into a 19-0 lead after only 12 minutes.

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The bonus point was secured after just 22 minutes when Arendse went over for his second and Bulls’ fourth try.

Ospreys did respond with tries from Dewi Lake, Ryan Conbeer and Morgan Morris but the damage had already been done.

Points Flow Chart

Bulls win +10
Time in lead
0
Mins in lead
80
0%
% Of Game In Lead
99%
95%
Possession Last 10 min
5%
7
Points Last 10 min
3

Bulls were quick out of the blocks and needed just two minutes to open the scoring. Sebastian De Klerk scooped up a loose ball and it was worked to number eight Louw to charge over, with Boeta Chamberlain adding the extras.

The visitors kept the foot on the gas and breached the Ospreys defence again with 10 minutes on the clock. With the forwards securing good field the position, quick play saw Willie Le Roux and Canan Moodie combine to send Arendse over in the left corner.

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As the Bulls’ confidence grew they had the Ospreys defence on the backfoot and stole a lineout ball to enable Papier to scoot over, with Chamberlain again adding the extras from the tee.

The bonus point was in the bag when Le Roux’s precise kick into the corner was pounced on by Arendse to slide over and Chamberlain again converted.

Ospreys got on the board when Dan Edwards’ kick put them five metres out and the rolling maul got to work with Lake crashing over.

Kriel was dismissed nine minutes into the second half for leading with the elbow in a challenge on Edwards.

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Ospreys made the extra man count as swift hands through the backs created the space for Conbeer to slide in.

Morris celebrated his 100th appearance for Ospreys with a try but – with Bulls finishing the game with 13 players after a yellow card for Alulutho Tshakweni – they could not get any closer.

Watch the highly acclaimed five-part documentary Chasing the Sun 2, chronicling the journey of the Springboks as they strive to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup, free on RugbyPass TV (*unavailable in Africa)

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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LONG READ
LONG READ Despite defeat in Paris, the real reason the All Blacks are feeling upbeat Despite defeat in Paris, the real reason the All Blacks are feeling upbeat
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