Match abandoned in SA but not before Jake White's Bulls dominate Stormers

The Bulls stormed to a 39-6 win over the Stormers in a Super Rugby Unlocked match that was abandoned after 64 minutes due to lightning on Saturday.

The Bulls outplayed their opponents in all areas of the game in Pretoria before the players left the field in the last quarter.

Jake White’s side scored five tries with the Stormers failing to break through the home side’s defence.

It was an early exchange of penalty kicks between Morne Steyn and Damian Willemse with the scores level at 6-6 after 15 minutes.

The Bulls then scored the game’s first try in the 23rd minute with Johan Grobbelaar going over after an unstoppable driving maul. Steyn added the extra two points with the conversion.

That lead was extended in the 28th minute when scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl evaded several defenders from a scrum before the ball went wide to Stedman Gans who ran for an excellent try. Steyn was successful with the conversion.

It got even better for the Bulls a few minutes later when Van Zyl was put into space to score an easy try after some great running by Kurt-Lee Arendse and Gans on his inside.

The Bulls scored their fourth try in the 37th minute after Steyn chipped and gathered the ball deep inside the Stormers’ half before passing to his inside to Ruan Nortje, who ran in for the score.

At half-time, it was 32-6 to the Bulls.

It was more of the same from the Bulls in the second half when Steyn sent the ball into the Stormers’ 22 with another neat chip kick before Gans gathered to run in for his second try of the game.

There was no more scoring in the game before the game was abandoned.

Man of the match: Morne Steyn gave Damian Willemse a flyhalf lesson. The Bulls pivot had a hand in three of his team’s tries and his kicking game kept the Stormers on the back foot as well. Special mention also goes to the Bulls’ loose forwards. who dominated the breakdowns.

The scorers:

For Bulls:
Tries: Grobbelaar, Gans 2, Van Zyl, Nortje
Cons: Steyn 4
Pens: Steyn 2

For Stormers:
Pens: Willemse 2

Teams:
Bulls: 15 David Kriel, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Cornal Hendricks, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Duane Vermeulen (captain), 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jacques van Rooyen.
Replacements: 16 Joe van Zyl, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Sintu Manjezi, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Chris Smith, 23 Marco Jansen van Vuren.

Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Jaco Coetzee, 5 John Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi , 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: 16 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Chris van Zyl, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Godlen Masimla, 23 Tim Swiel.

Referee: AJ Jacobs
Assistant referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron, Stuart Berry
TMO: Jaco Peyper