The Vodacom Blue Bulls were made to fight hard in a wet weather Carling Currie Cup clash at Loftus Versveld before emerging 35-21 victors on Wednesday evening.
The rain played the role of the 31st man as it came down persistently to have a big influence in the run of play and for a long period it appeared that the Cell C Sharks would withstand everything thrown at them by a Bulls side reinforced with URC players, but the home side were able to finish off the game late in the second half.
The game started off on a wonderful note for the Cell C Sharks when the home side failed to take the kick-off cleanly and the visiting forwards hammered away in a series of pick and drives, showing patience and accuracy in retaining possession through numerous phases before centre Murray Koster was fed the ball and he went over for a try in the first minute.
The Bulls forwards weren’t having an easy time of it and battled under pressure in the first scrum and then conceded a penalty the second time round.
Just shy of the 10th minute, the Bulls launched an attack from deep in their half which paid dividends with the equalising try in the corner. The conversion was pinpoint and took the home side into a two point lead.
But the scrums continued to plague the men from Pretoria and the next set-piece earned another penalty which flyhalf Jordan Chait sent sailing through the uprights to take an 8-7 lead after a quarter of an hour’s play.
The Bulls retook the lead with a penalty try after the Cell C Sharks had lost Mpilo Gumede to a yellow card and then Hyron Andrews joined his eighthman on the side of the field as the Cell C Sharks were reduced to 13 men.
The Bulls failed to make their two man advantage count and could not add to their score, battling in the wet. When the Cell C Sharks were back to 14 men, a strong scrum and subsequent defensive penalty saw Chait cut the lead to just three points with 10 minutes of the half remaining.
Marnus Potgieter scored the second try that pushed the Cell C Sharks further ahead following another great scrum and subsequent penalty, before the outside centre showed speed and agility to dance his way over the tryline, Chait adding the extras for an 18-14 lead with the final five minutes of the half left to play.
Without their physical dominance, the Bulls weren’t handling the defensive side of the game very well against a Cell C Sharks side growing in confidence and they had to be content with going into the half-time break trailing by four points.
The Bulls struck first in the second half, five minutes in and a side-step in midfield catching the defence out and from there it was an easy run-in to the tryline. With the conversion, the hosts were back in the lead, 21-18 ahead.
Inny Radebe, having taken over the kicking duties, levelled matters with his first attempt when the Bulls were once again pinged for a defensive penalty, but numerous penalties conceded by the Cell C Sharks initially went unpunished as Steyn missed two attempts at posts, but a relentless forward effort finally earned the home team the reward they were looking for to gain a 28-21 lead with half an hour remaining.
Not content with the bonus point, the Bulls extended their lead beyond a seven-pointer with a fifth try off the back of a scrum in the Cell C Sharks 22 to take a 35-21 lead with only a handful of minutes remaining.