The Vodacom Blue Bulls emerged victorious over a young and inexperienced Hollywoodbets Sharks XV side in the teams’ week two Carling Currie Cup clash on Saturday.
The Loftus faithful were in delirium as their side, with numerous experienced Vodacom United Rugby Championship players, scored 10 tries to none enroute to a 64-0 victory to remain unbeaten after two rounds.
The Pretoria side, along with their Gauteng neighbours, the Fidelity ADT Lions, occupy the top two positions on the log after successive victories over the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV and DHL Western Province.
Playing a style of rugby that mixed forward dominance with backline speed and guile, the home side forwards scored six of their team’s tries, with a further four coming from the backs.
A 35-nil half-time lead for the 2001 Carling Currie Cup champs was always going to be a bridge too far for the youngsters from Durban.
Even the inclusion of experience in the form of Corne Rahl and Tino Mavesere, along with five junior Boks, wasn’t enough to counter what the Vodacom Blue Bulls were able to bring to this home game.
The power game was evident right from the start as they managed a jackal to steal ball and from the resultant counter-attack, earned a penalty and then mauled the ball over the tryline to open the scoring in the third minute.
The second try was an almost carbon copy of forward mauling and pick-and drives as the visitors were forced to defend for their lives.
They did show character and determination on defence, but spending so much time tackling and enjoying very little possession, the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV were always on the back foot in this game.
With nearly 70% of the possession and territory enjoyed by the home side, and playing nearly all the rugby in the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV half, the visitors had seen very little of the ball in the right areas, contributing to their woes.
The Vodacom Blue Bulls’ dominance of attacking stats continued in the second half, playing more open, running rugby and making good gains off the platform built earlier.
It was relentless pressure and there was simply no way to counter it.
A highly disappointed captain Nick Hatton said afterwards, “That was tough to take, all credit to the Bulls, they played in the right areas, they dominated the game and we took a tough lesson.
“We showed some fight towards the end but we were outdone physically in the game which was disappointing because we wanted to stand up and put in a better performance. But the Bulls were a step ahead physically and that was disappointing.
“We’re not doing the badge justice at the moment, but we’ll pick ourselves up, do what we need to do and definitely stay in the fight.”