Ashfak Mohamed
Cape Town – It took them three hours longer than initially thought, but the Blue Bulls produced a second-half blitz with four tries in 12 minutes to dismantle the Griffons 64-33 at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.
Wing David Kriel claimed a hat-trick as the Bulls ran in 10 tries, but coach Jake White won’t be happy about conceding four tries and 33 points as it is a tight Currie Cup semi-final race.
The result means that the Bulls are now in fourth position on 36 points, behind the third-placed Pumas (also 36) on points difference, following Griquas’ 38-29 victory over Western Province in Kimberley earlier on Friday.
But there was drama after about 34 minutes in the first half when the floodlights went out at Loftus Versfeld, due to the generator at the stadium tripping as there was a power outage in the Pretoria CBD.
Despite technicians working on getting the generator back in order, it took over three hours before the match resumed at 8.45pm, with the Bulls leading 21-11.
Up until that point, the Griffons stayed in touch with two penalties from scrumhalf Jaywinn Juries and a try by impressive captain and fullback Duan Pretorius, while the Bulls had dotted down on three occasions via Kriel, Stedman Gans and Nizaam Carr.
When the match restarted, it was the men from Welkom who were quick out of the blocks as powerhouse centre Marquit September and wing Randy Fielies combined to set up skipper Pretorius for his second try to make it 21-18.
The visitors, though, lost concentration just before halftime when the Bulls retained possession through multiple phases before centre Chris Barend Smit flung a long pass to wing Cornal Hendricks, who chipped over the last defender and re-gathered to score.
Juries, though, landed a third penalty early in the second half to reduce the deficit to five points, but after that, it was all Bulls.
The home side’s pack got their driving maul going from the lineout to set up a brace for captain Marcell Coetzee, while the outstanding No 4 lock Ruan Vermaak stole a Griffons lineout and Carr swung the ball wide before fullback Johan Goosen’s kick sat up for Kriel to dot down.
Another maul saw busy hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels breaking away and pulling off a terrific grubber, and scrumhalf Embrose Papier had too much pace for the cover defence.
Suddenly it was 52-21 to the Bulls on the hour mark, but it took them eight more minutes before Kriel secured his hat-trick.
But it was the Griffons who kept going until the end to earn a penalty try and a five-pointer by replacement hooker Dandre Delport to eat into the Bulls’ lead, although prop Mornay Smith finished proceedings on a high note with a try of his own.
White and his team will be watching Saturday’s action with great interest as semi-final places are up for grabs, with the Pumas (third on 36) hosting the Cheetahs (second on 41) in Mbombela (5pm kickoff), while the Sharks (first on 43) face the Lions (seventh on 31) in Durban.
The Bulls’ final league game is against the Cheetahs in Pretoria next Saturday.
Points-Scorers
Blue Bulls 64 – Tries: David Kriel (3), Stedman Gans, Nizaam Carr, Cornal Hendricks, Marcell Coetzee (2), Embrose Papier, Mornay Smith. Conversions: Johan Goosen (7).
Griffons 33 – Tries: Duan Pretorius (2), Penalty Try, Dandre Delport. Conversion: Jaywinn Juries (1). Penalties: Juries (3).
