Scoring eight tries and over 50 points against Zebre will restore the Bulls’ confidence on their four-week United Rugby Championship tour of Europe.
But what impressed coach Jake White the most about the performance in Parma on Saturday was that the Pretoria side didn’t go into their shells when the Italian outfit put real heat on their opponents.
With the Bulls’ victory seemingly secured at 35-15 after the first of David Kriel’s hat-trick of tries in the 51st minute, the South Africans allowed the hosts back into the game with two touchdowns that changed the score to 35-29 with 12 minutes left at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi.
But the visitors showed proper resolve to run in three tries of their own in the closing stages.
‘Will do our confidence a world of good’
“After last week when you don’t win a game, you start to doubt, so this will do our confidence a lot of good,” White said.
“I think people come here and underestimate Zebre at their peril. Zebre are not as poor as everyone thinks they are. When they attack, they ask good questions of your defence, and you’ve got to make good reads.
“When you play as much as we did, you will make mistakes as well. What I am really happy about is that we could have gone into defensive mode when we had the bonus point and … felt we just had to hang on.
“I liked the fact that we carried on playing and scored more tries, which is also good for our psyche.”
Tighthead prop Wilco Louw was a rock in the scrums as he dominated Zebre loosehead Danilo Fischetti, while the likes of Simphiwe Matanzima, Akker van der Merwe and Janko Swanepoel did the hard yards upfront to create front-foot ball for the backs to shine.
Halfbacks Zak Burger and Johan Goosen could feed their backline all day long, and that saw inside centre Kriel grab a hat-trick, while there was good width on attack that brought the back three of Devon Williams, Sebastian de Klerk and Sergeal Petersen into the action.
Great combinations
“What I particularly enjoyed is that we’ve got pace now. If you look at Sergeal at 11 and David – who has played as an outside back – at 12, then when you keep the ball and make a couple of line breaks, you have enough support players to catch up and play with them,” White said.
“I played him (Kriel) at 12 last year when Harold (Vorster) was injured, and I know he can do a job there – he was outstanding (in this game). He’s versatile as he can play 12, 13, wing and fullback, and I’ve got to find a place for him because once we get Canan (Moodie), Kurt-Lee (Arendse) and Willie (le Roux) back, then those positions are settled.
“It’s wonderful to see him playing at 12 as it gives us so many options when all those Springboks come back.”
The Bulls will now make their way to Wales to take on Cardiff on Friday night.
Meanwhile, both the Sharks and Stormers lost their matches on Friday night. The Sharks frustrated in a 19-5 loss to the Ospreys, while last season’s finalists come unstuck against Franco Smith’s Glasgow Warriors 20-9.
IOL Sport
