Bulls hold firm to keep Leinster out
Bulls …………………………….. 25pts
Tries: Goosen 30, Petersen 42, 67
Conversions: Goosen 31, 43
Penalties: Goosen 40, 61
Leinster…………………………20pts
Tries: Lowe 24, Doris 50
Conversions: R Byrne 25, 51
Penalties: R Byrne 59, 64
It’s a third successive season without a trophy for Leinster with the Bulls deservedly winning an epic encounter to reach the URC final.
Having lost the Champions Cup final to Toulouse last month, the Irish province suffered more knock-out misery as they were outplayed overall in this titanic semi-final at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld.
Winger Sergeal Petersen went from villain to hero for the home side as he made amends for a first-half yellow card by crossing for a brace of match-winning tries after the break.
The player of the match award went to No.8 Cameron Hanekom who capped an immense display with a huge turnover hit on opposite number Caelan Doris after Leinster had gone through 21 phases in a late kitchen sink assault.
Dejected: Leinster feel the pain at full-time
When the game got underway, the Bulls’ tactics soon became apparent as they repeatedly looked to outflank the opposition defence through the pinpoint cross-kicking of full-back Willie Le Roux.
It looked as though their mounting pressure had finally told on 18 minutes when wing Devon Williams touched down courtesy of a superb catch and pass from Le Roux after a surging run off a scrum from Hanekom.
But the try was disallowed with TMO Nigel Whitehouse having spotted an off-the-ball tackle by flanker Marco van Staden on fly-half Ross Byrne. To rub salt in the wounds, Leinster then proceeded to take the lead completely against the run of play on 24 minutes. Handed a one-man advantage when Petersen was yellow cardedd for a deliberate knock-on,n, the visitors immediately capitalised.
From the resulting penalty, they kicked to the corner, with strong carries from Doris and Joe McCarthy being followed by Byrne popping an over-the-top miss pass to James Lowe who went in at the corner.
Yet, despite that blow and being down to 14 men, the Bulls took charge once more and hit back on the half hour.
The cultured left boot of Le Roux was again key, as he put in an exquisite 50-22 to set up an attacking lineout. Then came a succession of forward carries and, with Lenster expecting another, Em-brose Papier instead sent out a longer pass to half-back partner Johan Goosen who hit a great line to slice between Lowe and Robbie Henshaw.
Goosen converted and, with the last kick of the half, slotted a penalty earned by a mighty scrum shove to give the hosts a 10-7 interval lead.
Within 90 seconds of the restart, they went further ahead when Petersen won the race to a grubber kick from centre Harold Vorster. Leinster responded when Doris powered over off a tap penalty and an exchange of kicks between opposing fly-halves Ross Byrne and Goosen saw the game tied at 20-20 with 15 minutes to go.
Bulls try scorer Johan Goosen celebrates
PICTURES: Getty Images
But then came Petersen’s second try as he grabbed the ball one-handed to win an aerial contest with Ciaran Frawley off a Papier box kick, before slipping the attempted tackle of Luke McGrath and diving over.
Leinster threw everything at it in the dying minutes, but the Bulls held firm and they head for their second URC final in three years.
