Ulster blown away in Pretoria

By THOMAS DANIELS

Bulls ……………. 47

Ulster …………… 21

Last season’s finalists the Bulls secured backto-back wins by scoring seven tries to blow Ulster away in Pretoria.

Springbok star Kurt-Lee Arendse found a gap and darted over the line for the opening try but Jacob Stockdale quickly hit back for Ulster. He chipped the ball over the defence, gathered, and showed a turn of pace to score in the corner.

Willie le Roux executed a pinpoint cross-field lick into the hands of Sebastien de Klerk on the wing and he passed inside to David Kriel for the Bulls second.

Tighthead Corrie Barrett was shown yellow for repeated infringements and during his absence Bulls notched their third try. A powerful lineout maul set up Johann Grobbelaar to make it a 14-point lead at the break.

It took less than two minutes for the South Africans to increase their lead after the restart, centre Canan Moodie completing a flowing move for the bonus-point score.

A few minutes short of the hour mark, No.8 Cameron Hanekom barged over from another Bulls maul before Boeta Chamberlain got his name among the try-scorers.

Ulster responded when Ben Carson shrugged off a couple of tackles and went over in the corner before Stewart Moore also got on the scoresheet. However, flanker Elrigh Louw rumbled over from the back of a ruck for his side’s seventh in the closing stages.

Teams

BULLS: Le Roux, De Klerk, Moodie, Kriel (Gans 67), Arendse (Dyanti 59), Chamberlain, Papier (Johannes 59); Steenekamp (Wessels 59), Grobbelaar (Van der Merwe 51), Louw (Klopper 59), Wiese (Manjezi 65), Nortje (cc), Van Staden, Louw (cc) (Gumede 4355), Hanekom (Gumede 65-74)

ULSTER: Lowry, Kok, Moore, Carson, Stockdale (Moxham 58), Morgan (Humphreys 61), Doak (Shanahan 59); Warwick (O’Sullivan 49), McCormick (McElroy 51), Barrett (O’Toole 49), Henderson (c) (O’Connor 51), Irvine, McNabney, Reffell (O’Toole 31-42), McCann (Timoney 58)

REFEREE: Adam Jones

ATTENDANCE: 5,012

Star player: Rabz Maxwane – Lions