Warrick Gelant scored a hat-trick of tries as the Bulls claimed a comprehensive 40-10 bonus-point win over the Sharks in Durban on Saturday. CRAIG LEWIS reports.
There had been high expectations of the Sharks coming into this encounter after they delivered two encouraging performances in New Zealand over the last fortnight, and yet the Durban-based side were utterly out of sorts back at home.
By contrast, the Bulls looked full of energy after last weekend’s bye, with their robust defence and physical forward play enabling them to largely bully the Sharks into submission.
For the ever-improving Bulls, it’s a second successive win that sees them move into second place in the South African conference ahead of the Sharks (both teams have 14 log points, but the Bulls have won more matches).
Saturday’s result is also a favourable one for the Lions as they remain 11 points clear at the summit of the local standings, which is a particularly powerful position to hold heading into the second half of the competition.
The Bulls enjoyed as much as 90% of possession in a dominant opening 10 minutes, and their early ascendancy left the Sharks looking thoroughly shell-shocked.
The visitors also ruthlessly converted a couple of early opportunities, with Gelant quickly wrapping up a brace of tries. The first came from a well-weighted chip from Handré Pollard, while the second saw him neatly collect his own grubber to score.
To make matters worse for the Sharks, they lost a couple of early lineouts, and yet still opted to turn down one kickable shot at goal in order to kick to the corner – which ultimately came to nought. When the hosts eventually opted to go for three points, Rob du Preez uncharacteristically missed a simple penalty.
That error was a hammer blow for a Sharks side that had just begun to build a bit of momentum, while veteran Adriaan Strauss then powered over the tryline from a lineout drive to suddenly establish a commanding 18-point lead.
Despite the fact it had been a woeful first-half performance from the Sharks, they did restore at least some hope when powerful centre Andre Esterhuizen showed immense strength to score just before the break as heavy rain again began to fall across Kings Park.
However, that hope was quickly snuffed out when the Bulls were awarded a penalty try soon after the restart when the Sharks illegally brought down a tryline-bound maul, while Thomas du Toit was sent to the sin bin to pile on the punishment for the home side.
The contest largely petered out from there, but Gelant would deservedly have the final say on proceedings as he scored his hat-trick try late in the game, before Johnny Kötze also dotted as the Bulls piled on the punishment.
Sharks – Try: Andre Esterhuizen. Conversion: Rob du Preez. Penalty: Du Preez.
Bulls – Tries: Warrick Gelant (3), Adriaan Strauss, penalty try, Johnny Kötze. Conversions: Handré Pollard (3), Manie Libbok.
Sharks – 15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Tera Mtembu, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Philip van der Walt, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Ruan Botha (c), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Juan Schoeman.
Subs: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Mzamo Majola, 18 John-Hubert Meyer, 19 Tyler Paul, 20 Daniel du Preez, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Kobus van Wyk.
Bulls – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Johnny Kötze, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal (c), 11 Divan Rossouw, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Subs: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Frans van Wyk, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Roelof Smit, 21 André Warner, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Duncan Matthews.
Photo: Gerhard Duraan/BackpagePix
