Johannesburg — Any concerns regarding match-fatigue were quickly forgotten at Loftus Versveld on Friday night as the Bulls trampled their way through, past and over the Scarlets in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash.
It has been a busy week for Jake White’s 45-man squad — last weekend they outlasted a spirited Munster, then on Wednesday they conquered the Sharks, before finishing up their seven-day work week with a commanding display against the Welsh-outfit.
By the 25th minute hooker Johan Grobbelaar, who played some part in all three matches this week, had secured the bonus-point for the home side. It was indeed an exciting and enterprising first 40 for the Bulls as they played with pace and intent; attacking half-gaps; varying their plays; and running with verve.
Madosh Tambwe was in full flow, Kurt-Lee Arsendse exhibiting all his pace and skill, while midfield combo Harold Vorster and Cornal Hendriks made hay, the backline's string pulled high-handedly by Chris Smith.
Up-front, captain Marcell Coetzee was tireless, as was Elrigh Louw, while the rest of the pack crashed and bruised the visitors with glee. Jacqus van Rooyen — a loosehead by trade — arguably had his best outing at tighthead.
The five tries aside, perhaps the most delightful moment of the first half was a tasty counter-shove by the Bulls at scrumtime in defence of their tryline with the Scarlets threatening a dangerous attacking platform.
As enjoyable as the first half was for the Bulls, it cannot be omitted that the Scarlets offered scant resistance in the first 30 minutes, and that by then the encounter as a contest was already over with the Bulls leading 31-0.
The Scarlets did manage to pull one back in the final 10 minutes of the first stanza through some constructive play that led to Sione Kalamafoni crashing over the whitewash but, equally, the Bulls also fluffed a few chances of their own.
Tambwe certainly was guilty of one such instance after a beautiful line-break, perhaps overthinking his next move when he should have just backed himself. There was probably also a bit of white-line fever that developed amongst the Bulls as their previous ruthlessness suffered marginal errors that a tighter encounter perhaps would not have witnessed.
But that is certainly being nitpicky, as a team is only as good as the opposition they face, and in this instance the Bulls were, for the most part, excellent — espoused by one of the tries of the season in the 52nd minute.
The Bulls thrash the Scarlets 57-12 with this surely a contender for the Vodacom #URC try of the season 🍿 pic.twitter.com/Pw3TuUqSxh
From a defensive scrum 5m from their tryline, Smith’s pinpoint crosskick picked out Canan Moodie, who offloaded to Arendse on his shoulder. With the Bulls rumbling and the backs and forwards linking brilliantly, Louw smashed his way over the gainline and deep into the Scarlets 22. Slick handing from the hosts followed, with Grobbelaar driving himself over the tryline to score his brace, the team going coast-to-coast.
It was magnificent stuff, pleasing to the eye and the scoreline, which finally ballooned to 57-12.
The victory, their sixth of the URC, propelled the Bulls above the Sharks into sixth in the URC standings, at least until Saturday; and dependent on the result between the Durban-based outfit and bottom-of-the-log Zebre, as well as the Stormers v Cardiff clash on Sunday.
Scorers
Bulls (31) 57: Tries: Moodie, Coetzee (2), Brink, Grobbelaar (2), Louw, Nortje, Hunt; Conversions: Smith (5), Steyn
Scarlets (7) 12: Try: Kalamafoni, Evans; Conversion: Patchell; Yellow Card: Nicholas
IOL Sport