Despite the Blue Bulls going down 31-27 to the Cheetahs, assistant coach Hugo van As praised the ‘character and desire’ shown by the Pretoria side following the red card to Elrigh Louw in the first half.
DESPITE the Blue Bulls going down 31-27 to the Cheetahs, assistant coach Hugo van As praised the “character and desire” shown by the Pretoria side following the red card to Elrigh Louw in the first half at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Jake White’s team managed to claim two bonus points – for scoring four tries and losing by seven or less points – to qualify for the Currie Cup semi-finals by finishing fourth on the log.
The Bulls will face the log-leading Cheetahs again in next Saturday’s play-off, but this time in Bloemfontein, while the second-placed Sharks will host the Pumas in Durban after going down 44-5 to Western Province in Cape Town in the final league encounter.
Bulls fans may have expected an easy day at the office after their team catapulted into a 19-0 lead within 15 minutes after tries by Cornal Hendricks, Harold Vorster and Embrose Papier.
But the Cheetahs fought their way back into the game through touchdowns by centre David Brits and wing Daniel Kasende, and then big Bulls No 8 Elrigh Louw was sent off for a dangerous clean-out on flank Siba Qoma, which saw his upper arm make direct contact to the head.
The Bulls kept up the fight early in the second half, but playing with 14 men eventually took its toll, and the Cheetahs took the lead with tries by flyhalf Siya Masuku and scrumhalf Rewan Kruger, with Masuku slotting all four conversions and landing a penalty.
The visitors’ defence also held on strongly, especially right at the end, when the Bulls launched multiple attacks, but were unable to grab a late winner.
“It’s not ideal to play with 14 men in the last 45 minutes. We saw a lot of character and a lot of desire from the team to hang in there, because it could’ve gotten away from us. That was our primary goal: to win the game, but we’re quite happy with achieving the two bonus points that qualify us for the semi-final,” Van As said in the post-match press conference.
“At the end of the night, we still had an opportunity to win it right at the end. We had two or three opportunities there right towards the end of the game …
“The lost opportunities, we’ve got to give credit to the Cheetahs for their maul stop, but I think the breakdown was also a big concern for us, and it’s something that we need to fix before the semi-finals.
“We saw in the first 15 minutes that when we do get it right, we can score tries. Being up 19-0 after 15 minutes was a huge positive for us, and in that aspect, I really thought that the interplay between the forwards and the backs, we really got it right in that first 20.
“We had an opportunity to go 22-7 up, and the team decided that they wanted to go for the tap (penalty) because they wanted to get the four tries to secure that bonus point.
“So, there were a lot of positives, and I truly believe the fact that on the night, we scored the tries and picked up our bonus points, we take a lot of positives out of that.
“But we’ve got to get it right for longer periods in the game. The team has got a hunger and desire to go even further.”
Apart from Louw’s possible absence, the Bulls are likely to lose star scrumhalf Embrose Papier as well for the semi-final against the Cheetahs after he went off in the second half with a hamstring injury.
“We just spoke to him now before the press conference, and he’s struggling at the moment,” Van As said.
“But we’ll see and make a call on Monday, and get the doctor’s report in and make a decision. He is a huge part of our team, and he’s been playing very well.
“We’ve got back-up, but we will see on Monday what the situation is.”
Points-Scorers
Blue Bulls 27 – Tries: Cornal Hendricks (2), Harold Vorster, Embrose Papier. Conversions: Morné Steyn (2). Penalty: Steyn (1).
Cheetahs 31 – Tries: David Brits, Daniel Kasende, Siya Masuku, Rewan Kruger. Conversions: Masuku (4). Penalty: Masuku (1).
