Brumbies batter Bulls and ill-disciplined Stormers implode in Cape Town
The Bulls and Stormers crashed to home defeats in the most inglorious of closures to Super Rugby, pre the international break. The Lions were the beneficiary of the Stormers awful discipline and the Brumbies, despite being a man down, came from behind to beat the Bulls in Pretoria.
The Lions won 26-23, scoring the match winning try through replacement wing Madosh Tambwe three minutes from time. Elton Jantjies nailed a brilliant touchline conversion to ensure the Stormers had to score a try to win the game.
As it was they didn’t come close to creating a penalty opportunity.
The Stormers led 17-7 before the discipline dramas saw JJ Engelbrecht yellow carded late in the first half. Raymond Rhule was red carded for a reckless ‘in the air’ challenge and replacement Jaco Coetzee was yellow carded for a late tackle. Engelbrecht was fortunate not to be yellow carded a second time, which would have meant an automatic red, for a high neck roll clean out.
The officiating of referee Nick Bryant was as diabolical as the Stormers discipline. He missed an obvious Stormers knock on, gave them the scrum feed and from the resulting play the Stormers scored seven points. Late in the game he ruled a Lions knock on, when there was none. And from the scrum, the Lions were penalised and the Stormers got another three points. It was just shocking, from the referee and from the Stormers.
Scorers:
Stormers
Tries: Duvenhage, Rhule
Conversions: Du Plessis 2
Penalties: Du Plessis 3
Yellow Cards: Engelbrecht, Coetzee
Red Card: Rhule
Lions
Tries: Groom, Fourie 2, Tambwe
Conversions: Jantjies 3
Stormers
15 SP Marais, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Kobus van Dyk, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Chris van Zyl, 4 Jan de Klerk, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Ramone Samuels, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.
Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Cobus Wiese, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 EW Viljoen, 23 Craig Barry
Lions
15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Franco Mostert (captain), 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Lourens Erasmus, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Jacques van Rooyen
Substitutes: 16 Corne Fourie, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 Rhyno Herbst, 20 Hacjivah Dayimani, 21 Ross Cronje, 22 Madosh Tambwe, 23 Sylvian Mahuza
Live Match Centre – Stormers v Lions
Live Match Centre – Bulls v Brumbies
*The Bulls led the Brumbies 28-24 on the hour and had the benefit of an extra player after the Brumbies hooker Folau Fainga’a was red carded in the 60th minute. But instead of burying the Brumbies, it was the Bulls who got buried in the final 20 minutes.
The Brumbies scored 14 unanswered points to win 38-28.
Scorers:
Bulls
Tries: Pollard, Kotze, Smit
Conversions: Pollard 2
Penalties: Pollard 3
Brumbies
Tries: Godwin, McCaffrey, Fainga’a, Banks
Conversions: Lealiifano 3
Penalty: Lealiifano
Red Card: Fainga’a
Teams:
Bulls
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Travis Odendaal, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Johnny Kotze, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Marco van Staden, 7 Nic de Jager, 6 Roelof Smit, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Trevor Nyakane
Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Mox Mxoli, 18 Matthys Basson, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 Thembelani Bholi, 21 Andre Warner, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Divan Rossouw
Brumbies
15 Tom Banks, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Kyle Godwin, 11 Andrew Muirhead, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 Joe Powell, 8 Isi Naisarani, 7 David Pocock, 6 Lachlan McCaffrey, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Blake Enever, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Folau Fainga’a, 1 Scott Sio
Substitutes: 16 Connal McInerney, 17 Nick Mayhew, 18 Leslie Leuluaialii-Makin, 19 Richie Arnold, 20 Tom Cusack, 21 Matt Lucas, 22 Wharenui Hawera, 23 Andrew Smith
