03/05/2008 17:16

Pretoria - The Bulls needed two drop-goals in persistent rain to record just their fourth win of the year when they edged the Waratahs 16-13 in a Super 14 match here at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The defending champions, the Bulls, who've enjoyed a rather dismal season, moved into 10th place on the southern hemisphere inter-provincial rugby competition's points table, while the Waratahs stayed second after collecting a bonus point and remain on course for the semi-finals.

The Australians have 37 points, 10 behind the leading Canterbury Crusaders, with just two rounds of matches to come. They are, however, just a point ahead of the Hurricanes, who are third with 36 points.

It was a see-saw affair in difficult conditions in Pretoria, with try-scoring chances limited to the minimum. In fact, both sides managed to cross the tryline just once, with the Bulls edging the visitors thanks to drop-goals by Derick Hougaard and Morne Steyn.

For the Waratahs, Kurtley Beale also scored a drop-goal, but the visitors will rue missing two penalty attempts at goal that Lote Tuqiri missed.

The Waratahs made the most of their territorial advantage in the early stages when centre Rob Horne crashed over the line for a five-pointer after just nine minutes.

Doubled their score

Flyhalf Beale converted to give the visitors a 7-0 lead, but they could have doubled their score just minutes later had scrumhalf Luke Burgess not lost the ball after being tackled by Bulls prop Werner Kruger while going over the tryline.

While the home side didn't get close to crossing the visitors' line, they slowly fought their way back into the contest and finally got on to the scoreboard at the midway point of the half with a superbly struck drop-goal by replacement flyhalf Hougaard.

Steyn, who started at No 10 but shifted to the midfield after JP Nel had left the field with an injury, then knocked over a penalty to put his side 7-6 up and it stayed that way until the interval.

The Bulls then extended their advantage after the restart when hooker Derick Kuun went over after a move in which prop Gurthro Steenkamp featured prominently and the conversion by Steyn gave the Bulls a somewhat surprising 13-7 lead.

Beale soon closed the gap to just three points after succeeding with his first penalty attempt of the afternoon and with 15 minutes to play drew his team level after converting a close-range drop-goal.

The Bulls, however, regained the lead in the closing stages when Steyn popped over the third drop-goal of the match, and the second for the home side, as the Bulls recorded just their fourth win of the season.

The Waratahs face the Stormers next week, while the Bulls are up against the Brumbies.