Blue Bulls crush Province

2008-08-29 21:40

Pretoria - The Blue Bulls clawed to the top of the Currie Cup log with a 37-6 victory over Western Province at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.

It took the Bulls a while to get off the mark as they got entangled in an ugly scrap for the ball and territory with the visitors who did not hold back.

The Bulls were first to score with a penalty by flyhalf Morne Steyn in the seventh minute, which was followed by another in the 12th minute after Western Province had been depleted to 14 men after hooker Schalk Brits was shown a yellow card.

Western Province scrambled back to within three points through a Joe Pietersen penalty and eventually levelled matters in the 27th minute through another well struck penalty from Pietersen.

Stole the ball

Things could have gone Western Province's way four minutes before half-time when Brits was stopped a few centimetres in the air from dotting the ball on the Bulls' tryline.

But the second half belonged to the Bulls as they quickly got off the mark in the 52nd minute with a hard fought try to wing John Mametsa after several phases by the Bulls' forwards.

Fifteen minutes later, the Bulls were back in Western Province territory and from a run by Dewald Potgieter, prop Werner Kruger stole the ball from Potgieter's grip and rolled over to register the Bulls second try of the match.

The Bulls had finally gained a firm grip on proceedings and Western Province again became their own worst enemies when AJ Venter was yellow carded for a reckless swinging elbow at Wilhelm Steenkamp in the 70th minute.

Steyn had made daring run

Steyn extended the Bulls lead with another penalty before Wikus van Heerden drilled through the Western Province pack to score in the 79th minute.

The Bulls sealed the match with a bonus point try that was engineered from their half with Tiger Mangweni crashing over after Steyn had made a daring run from his 22 before the ball went wide and eventually into the safe hands of Mangweni.

Scorers:

Blue Bulls: Tries: John Mametsa, Werner Kruger, Wikus van Heerden, Tiger Mangweni. Conversions: Morne Steyn (4). Penalties: Morne Steyn (3)

WP: Penalties:Joe Pietersen (2).

- SAPA