Italian referee Federico Vedovelli won’t be receiving a Christmas card from Jake White anytime soon, but the Bulls only had themselves to blame for finding a way to go down 23-22 to the Scarlets in Llanelli on Friday night.
The Pretoria side relinquished their unbeaten record in the United Rugby Championship in bizarre circumstances at the Parc y Scarlets ground in Wales after leading 19-7 at the 30-minute mark.
Bulls fans are likely to point at hooker Johan Grobbelaar’s highly controversial red card in the 67th minute as the reason their team lost, but the players need to take responsibility for a number of missed lineouts, slipped tackles and other unforced errors that cost them the victory.
The Bulls were leading 22-18 at the time of the Grobbelaar incident, and it certainly dented the visitors’ chance of closing out a narrow victory in the final stages.
The Springbok hooker was adjudged by referee Vedovelli to have made contact with the head of Scarlets counterpart Marnus van der Merwe in a tackle, even though the TV replays seemed to show Van der Merwe running into Grobbelaar’s shoulder.
The referee mantra in any incident is “clear and obvious”, but there was nothing clear and obvious about head-to-head contact, with even the Welsh commentators feeling Grobbelaar had been unlucky.
It's déjà vu for the Vodacom Bulls in Wales 😲🟥
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It wouldn’t be a surprise if the red card is rescinded in next week’s disciplinary hearing, much like Bulls centre David Kriel’s was this week.
But for all of Vedovelli’s sometimes iffy calls – he seldom rewarded the Bulls in the scrums, appeared to ignore high tackles made by the Scarlets and penalised No 6 Nama Xaba heavily at the breakdowns – captain Akker van der Merwe’s team didn’t help themselves either in the last 50 minutes.
They made a stunning start as Canan Moodie combined with Kurt-Lee Arendse and Cameron Hanekom to score a superb early try, and the Bulls continued to put together impressive passages of ball-in-hand play.
Here's that sensational opening Bulls try by Canan Moodie #Bulls #SCAvBUL #URC #Rugby
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The Scarlets hit back through flank Josh MacLeod’s touchdown after a five-metre tap penalty, but the Bulls were clearly in the ascendancy as the likes of Hanekom, Arendse, Moodie and centre Harold Vorster punched holes in the defence with ball-in-hand.
Young No 7 flank Reinhard Ludwig wasn’t far behind either, and it wasn’t long before a Vorster charge created the space on the blindside for scrumhalf Zak Burger to dart over.
It's a gift for Zak Burger 🎁🏉
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The Bulls increased their lead to 19-7 on the half-hour mark when Moodie nearly scored and Arendse picked up the loose ball to dot down, and it looked like the South Africans were going to secure another bonus-point victory.
But the Scarlets kept in touch with an Ioan Lloyd penalty to make the halftime score 19-10 to the Bulls, and it was just the spark the hosts needed.
They grabbed the initiative back early in the second half when some poor Bulls defence saw left wing Blair Murray dotted down to reduce the deficit to four points.
"Are you watching Warren Gatland?" 👀🏴
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Last week it was Blair Murray's epic try saving tackle 💪
This week Blair transforms into the Hulk 🔥#BKTURC #URC | #SCAvBUL pic.twitter.com/dFlXPvkBCB
The impressive Hanekom – who got stuck in at close quarters and made good yards out wide – was then held up over the line after a terrific run by lock Cobus Wiese before flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain slotted a penalty to stretch the lead to 22-15.
But when the rain started teeming down in the 50th minute, the tide seemed to change in favour of the Scarlets.
Replacement pivot Sam Costelow landed a penalty to make it 22-18, but another decisive moment came in the 56th minute when the Bulls took the ball through 14 phases before Hanekom was wrapped up by Scarlets lock Sam Lousi just short of the line.
The Bulls started losing their shape on attack as they relied too much on one-off forward runners instead of getting Moodie and Arendse on the ball, while some crucial attacking lineout opportunities were also wasted.
But the dismissal of Grobbelaar with 13 minutes left galvanised the Scarlets, who nearly scored through lock Jac Price before right wing Tom Rogers danced past poor tackle attempts from three Boks in Arendse, Moodie and Embrose Papier to grab the decisive five-pointer in the 72nd minute.
Tom Rogers leaving two RWC winners for dust 💨#BKTURC #URC | #SCAvBUL pic.twitter.com/tYcWSc0nbd
The Bulls kept fighting until the end to snatch victory, but another knock-on in a maul and Henry Immelman booting a kick over the dead-ball line didn’t help.
And just to round things off, referee Vedovelli awarded the Scarlets a scrum penalty to extinguish the Bulls’ hopes.
Points-Scorers
Bulls 22 – Tries: Canan Moodie, Zak Burger, Kurt-Lee Arendse. Conversions: Boeta Chamberlain (2). Penalty: Chamberlain (1).
Scarlets 23 – Tries: Josh MacLeod, Blair Murray, Tom Rogers. Conversion: Ioan Lloyd (1). Penalties: Lloyd (1), Sam Costelow (1).