Stedman Gans celebrates with teammates after scoring a try against Leinster at Loftus on Saturday. Stedman Gans celebrates with teammates after scoring a try against Leinster at Loftus on Saturday. Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
Cape Town - The Bulls made a statement ahead of the quarter-finals of the United Rugby Championship by thrashing Leinster at Loftus to gain some much-needed momentum for the playoffs.
They scored nine stunning tries in a 62-7 win, with their forwards and backs interplay brilliant, as the visiting Irish side had no answer for their dominance.
It was a win that was built on solid defence but also a keen eye by the backs to exploit space, and when turnover possession can lead to a better field position or even tries.
Flyhalf Johan Goosen, fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse and wing Canan Moodie were the architects of the Bulls attack, creating the opportunity for a few tries.
Take Goosen's crossfield-kick that was beautifully plucked out the air by Moodie for one of his two five-pointers. Goosen's fist pump showed what that pinpoint kick and Moodie's work up in the air meant.
Or Moodie kicking through a neat little grubber for Arendse to run onto to score one of his tries.
The Loftus team has been dishing up this type of rugby, but at times struggled to perfect it as they did on Saturday.
Bulls backline coach Chris Roosouw was a happy man after his team dealt Leinster their first loss of the season.
“The last three years the Bulls have played a nice mix of mauls, pick-and-go and counter-attack and shape attack,” Rossouw said.
"I want to compliment the guys, they were hungry and squeezed Leinster into submission and forced errors which we converted into attack.
"We all know Leinster enjoys playing with the ball in hand, but our defence was a big contribution to that possession stat. A lot of our defence caused turnovers, which meant we got possession of the ball again.
“When we had the ball, we were very clinical in terms of carrying the ball and attacking the space, which either got us momentum, a try or penalty. It was almost like a vicious cycle for Leinster to turn things around."
According to Rossouw, seeing his team play "champagne rugby" was nice.
They travel to Cape Town, which should be an easier journey than heading to Europe, to see if they can get revenge for the loss in the final of the inaugural URC competition last year.
But they have struck form at possibly the best time in their season to stake a claim for a first URC title.
IOL Sport
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