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The Bulls Daisies completed the 2023 season in style on Saturday, beating DHL Western Province 69-8 in the final of the 2023 SA Rugby Women’s Premier Division in what turned out to be a record-breaking 14th win of the season for the Tshwane outfit.

The crowd gathered at the Loftus Versfeld B-field were treated to a proper display of rugby dominance by the home side, who scored 11 tries to one in a one-sided contest that again illustrated the wisdom of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union to invest in a professional women’s team.

This is the first trophy won by the team since 2006 and it could not come in more commanding fashion.

The halftime lead of 33-8 was good value for the effort by the home side, who had some soft moments in the opening half. They made several handling errors in promising positions, especially in the opening 20 minutes, but once that was sorted, the flow and momentum came back into their game.

Some of those errors came from WP pressure, with the visitors showing glimpses of what can be. Unfortunately though, playing rugby on the backfoot is not the ideal recipe for success and with the Bulls pack in rampant form, that was exactly how the afternoon shaped up for Province.

The first try of the match, five minutes in, was scored courtesy of a flowing move by the Daisies, where they attacked strongly down the right flank and when stopped, the ball was moved to the left and Libbie Janse van Rensburg dashed over near the corner flag. She missed the conversion, but the Bulls were up and running.

From the restart one of those early handling mishaps came back to haunt the Daisies. They conceded a penalty and from a quick tap by the visitors, the ball was moved to left wing Alicia Arries, who crossed the tryline for WP’s opening try. The conversion went wide and after 12 minutes, the scores were tied 5-5.

The handling errors kept stalling the Daisies’ momentum and more often than not, it was erratic passing by the backs that caused the problem and cancelled the positive yards made by the forwards.

However, there were too much class in the backline for that to become a theme and once they found their groove after the first quarter, the backs started to express themselves as well. Centre Unathi Mali scored after a good counterattack from wing Simamkele Namba and Janse van Rensburg converted for a 12-5 lead after 18 minutes.

Province stayed in the fight and attacked well, but were kept off their line by some determined Bulls defence. A tackle on a charging Chumisa Qawe was deemed high and from the resulting penalty, her twin sister Chuma added three points for a 12-8 scoreline – the last time WP troubled the scorers.

The visitors fluffed the restart and this gave the Daisies an attacking lineout option. The maul was effective and hooker Micke Gunter dotted down. Janse van Rensburg converted for a 19-8 lead.

Barely a minute later, Mali raced through a gap and found Jakkie Cilliers in space. The dual international dotted down under the posts and when Janse van Rensburg converted, the lead jumped to a commanding 26-8 after 26 minutes.

Ayanda Malinga got her first try on the half-time whistle when Arries allowed a ball kicked in her direction to bounce and it found a charging Malinga in full flight instead. The try was converted by Janse van Rensburg for a 33-8 lead at the break.

The second half continued pretty much in the same manner. The visitors had a moment or two in the opening minutes, but it was not long before they were pinned in their own half again.

Malinga opened the second half in a copycat score of her first half effort. A Janse van Rensburg cross kick was allowed to bounce by WP fullback Donelle Snyders and again Malinga found the ball in her hands. This time, she also had to beat a defender or two. The conversion was good to stretcht the lead to 40-8.

Cilliers busted past defenders shortly after, following a good lineout maul, and the Bulls moved closer to their half-century of points with more than half an hour still to be played.

Janse van Rensburg’s second try took the Daisies into the 50s. Some good interplay between backs and forwards opened gaps in the struggling WP defence and the flyhalf raced through one of those for her brace and duly converted for a 54-8 lead.

Mali also got her second, courtesy from another strong run by Namba down the left touch line, but the angle was too tight for Janse van Rensburg’s conversion attempt.

It was 60 up soon after when lock Vainah Ubisi got onto the score sheet. The Daisies executed a variation in their lineout, with Lerato Makua stopped meters short and from the following pick and go, Ubisi got her try for a 64-8 lead.

Mali got her third following a 50m run down the line. The Daisies kept the ball alive with some good passing and when the former sevens international was given space, she used it productively, with a 69-8 lead the result.

Hard as they tried, WP were no match for the Daisies and to be fair to the Capetonians, no side came close this year.

SCORERS

Bulls Daisies:

Tries: Libbie Janse van Rensburg x2, Unathi Mali x3, Micke Gunter, Jakkie Cilliers x2, Ayanda Malinga x2, Vainah Ubisi

Conversions: Janse van Rensburg x7

DHL Western Province

Try: Alicihia Arries

Penalty goal: Chuma Qawe

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