Jaco van der Walt impressed with a man-of-the-match performance as his Vodacom Bulls ran home seven tries to claim a bonus-point 53-27 victory over Irish outfit Connacht in round five of the 2023/24 Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
The visitors opened the scoring for the afternoon with a penalty inside the 22m area and soon after the herd pulled the same trigger through the boot of Van der Walt before sending Akker van der Merwe over the Eastern stand for an unconverted try. Van der Walt’s kick would go just shy of the poles. He would soon have another shot when converting Elrigh Louw’s try as the Vodacom Bulls opened their lead to 12 points after the opening quarter of the match.
The captain, Ruan Nortje also went over the line before Willie le Roux would go over for a memorable try on debut, sending Loftus country into jubilant celebrations. Van der Walt put the vanish on both tries to see the hosts notch up 32 points in the opening stanza.
Heading into the break, the hosts enjoyed a 19-point lead with a tantalizing second half on the cards in perfect Highveld weather conditions.
The hosts thought they had scored what would have gone down as a leading contender for try of the season but the TMO intervened, scolding Akker van der Merwe for a deliberate knock off the ball before the Vodacom Bulls made their move for the try line. A yellow card to the hooker condemned the herd to play with a man less inside the opening 5 minutes of the second half. The hosts were immediately made to pay for it as Connacht went over the line for a converted try to bring the gap down to 12 points.
The try spurred the visitors on, with time on their side, challenging their hosts and taking the fight to them with more vigour as they looked to close the gap with the advantage of an extra man. The lads from the Capital put on a stellar defensive performance under pressure, to maintain their lead before turning the tables on their visitors by sending Nizaam Carr over the line with Van der Walt slotting in the spot kick.
The fly-half would have another successful shot at goal when David Kriel’s sharp reflexes finished off what Jan-Hendrik Wessels started as the men out of Tshwane added more points to their tally. Seven minutes later, Chris Smith crossed over the line to add another try for the team (which began from a steal in the lineout) before converting his own work. Connacht’s never-say-die spirit in the match saw them cross the line for their third try of the match before the full-time whistle.
Speaking after the match, Connacht coach, Pete Wilkins, said: “We would have been happy to come out with a bonus point loss, which we fought very hard for in the end. Not to say we are satisfied with the loss but we would have made better sense of the outcome with a bonus point,”
“Funny enough we played the best rugby we have played this season in that second half but coming up against the Bulls is tough. They are a class team and if you make mistakes, they will make you pay,”
“I was pleased with the way we responded in the second half.”
Asked about playing at altitude, Wilkins said: “It certainly comes into the mix in terms of the things you take into consideration in how they could influence your play but we will not use that as an excuse,”
“It is challenging whether you have played here or not but it’s part of the excitement, it’s what makes the URC tournament exciting.”
Vodacom Bulls Director of Rugby, Jake White said he was pleased with the result considering the side is still missing six key players.
“Not many teams score more than 50 points against this Connacht side, and we did. They are a well-coached team, so we take a lot of confidence from that result.”
Asked about things that he noted as improvements in his team, White remarked: “The most important thing is the fact that we had a short turnaround from flying in, and the way we played with forced changes are probably the two things that pleased me the most. We lost five players and still played as we did, that is pleasing.”
SCORERS:
Tries: Akker van der Merwe x1, Elrigh Louw x1, Ruan Nortje x1, Willie le Roux x1, Nizaam Carr x1, David Kriel x1, Chris Smith x1
Conversions: Jaco van der Walt x5, Chris Smith x1
Penalties: Jaco van der Walt x2
VODACOM BULLS vs CONNACHT STARTING XV: 1. Gerhard Steenekamp, 2. Akker van der Merwe, 3. Wilco Louw, 4. Reinhardt Ludwig, 5. Ruan Nortje (c), 6. Marco van Staden, 7. Elrigh Louw, 8. Nizaam Carr, 9. Zak Burger, 10. Jaco van der Walt, 11. Sergeal Petersen, 12. David Kriel, 13. Stedman Gans, 14. Sebastian de Klerk, 15. Willie le Roux
VODACOM BULLS IMPACT SQUAD: 16. Simphiwe Matanzima, 17. Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18. Mornay Smith, 19. Janko Swanepoel, 20. Cyle Brink, 21. Embrose Papier, 22. Chris Smith, 23. Canan Moodie
MANAGEMENT: Jake White – Director of Rugby, Chris Rossouw – Assistant Coach, Werner Kruger – Assistant Coach, Gary Gold – Assistant Coach, Andries Bekker – Assistant Coach, Jean Tiedt – Assistant Coach, Kennedy Tsimba – Assistant Coach, Phiwe Nomlomo – Assistant Coach, John-William Meyer – Technical Analyst, Dr. Herman Rossouw – Team Doctor, Lance Lemmetjies – Senior Physiotherapist, Darryn Berry – Physiotherapist, Andre Volsteedt – Strength & Conditioning, Yusuf Vahed – Sport Scientist, Elias Bennett – Team Manager, Simon Dyidi – Logistics Manager
