The Vodacom Bulls were made to toil in round 5 of the 2023/24 Vodacom United Rugby Championship but excruciatingly fell short against Edinburgh on Friday evening as they went down 31-23 in the Scottish capital. Three cards in the second half made it an impossible mountain to climb for the herd who return home with 10 points from their four-week-long tour of Europe.
After an enthralling opening 10 minutes where both sides were eager to score early points, it was the visitors who were rewarded for holding their nerve on the defense whilst also challenging their opposing defensive prowess. Fullback, Devon Williams opened the herd’s account after a moment of brilliance from flyhalf Johan Goosen who grubbered one through the Cardiff last line before converting the try. The hosts got some reprieve with two successive penalty kicks at goal, pulling back six points back after 19 minutes of open play.
The home crowd were buzzing at a packed Hive Stadium and the match was simmering to be a perfect clash of the titans under the watchful eye of the Scottish castles.
The electric atmosphere spurred the Vodacom Bulls on and they were rewarded with a successful kick at goals by Goosen to open their slender lead to four points after 22 minutes. Goosen would have another opportunity at goals from the 10-metre line and he made no mistake to open the game to 7 points with 10 minutes left in the half.
Not to be outdone by their visitors, the hosts found their opening (unconverted) try inside the last 8 minutes of the half after a successful deployment of a maul from a line out.
The opening half would end with the men from South Africa’s capital leading the men in the Scottish capital 11-13 after an enthralling blow-by-blow showing for the 6 000 plus fans who braved the 4-degree freezing elements.
The second stanza needed a big showing and both sides were up for it. However, two successive cards – red for Marcell Coetzee and yellow for Cameron Hanekom – would condemn the visitors as the hosts found two quick tries and another late one in the 63rd minute to find their bonus point for the night.
With life in their engines and still a belief in their hearts that victory was possible despite being a man down, the Vodacom Bulls pulled one back with 14 minutes remaining as Elrigh Louw went over and Jaco van der Walt converted the opportunity, the game became an eight-point affair into the final 10.
Under pressure on home turf, Edinburgh were shown yellow for a high tackle deep in their own half and the herd kicked for poles to pull the scores to within 5 with 5 minutes left on the clock. In the end, it wasn’t to be as Sergeal Petersen was shown yellow and the home side was handed the opportunity to kick at poles, denying their brave visitors a bonus point loss as the game ended 31-23 to the hosts.
The Vodacom Bulls return to their base and will host Connacht on Saturday 25 November 2023.
Director of Rugby, Jake White said the defeat was hard to accept, however, his side had great positives to take out of the tour.
“At times we were very good and at times we made it incredibly difficult for ourselves but I have got to be proud of the way we stayed in the game until the end. With 4 minutes left in the game we could have scored and who knows, maybe we could have gone on to win the match,”
“I cannot be disappointed with the effort or the spirit of the group after four weeks of tour. We have to regroup now and we have another tough game next week. I am very proud of how we stayed in the fight.”
Asked about the severity of the injuries to his team, White remarked: “Johan Goosen got a knock to the head and Johan Grobbelaar seems to have done something on his hamstring from the cleanout hit he received. It seems like one of those games where not only do you not get a point but you lose your hooker, captain and flyhalf. So this fourth round on tour has probably taken its toll but we have got to regroup because it is going to be the same for everybody.”
Asked about the outcomes of the tour as a whole, the Vodacom Bulls mentor said: “We want to be a great side and you have to win everything and that is what we want to be as a franchise. We are not happy with the result but it is tough to tour and it is tough to tour for four weeks however we will look at this as a satisfactory tour but we are obviously striving for better.”
SCORERS:
Tries: Devon Williams x1, Elrigh Louw x1
Conversions: Johan Goosen x1, Jaco van der Walt x1
Penalties: Johan Goosen x2, Jaco van der Walt x1
VODACOM BULLS vs EDINBURGH RUGBY STARTING XV: 1. Gerhard Steenekamp, 2. Johan Grobbelaar, 3. Wilco Louw, 4. Ruan Vermaak, 5. Ruan Nortje (c), 6. Marcell Coetzee (c), 7. Elrigh Louw, 8. Cameron Hanekom, 9. Embrose Papier, 10. Johan Goosen, 11. Sergeal Petersen, 12. David Kriel, 13. Stedman Gans, 14. Sebastian de Klerk, 15. Devon Williams
VODACOM BULLS IMPACT SQUAD: 16. Simphiwe Matanzima, 17. Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18. Mornay Smith, 19. Reinhardt Ludwig, 20. Nizaam Carr, 21. Keagan Johannes, 22. Jaco van der Walt, 24. Cyle Brink
MANAGEMENT: Jake White – Director of Rugby, Chris Rossouw – Assistant Coach, Gary Gold – Assistant Coach, Andries Bekker – 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
