The Blue Bulls retained their Absa Currie Cup title with a convincing 40-19 victory over the Natal Sharks in the final at a packed Loftus in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon.
Ill-discipline cost the Sharks a shot at an upset win, having a player sin-binned in each half, but still the Bulls had to dig deep late in the second half to see off a mini-comeback from the pretenders to their crown.
For the Bulls, captain Anton Leonard was a colossus throughout the 80 minutes, but this victory was largely down to a huge forward effort coupled with a superior desire on the day.
The Bulls led 18-7 at halftime.
It was the Sharks who had a chance in the first minute to take the lead when the Bulls went off their feet at the first ruck of the match.
Flyhalf Butch James, however, pulled his long-range attempt to the left, allowing young Bulls pivot Louis Strydom instead to put the home team 3-0 up after four minutes.
That spurred the defending champions into action and they proceeded to have the edge in the tight and tight-loose during the next ten minutes of play.
With Bulls locks Geo Cronje and Pedrie Wannenburg securing good lineout ball, the Bulls were on the front foot and went 6-0 up when Strydom landed his second penalty on 14 minutes.
The home team sniffed their chance to take the game by the scruff of the neck and spun the ball wide at every attempt, stretching the Sharks defence, but failed to make the attacks count.
Even when the visitors were reduced to 14-men for the first time (Ollie le Roux lost the plot and ploughed into a ruck feet first in the 24th minute) the Bulls could not translate their dominance of territory and possession into points.
Instead, it was the Sharks who upped a gear and had centre Deon Kayser crash over for a disputed try just before the half hour mark. James added the extras to give Natal the lead for the first time.
It did not last long though. Just five minutes later, flank Jacques Cronje burst clear from a ruck to set centre Ettienne Botha up for the first of his two tries.
And just as the Sharks had benefited from a dubious call from the TV ref for their try, so Botha’s second effort came courtesy of a horribly blatant forward pass.
But still it counted and the home team went into the break 11 points to the good.
By the 50th minute the Bulls had stretched their lead to 30-7 with two excellent tries, but the Sharks never gave up and replied with tries from replacement scrumhalf Dave von Hoesslin and replacement lock AJ Venter that momentarily gave them hope.
But in the end Gavin Passins’ 67th minute try – while James was in the sin bin – put an end to the Sharks comeback and ultimately was the cherry on top of a sterling effort from the men in blue.
Point-scorers:
BLUE BULLS 40 (18): Tries: Ettienne Botha (2), Fourie du Preez, Johan Roets, Gavin Passens. Conversions: Louis Strydom (3). Penalties: Louis Strydom (3).
NATAL SHARKS 19 (7): Tries: Deon Kayser, Dave von Hoesslin, AJ Venter. Conversions: Butch James (2).
Cards: Yellow: Ollie le Roux (Sharks, 24th minute), Butch James (Sharks, 61st minute) – Sapa