The Bulls kept their semifinal dream alive with a thorough 46-17 beating of a clawless and clueless Cats team in their Super 14 encounter played at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.
The win catapulted the Bulls into fifth place on the Super 14 log.
Coming into this game desperately needing a win to salvage their season from hell, the Cats did not disappoint their critics as they continued to dish out their error-ridden and unambitious game.
The writing was on the wall for the Cats early on in the match when flyhalf Andre Pretorius missed two easy penalties within range, while the Bulls slowly got a grip on the game from the boot of flyhalf Morne Steyn before the five-try fest began.
Steyn had hauled his side level with the Cats 3-3 in the 15th minute before centre JP Nel’s blistering try in the 19th minute. Nel’s try galvanised a rather subdued Bulls team into full throttle as they gained an obvious ascendancy on proceedings.
With the Cats already showing signs of a beaten outfit, the Bulls got into their stride with their predictable but hard-to-beat game plan as they rumbled over the Cats forwards for flanker Tim Dlulane to score his first try of the season and the Bulls’ second of the day.
In a commanding position with a 15-3 lead, Pretorius epitomised the already awful Cats season with his second penalty miss of the day in the 30th minute. Steyn further extended the Bulls’ lead to 18-3 with a well-struck penalty.
Pretorius capped a horrid first-half showing with his third penalty miss seconds before the half-time hooter.
More tries came in the second half, with Bulls flanker Pedrie Wannenburg, playing in his 50th Super match, running on the wing to score in the 48th minute.
An already jaded Cats side, trying to minimise the score line, scored two consolation tries, the first from hooker Delarey du Preez in the 55th minute and the second coming from a freakish Bulls lapse in defence in the 71st minute from Ernst Joubert.
The Bulls, though, were well ahead after replacements Danie Rossouw and Pierre Spies scored the Bulls’ fifth and sixth tries in the 64th and 79th minute respectively.
It was another harrowing display for a Cats side who seem to have little interest in the Super 14, but a hopeful evening for a Bulls side who harbour hopes of making the semifinals for the second year running. — Sapa