Western Province played an impressive and near clinical game of rugby to record a morale boosting 15-10 victory over a lifeless Blue Bulls team at Loftus Versveld on Saturday.
Last week the Bulls looked like possible Currie Cup champions when they convincingly beat the Lions at Ellis Park, but this Saturday they were a completely different outfit.
The Bulls lacked any thrust forward and that easily resulted in them losing their way by conceding valuable possession on the ground.
And when the visitors had the ball they made good use of it as they scored two well constructed tries in the first half to secure the victory.
The rest of the evening they had to little work as the Bulls oddly played a directionless and error riddled game.
The Bulls have never been quick off the mark and allowed the visitors to slip through an early try in the 13th minute to Egon Seconds with Naas Olivier converting for the extra two points.
Four minutes later the Bulls threatened to get into their stride when Morne Steyn registered their first points of the match with a penalty.
But it was midway through the first half that the first signs of an imminent Bulls defeat surfaced.
First John Mametsa committed a sin by dropping a simple pass with the Bulls on the charge towards the Western Province tryline.
Then the comedy of errors occurred as the Bulls delayed their throw-ins at the lineout and were penalised for doing so.
On the other hand, Western Province were buoyed by their rivals’ inability to deliver at home and capitalised on that as they increased their lead when Joe Pietersen scored a rather dubious try in the corner.
Pietersen’s try in the 37th minute deflated the much vaunted Bulls as they went into the half-time interval 15-3 down.
Things changed little in the second half as some of the 27 000 strong Bulls supporters started making their way out of Loftus 20 minutes before Willie Roos blew his final whistle.
The Bulls had apparently based too much of their ability to overcome their traditional foes on the fact that captain Frikkie Welsh was playing in his 50th match for the Bulls, prop Wessel Roux was making his 100th appearance in Currie Cup rugby while the match also signaled a change of guard as it was Pote Human’s first game in charge.
Province, though, had made the long trek across the country with one intention in mind and that was gaining a much needed victory against the Bulls.
The Bulls unimpressive performance was also not helped by the two yellow cards collected by Welsh and Heini Adams in the 45th and 47th minutes, respectively.
For the better part of the second half, Western Province contained the Bulls but their defence eventually leaked in the 78th minute when Stefan Basson scored a consolation try. – Sapa