The Bulls kept up their hunt for a semifinal place with a massive 40-19 win over the Blues at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.
In the process, they kept the race for the play-offs wide open, as well as their own hopes for a home semifinal, which is not off the cards just yet.
Overcoming a bad start, they rallied back to take the lead before half-time and then showed tenacity to keep the Blues attack frustrated for most of the game, while capitalising on turnovers and playing more adventurously than they have before.
The Bulls made the worst possible start, first conceding an offside penalty from the kick-off as Pierre Spies could not gather the ball and it bounced off Wynand Olivier back to him, and then when Fourie du Preez was caught in possession. Isa Nacewa slotted both, and after two minutes, the visitors had a handy 6-0 lead.
In the seventh minute there was another infringement — the fourth in a row that had the crowd seething — but it meant nothing as Nacewa slotted it and pushed the score up to 9-0.
It took until the 18th minute before Derick Hougaard finally put the Bulls on the board via a penalty and then added a second five minutes later to bring them within three points of the lead.
The Bulls looked to have regained their composure and were rewarded on the half-hour when Pierre Spies’s surge towards the line saw Wikus van Heerden roll over the ruck to score under the posts.
Then, to cap off their first-half comeback, Bulls scrumhalf Fourie du Preez stole a ball at the scrum from replacement Blues scrumhalf Taniela Moa and sprinted 30m down the touchline before passing inside for Pedrie Wannenburg to score their second try and put them 20-9 up at the break.
The Bulls had little ball in the third quarter, but they pummelled the Blues backwards in almost every tackle. Still, Nacewa added another penalty to take his side into double figures on the hour mark.
Hougaard took the lead back up to 11 points with a penalty, but as the Blues tried to run from the restart, a knock on by Sam Tuitupou was picked up by Du Preez, who ran 50m to score.
Hougaard rubbed salt in the wounds with a drop goal before the Bulls scored the try of the season as Jaco van der Westhuyzen ran from within his own 22m area, beat two tackles and then did a wonderful switch with Bryan Habana.
The speedster turned on the jets and beat three defenders, only to be pulled down a metre from the line, where he delivered the telling pop to Heini Adams to score the bonus-point try. — Sapa