The Blue Bulls went to the top of the Currie Cup log with a hard-fought and drawn-out 41-12 victory over Griquas at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.
The hosts had to battle it out for the entire duration of the match with their bonus-point try coming in the 80th minute from reserve loose forward Dewald Potgieter, who scored the try after picking up the ball at the back of the scrum and scoring against the cushion of the upright.
Before that, the Bulls had struggled to get out of second gear as Griquas forced them into numerous errors and poor decision-making.
It was the Bulls who got off to a shaky 9-0 lead from three Morne Steyn penalties before fullback Tiger Mangweni scored a try in the corner after plucking out a Steyn kick in the air in the 36th minute.
Griquas struck back three minutes later when wing MJ Mentz latched on to a Bjorn Basson chip to put Griquas on the scoreboard by the half-time interval.
The Bulls blasted into the second half with a try from flank Deon Stegmann, who pinched the ball from a ruck and raced away for a long-range effort from the Bulls to take the score to 21-5 in the 41st minute.
But the Bulls lost focus in the 49th minute when Griquas flyhalf Tobie Botes put through a chip that was picked up by centre Riaan Viljoen, who threw a pass to Botes to sprint to the line and score the visitors’ second try of the match.
Steyn added two more penalties to take the match away from Griquas in the 53rd and 55th minutes.
The final nails in the Griquas coffin came in the 69th minute when Bulls prop Gurthro Steenkamp emerged at the bottom of a maul with the ball while Potgieter added a ray of light to an otherwise awful showing by the Bulls and Griquas. — Sapa