Bulls Slow Waratahs Finals Charge
SYDNEY—The Bulls slowed the NSW Waratahs' charge to the Super 14 finals on Saturday night with a dour 20-6 victory at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Tries to winger Bryan Habana and prop Werner Kruger and two conversions, a penalty and drop goal from five-eighth Morne Steyn were enough to end the Waratahs' record-setting 11-match winning streak at the SFS.
The defeat relegated NSW to fourth spot on the ladder after nine rounds and put the Tahs' playoff hopes on a knife's edge.
With a derby against the Western Force in Sydney next Saturday night before a bye and a testing three-game stretch in South Africa to complete their home-and-away campaign, suddenly the Waratahs are under real pressure to qualify for the finals.
Boasting the biggest and meanest forwards in the tournament - not to mention three straight triumphs over NSW - the Bulls were always going to be a tough nut to crack.
Typically, the match was a dour one - with controversial South African referee Jonathon Kaplan not improving the contest as a spectacle with his pedantic controlling of play.
He called countless plays back for so-called forward passes - which replays suggested were not - and was heard to make one of the quotes of the year when asked by Waratahs prop Dan Palmer why he had awarded two straight scrum penalties in the second half.
"I can't remember," said Kaplan, who was roundly jeered by the exasperated crowd at fulltime.
The Bulls had led 7-3 at halftime following Habana's try in the 16th minute, after the visitors intercepted an errant lineout throw from NSW hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau inside the Waratahs quarter.
The Waratahs' only points before the break came from a penalty goal to five-eighth Daniel Halangahu after the halftime siren.
Steyn extended the Bulls' advantage to 10 points with his drop goal and penalty early in the second stanza before replacement flyhalf Kurtley Beale added a penalty - the last points of the night for the Waratahs, who again struggled with their attacking execution.
Kruger's try 12 minutes from time sealed the Waratahs' fate.
Force Count Loss of Heartbreaking Loss
Winger Nick Cummins, who scored a brace in the after-the-siren loss, will be sidelined for 3-4 weeks after suffering a hairline fracture in his left leg, the same one he broke last year.
The 21-year-old, who signed a new two-year deal earlier in the week, limped off in the 49th minute and underwent scans on Saturday.
Centre Junior Pelesasa will miss 1-2 weeks with a torn triceps, while flanker David Pocock will be monitored after suffering concussion.
Winger Scott Staniforth, who twisted his knee and ankle late in the game but played on, has been cleared.
Force coach John Mitchell said he expected teenage sensation James O'Connor to return after missing one week with a hamstring injury, but Cameron Shepherd is likely to spend his fourth straight game on the sidelines due to a lingering ankle complaint.
The Force, who led 27-16 with four minutes remaining, were left to rue some crucial missed tackles in the dying minutes after a 77th-minute try to David Smith and an after-the-siren touchdown to Cory Jane snatched the win for the Hurricanes.
"In life sometimes you don't have a choice of how to lose, but I guess it's a test of our character," Mitchell said.
"It will be a real test for us as a group how we move forward from that situation.
"We can actually take a lot of goodness out of it even though it does hurt.
"They went to another level (in the first half) and the boys were asked to. They looked like they were enjoying themselves."
Although the Force gained two bonus points, they will probably have to win their remaining five games of the season to have any chance of reaching the finals.
But Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper was adamant the Force were top-four material despite the loss.
"These guys are going to be make the top four I believe, that's how good we rate them," Cooper said.
"I certainly believe the Force will be there.
"The contact area, they slowed our ball down really well and stole the ball - I stopped counting at four.
"Pocock is good, (Richard) Brown's good. They're good players.
"We try to look after our contact area, we work really hard and we still weren't able to achieve a quick go forward, so credit to the Force."
But Cooper's praise was little consolation to Force skipper Nathan Sharpe.
"Obviously heartbroken," Sharpe said.
"With three and a half minutes to go there was a crucial period where we needed to control the ball and we didn't and that ended up costing us the win."
Super 14 Collated Results and Standings-Round 9
BLUES 36 (Rudi Wulf 2, Joe Rokocoko, Peter Saili, Chris Smylie, Anthony Tuitavake tries Isaia Toeava 3 cons) bt LIONS 12 (Henno Mentz, Jano Vermaak tries Andre Pretorius con) at Eden Park. Referee: James Leckie (AUS).
HURRICANES 28 (Zac Guildford, Cory Jane, David Smith tries William Ripia 2 cons 3 pens) bt WESTERN FORCE 27 (Nick Cummins 2, Ryan Cross, Scott Staniforth tries Matt Giteau 2 cons pen) at Subiaco Oval. Referee: Stuart Dickinson (AUS).
HIGHLANDERS 24 (Josh Bekhuis, Kendrick Lynn, George Naoupu tries Matthew Berquist 3 cons pen) bt QUEENSLAND REDS 19 (Quade Cooper, Digby Ioane, Hugh McMeniman tries Brendan McKibbin 2 cons) at Rugby Park Stadium. Referee: Craig Joubert (RSA).
BRUMBIES 17 (Patrick Phibbs try Mark Gerrard 4 pens) bt STORMERS 10 (Jean De Villiers try Peter Grant con pen) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: Paul Marks (AUS).
BULLS 20 (Bryan Habana, Werner Kruger tries Morne Steyn 2 cons pen drop goal) bt NSW WARATAHS 6 (Kurtley Beale, Daniel Halangahu pens) at Sydney Football Stadium. Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (RSA).
Bye-Chiefs, Crusaders
Super 14 Ladder P W D L PF PA PD BP Pts
- * Sharks 8 7 0 1 205 137 68 2 30
- Chiefs 8 5 0 3 229 164 65 7 27
- Bulls 8 6 0 2 186 137 49 3 27
- NSW Waratahs 9 6 0 3 155 142 13 3 27
- Hurricanes 8 5 0 3 200 190 10 4 24
- Blues 8 4 0 4 234 235 -1 7 23
- Highlanders 8 4 0 4 172 142 30 6 22
- Crusaders 8 4 1 3 126 123 3 4 22
- Brumbies 8 5 0 3 176 180 -4 2 22
- Western Force 8 3 1 4 172 162 10 5 19
- Stormers 8 2 0 6 139 130 9 7 15
- Lions 8 2 0 6 169 252 -83 6 14
- Queensland Reds 8 2 0 6 154 204 -50 5 13
- * Cheetahs 7 0 0 7 100 219 -119 2 2
*(denotes teams yet to play)
Top point scorers (tries, conversions, field goals, penalty goals, points):
Morne Steyn (Bulls) 1 11 3 17 87
Rory Kockott (Sharks) 2 20 1 11 86
Stephen Donald (Chiefs) 1 23 - 8 75
Mark Gerrard (Brumbies) 3 6 1 14 72
Matt Giteau (Force) - 13 1 11 62
Jimmy Gopperth (Blues) 1 15 - 8 59
Daniel Bowden (H'landers) 3 7 - 7 50
Andre Pretorius (Lions) - 10 3 7 50
Piri Weepu (Hurricanes) - 15 - 6 48
Peter Grant (Stormers) 1 10 - 7 46
LEADING TRYSCORERS
6: Sitiveni Sivivatu (Chiefs), JP Pietersen (Sharks)
5: Anthony Tuitavake (Blues), Jaque Fourie (Lions)
4: Lachlan Turner (NSW Waratahs), Digby Ioane (Reds), Isaia Toeava (Blues), Joe Rokocoko (Blues), Pierre Spies (Bulls), Dwayne Sweeney (Chiefs), Casey Laulala (Crusaders), Lelia Masaga (Chiefs)
