Bulls still in the Blues as they lose again

The Bulls’ poor start to this season’s Super Rugby campaign continued when they suffered the third successive defeat at the hands of the Blues in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon.

They were narrowly beaten 23-21 at a wet and slippery Loftus to remain rooted at the foot of the South African Conference standings with only one point to show for their troubles.

The Bulls, who are rebuilding after they lost players like Hanro Liebenberg, Handre Pollard, Jesse Kriel, Jason Jenkins, RG Snyman and Lood de Jager, have a mountain to climb to resurrect their season.

They started their campaign by losing to the Sharks and the Stormers away from home but the Blues arrived at Loftus in their first home match to compound their problems.

The players look low on confidence and they are lethargic but they must find the winning formula as soon as possible in the next two weeks where they host the Jaguares and Highlanders before they travel overseas.

They took an early 6-0 lead in the game through penalties in quick succession by Morné Steyn but Otere Black reduced the deficit to three points after 17 minutes with his own penalty kick.

Then, things went awry for the Bulls when referee Marius van der Westhuizen hogged the limelight with two yellow cards for the home side in a space of four minutes.

The first Bulls player to be sent to the sin bin was Andries Ferreira and he was quickly followed by his captain Burger Odendaal for what was deemed a dangerous tackle on Emoni Narawa.

The Blues exploited their numerical advantage on the field as they registered the first try of the afternoon shortly after the half-hour mark through Mark Telea when he touched down at the far side corner.

The Bulls retook the lead on the stroke of half time when Steyn scored the first try for the home side on the near-side corner after he received a pass from Warrick Gelant after a constructed scrum.

When Steyn dotted down, the Blues were a man down after Jonathan Ruru was given a yellow card for a cynical infringement.

Shortly after the break, the Bulls further increased their lead from the boot of Steyn but Tom Robinson’s converted try after 52 minutes saw the Blues overtake their hosts by one point on the scoreboard.

Shortly before the hour mark, the Blues took advantage of some sloppy defending by the Bulls to pull away with an unconverted try by Stephen Perofeta.

The Bulls scored their second try of the afternoon through Juandre Kruger but the Blues had the final say when Black converted a last-minute penalty as they secured the vital win.