Exeter Chiefs put Bulls 'B' side to the sword in Sandy Park

The Bulls were made to rue a decision to field a weaker side in their Heineken Champions Cup match against a strong Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park in Devon, England, on Saturday.

The men from Pretoria were completely outplayed by the Chiefs who cruised to a 44-14 bonus-point victory while the local side returned home empty-handed.

The visitors failed to even secure a losing bonus point as they only scored two tries through Stravino Jacobs and Chris Smit.

Dave Ewers, Luke Cowan-Dickie (3), Henry Slade and Solomone Kata all scored for the home side.

The Bulls, who have a big United Rugby Championship (URC) derby against the Stormers on Friday, left some of their regular starters such as Springbok stars Canan Moodie, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Marco van Staden and others out for the clash in England.

While their director of rugby Jake White said this doesn’t mean they are prioritising the URC over the Champions Cup, without a doubt the Bulls would have been able to match the Chiefs with some of the players that stayed behind.  

This was also a rude reminder to all South African teams that juggling the Champions Cup with the URC, two demanding tournaments that involve a lot of travelling, won’t be a walk in the park.

Both sides had managed to kick off their Champions Cup campaign with solid victories last week, with the Bulls producing an excellent performance to put Lyon to the sword in Pretoria.

The Chiefs entertained the Bulls on the back of a 27-12 victory over the Castres Olympique.

But the so-called Bulls “B” team led by veteran flyhalf Morne Steyn on Saturday struggled to repeat their form of last week against the 2019-2020 Champions Cup winners.  

It was a nervy start for the Bulls. White’s men committed too many penalties at the breakdown which led to them conceding 15 points, including two tries within the opening 15 minutes.

In the first half alone, the South Africans conceded nine penalties compared to two of the clinical Chiefs side.

The Bulls were the first to cross the whitewash through Jacobs after six minutes, but their high error rate saw them give up their early 7-3 lead.

Chiefs’ three tries in the opening half by Ewers and Cowan-Dickie (2) were both from driving mauls.

For the Bulls it looked like nothing worked for them in the first stanza as the hosts also dominated possession and territory for most of the half.

The Chiefs easily secured the bonus-point win when England star Slade scored the fourth try after some excellent team play that made the Bulls look like a team out of their depth as they trailed 32-7 at the break.

There was not too much of a change in the second half as the Chiefs continued their dominance in the scrums.

The hosts scored more tries as Cowan-Dickie completed his hat-trick while Kata also came off the bench to put his name on the scorers' list.

The Bulls could only manage one try in the half through Smit who scored a beautiful try from an excellent Steyn forward kick.

The Bulls even failed to capitalise on the one-man advantage to secure a bonus point after Ewers was sin-binned for a high tackle with only four minutes left on the clock.

Scorers

Exeter Chiefs: Tries: Dave Ewers, Luke Cowan-Dickie (3), Henry Slade, Solomone Kata Conversions: Simmonds (5) Penalties: Simmonds (2)

Bulls: Tries: Stravino Jacobs, Chris Smit Conversions: Morne Steyn (2)

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