Bulls bully Lions in scrum to win Jukskei derby

The Bulls bullied the Lions in the scrum as they maintained their stranglehold over their Gauteng neighbours in their United Rugby Championship clash at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

They ran out 31-19 victors with Marco van Staden, Willie le Roux, Devon Williams Sebastian de Klerk, Stedman Gans and Wilco Louw, among others, playing telling hands as the hosts put last weekend's wobble behind them.

The Bulls' power proved too much for the Lions who showed admirable fighting spirit in the second half.

The Bulls were ruthless in attack early on. In fact, they were mesmerising at times as they carved open the Lions' defence that was so resolute against the Stormers a week ago.

The hosts' superiority was no clearer than when the power from the scrum helped set up their third try. Le Roux delivered a well-timed pass to Williams who gracefully split the Lions' centres in setting up a try for De Klerk.

In the build-up Lions forwards coach Barend Pieterse noted how discerning his team had been when contesting the ball at the ruck. Barely 90 seconds had passed before they were penalised on the deck. It was from that penalty the hosts advanced closer to the Lions' try line and duly got over through Canan Moodie.

The Lions lacked precision at the ruck even when they were in possession with their ball protection often lamentable.

Soon the Lions conceded a second. Williams hoofed the ball forward from a 50/22 but the Lions can feel aggrieved referee Aimee Barrett-Theron did not rule the pass to him forward.

From the resultant line-out the Bulls came up with a clever against-the-grain set play that saw Le Roux angle his way to the corner flag.

The Bulls' third try perhaps greased their path to complacency.

It opened the door for the Lions to come roaring back. Initially the Lions did not make their passes and 22 entries stick but gradually they made inroads.

The Bulls failed to adequately deal with an Edwill van der Merwe chip ahead from the halfway line which helped earn the visitors a penalty. Henco van Wyk quickly turned it into a try via a quick tap.

As they did a week ago when they repelled the Stormers' advances just before the break, the Lions again stood firm with a breather beckoning. They did however lose Quan Horn to a yellow card well after the halftime siren.

The visitors again had to soak up pressure after the break, and while they held their lines initially Horn's absence came back to bite them when the Bulls crafted a second try for Moodie by using many sets of hands and the width of the field in the 45th minute.

The Lions kept up the fight but to their deep lament, also their high error rate.

Scorers

Bulls (17) 31 — Tries: Canan Moodie (2), Willie le Roux, Sebastian de Klerk, Marco van Staden Conversions: David Kriel (3)

Lions (14) 19 — Tries: Henco van Wyk, PJ Botha, Richard Kriel Conversions: Gianni Lombard (2)