Blue Bulls sweep away Leopards

Mar 15 • General News, Vodacom Cup • 1815 Views • Comments Off on Blue Bulls sweep away Leopards

Article: Dan Lombard
Photo: SARU

The Vodacom Blue Bulls scored seven tries to beat the Leopards XV 46-25 in their Vodacom Cup North Section encounter at Loftus B on Friday. The Blue Bulls were 29-22 up at halftime.

The visitors started the stronger of the two, racing to an 8-0 lead within the opening minutes. Warren Gilbert scored the first try of the match for the Leopards after they ran from their 22. He converted his try and that of Jaco Hayward who broke clean through the Bulls defensive line.

The Bulls opened their account through hooker Arno van Wyk when the Leopards fumbled a high-ball allowing the Bulls to regain possession and Van Wyk forced his way over. Kobus Marais failed to add the extras.

The Bulls kept hammering away at the Leopards and scored two tries through captain Marvin Orie and Travis Ismaiel. Marais nailed both conversions to give the Bulls a 19-17 lead with 20 minutes played.

Sprinbok flank Arno Botha added his name to the score sheet when he muscled over for a try and Marais easily added the extras and a penalty to give the Bulls a cushion. The Leopards had the last say in the first half when George Tossel scored an unconverted try which allowed the Bulls to take a 29-22 lead into the break.

The second half proved to be a scrappy albeit one sided affair. Gilbert landed a penalty shortly after the restart and that would be the last time the Leopards would trouble the scoreboard.

Unforced errors didn’t stop the Bulls from scoring three more tries through Marquit September, Jade Stighling and Nardus van der Walt. The first two tries were scored off the back of strong running while Van der Walt caught the Leopards napping with a quick tap allowing him to score with relative ease. Marais had an erratic afternoon with the boot as he could only convert September’s efforts but the end result still saw the Blue Bulls comfortable 46-25 victors.

SCORERS:

VODACOM BLUE BULLS 46 (29) Tries: Arno van Wyk, Marvin Orie, Travis Ismaiel, Arno Botha, Marquit September, Jade Stighling, Nardus van der Walt; Conversions: Kobus Marais (4); Penalties: Marais.

LEOPARDS XV 25 (22) Tries: Warren Gilbert, Jaco Hayward, George Tossel; Conversions: Warren Gilbert (2); Penalties: Warren Gilbert (2).