A Bjorn Basson hat-trick helped the Bulls to a comfortable 45-25 win over the Rebels in a Super Rugby clash at Loftus on Saturday.
The Bulls had gone into the match with coach Nollis Marais having said, perhaps somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that the Rebels were favourites for the clash.
That line of thinking was soon extinguished as the Bulls ran in four first-half tries to go into the break with a healthy 28-3 lead.
Basson had his hat-trick soon after half-time before the Rebels turned it on with four unanswered tries of their own through Jonah Placid, Ben Meehan (2) and James Hanson.
The Bulls, who at one stage were 6-0 up in tries scored, criminally lost their bonus point as the try count ended 6-4 in favour of the home side.
It is the Bulls’ first win of the season after they went down 33-9 to the Stormers in Cape Town last weekend.
More to follow …
Scorers
Bulls 45 (28)
Tries: Bjorn Basson (3), Nick de Jager, Travis Ismaiel, Jannes Kirsten
Conversions: Francois Brummer (6)
Penalty: Brummer
Rebels 25 (3)
Tries: Jonah Placid, Ben Meehan (2), James Hanson
Conversion: Jack Debreczeni
Penalty: Debreczeni
Teams:
Bulls
15 Warrick Gelant , 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Nic de Jager, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), Trevor Nyakane
Substitutes: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Roelof Smit, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Dries Swanepoel
Rebels
15 Jonah Placid, 14 Dom Shipperley, 13 Tamati Ellison, 12 Mitch Inman, 11 Tom English, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 9 Ben Meehan, 8 Lopeti Timani, 7 Sean McMahon (captain), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Steve Cummins, 4 Luke Jones, 3 Laurie Weeks, 2 James Hanson, 1 Toby Smith
Substitutes: 16 Pat Leafa, 17 Cruze Ah Nau, 18 Jamie Hagan, 19 Sam Jeffries, 20 Jordy Reid, 21 Mick Snowden, 22 Kotaro Matsushima, 23 Dan Hawkins
Source – Sport24
South Africa Today Sport – Rugby News