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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
It is the Bulls’ first win of the season after they went down 33-9 to the Stormers in Cape Town last weekend.<\/p>\n
More to follow …<\/p>\n
Scorers<\/p>\n
Bulls 45 (28)<\/p>\n
Tries: Bjorn Basson (3), Nick de Jager, Travis Ismaiel, Jannes Kirsten<\/p>\n
Conversions: Francois Brummer (6)<\/p>\n
Penalty: Brummer<\/p>\n
Rebels 25 (3)<\/p>\n
Tries: Jonah Placid, Ben Meehan (2), James Hanson<\/p>\n
Conversion: Jack Debreczeni<\/p>\n
Penalty: Debreczeni<\/p>\n
Teams:<\/p>\n
Bulls<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Rebels<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Source – Sport24<\/a><\/p>\n