The Bulls beat the Sharks 49-28 thanks to a dominant forward performance and plenty of razzle-dazzle from their backs in their Super Fan Saturday clash.
Super Fan Saturday: Bulls vs Sharks match report
The Bull enjoyed an early territorial advantage after a clever kick-off but refused an early chance to take a shot at goal, and spilt the ball on a set play from the lineout.
Jeremy Ward earned a yellow card reducing the Sharks to 14 men in the 6th minute of the match.
Immediately after the sin-binning, the Bulls drove over, and Schalk Erasmus dotted down to give the Bulls the lead with the first try of Super Fan Saturday. Morne Steyn converted the try to make it 7-0 to the Bulls.
Moments later Stedman Gans made the most of a mistake under the high ball by the Sharks, scoring the Bulls second in the tenth minute of the match. Steyn again added the two.
Kurt-Lee Arendse then shredded the Sharks on an incredible Bulls counterattack to stretch the home side’s lead.
Watch: Arendse scores the Bulls third try
The Bulls withstood a period of Sharks dominance without conceding any points before an error from the visitors gave Arendse a chance to sprint into the corner for the fourth try. Steyn converted the try from a tricky angle to give the Bulls a 28-0 lead 25 minutes into the match.
Sean Everitt would have had a lot to digest from a first half where the Sharks lacked fluency with the ball in hand.
The hosts kept on coming with their exciting outside backs featuring heavily thanks to the space afforded them by the Sharks. Travis Ismael stormed into the corner for the Bulls fifth unanswered try. Steyn made no mistake with the conversion.
The Bulls held off more sustained pressure from the Sharks with Marco van Staden sin-binned after the first half hooter had sounded for persistent infringing.
Grant Williams finally broke the deadlock for the Sharks with a quick tap and go that allowed him to sprint in for the try which Curwin Bosch converted to cut the deficit to 28 points with the score 35-7 at half time in favour of the Bulls.
Half time
The Bulls started the second half strong but weren’t able to add to their advantage in the first ten minutes of the second period. They were, however, camped in the Sharks half, preventing them from getting back into the match.
Marius Louw picked Wessels’ pocket and dived over for the first try of the second half as the match got a little bit scrappy. Bosch added the conversion to cut the lead to 21 points at 35-14.
Just after the hour mark the Bulls all but made the game safe when David Kriel crossed in the corner to bring up 40 points for the hosts.
The Sharks Dan Jooste powered over shortly afterwards with the visitors not giving up despite the enormous lead the hosts had built.
The men from Durban came back with another sweeping counter with their attack ended by Juandre Kruger but illegally and he earned himself a yellow card.
Jaden Hendrikse nipped in around the fringes to score moments later and Jordan Chait’s boot closed the gap to 14 points with the Sharks 28 playing the Bulls 42.
Kriel killed off thoughts of a late rally from the Sharks as the Bulls capitalised on a turnover and the understanding between their backs allowed the big winger to cruise over for his second. Chris Smith added another two to make it 49-28 in favour of the Bulls.
The Sharks kept coming but the Bulls eventually closed out the match comfortably.
