The Bulls, controversially reduced to 14 men mid-way through the second half, have beaten Western Province in their Currie Cup clash at Newlands in Cape Town.
The Bulls won 22-20 after trailing 10-5 at half-time.
Sadly, the match was ruined in part by a red card decision following a puzzling conversation between TMO Rasta Rasivhenge and referee AJ Jacobs that left match commentators and those watching on TV baffled.
Not for the first time in his career, Rasivhenge was again at the centre of the controversy.
At first suggested a yellow card be shown to Bulls loosehead prop Jacques van Rooyen for a late tackle, only to change his mind when questioned by Jacobs – who didn’t have the luxury of a big screen replay to watch.
To give Bulls coach Jake White even more grey hairs, there was a clear offsides missed in the lead-up to the Stormers’ second try.
Neither Rasivhenge nor Jacobs will enjoy reading White’s assessment of the officials on Monday!
Alas, the home side were unable to capitalise on their numerical advantage leaving coach John Dobson scratching his head, and fell further behind the Bulls in the standings.
The Bulls picked up four points for their victory to move back to the summit of the log, while WP left with a single point for losing by seven or fewer points.
In next weekend’s Round 2 action, the Bulls will welcome the Free State Cheetahs to Loftus Versfeld (Saturday, December 5 at 16:30), while WP visit Ellis Park to play the Lions (Saturday, December 5 at 19:00).
SCORERS:
Western Province
Try: Juarno Augustus, Angelo Davids, Ernst van Rhyn
Conversion: Damian Willemse
Penalty: Willemse
Bulls
Try: Kurt-Lee Arendse (2), Marco Jansen van Vuren
Conversion: Chris Smith (2)
Penalty: Smith
TEAMS:
Western Province
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Salmaaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes (from): 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Kwenzo Blose, 19 Neethling Fouche, 20 David Meihuizen, 21 Chris van Zyl, 22 Jaco Coetzee, 23 Marcel Theunissen, 24 Godlen Masimla, 25 Tim Swiel, 26 Ruhan Nel
Bulls
15 David Kriel, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Cornal Hendricks, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Duane Vermeulen (captain), 7 Arno Botha, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jacques van Rooyen
Substitutes: 16 Corniel Els, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Sintu Manjezi, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Clinton Swart, 23 Marco Jansen van Vuren
