Bulls wake-up in second half

[pieter blackie]

Bulls wake-up in second half

Pretoria - The Bulls duly won their Super 14 match at Loftus Versfeld against the Reds 33-20 after an improved second half where there was more structure after a very average and quite boring first half against the young Reds side.

There were undoubtedly many positives for coach Frans Ludeke to take home, but also a few worrying aspects - not the least of which was the easy penetration of the Bulls defence on a number of occasions. Usually one of their strong points this lapse could be attributed to an early lethargy and later to the knowledge that they had won.

Too many turnovers at ruck time, too many wrong options and poor handling marred the home side's first-half effort when they led 10-6 after a try in the last second before the break.

The Bulls had just about every crumb of possession in the first five minutes, but were not sharp enough in their handling to get on the board.

When the first points came it was through a Morne Steyn penalty.

The Reds had their first real possession after 14 minutes but kicked directly into touch. By then the Bulls had kicked nine times and the Reds on seven occasions. The Reds then ran from a scrum with Berrick Barnes beating Wynand Olivier on the inside and from the ensuing ruck Ben Lucas evened matters with a penalty.... the rest here

[chiselhead]

The Reds looked the more enterprising with ball in hand. The Reds forwards were annihilated at the breakdown. The Bulls had enough possession to win 3 games. It's a good sign that the Reds didn't go belly up as the tide of the game was against them from the opening whistle. They are a dangerous attacking side if they can get some pill. I thought the Reds backs were pretty good but the pack struggled

[pieter blackie]

I will be watching the replay on Fox a bit later

[tic]

Can't wait to get Horwill and McMeniman back - that'll make a huge difference.

All in all an OK start - would be good to get some points next week against the Stormers. At least the SA tour is over then and the Reds can try and build good momentum at home and across the ditch.

[TOCC]

a couple of interesting points out of the game

Reds pack was dominated at the breakdown, the set pieces did suprisingly well for the Reds considering the calibre of the opposing pack(until byrnes got binned)

Digby was probably the best back and Higginbotham was probably the best forward, although Houston was good as well.

several players played craptastic: Fetoia, Vaalu, S. Faingaa, Lucas and Byrnes for his brain explosion

All in all the result and game was probably what was expected, Bulls played percentage football whilst the Reds tried there hand a bit more, the Bulls kicking game was far superior and was probably the deciding factor between the two teams.

[lara93]

well done bulls

[tic]

On the replay, it looks like the Reds were certainly in with a chance to win this.

Byrnes is a maniac - his second half brain explosion and sin binning probably cost the Reds any chance.

I think the Reds will seriously climb up the ladder this year - they will disturb a good number of teams. Phil Mooney's influence is starting to show through.

I look back on the Eddie Jones era and shake my head at how much damage he did to this club, and how much work it has taken to dig the Reds out of it.