Bulls stampede Dragons at Loftus

It started off poignant but in the end it was the Bulls' poise and power that helped them down the Dragons 55-15 in their United Rugby Championship clash at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Before kickoff the Bulls celebrated the life of recently deceased Cornal Hendricks with a minute's applause and then silence.

Soon after however they made their voices heard as they secured second spot on the points table with a dominant performance against poor opposition.

Loose head prop Jan-Hendrik Wessels was a busy ball carrier and a productive scrummager, flank Nama Xaba proved a real nuisance at the breakdown, captain Ruan Nortje's work rate was exemplary, while fullback Willie le Roux made timely incursions and offloads.

Like Xaba, Wessels also made his presence felt at the breakdown as the Dragons were frustrated on the few occasions they made it into Bulls' territory in the first half.

The Dragons however are the cellar dwellers for a reason and their porous defence again served to undermine their efforts.

The visitors also displayed a poor grasp of the laws as referee Andrew Brace punished them mercilessly.

The visitors were particularly errant at the scrum and the breakdown as the Bulls made their muscle and technical proficiency count.

Visiting scrumhalf Rhodri Williams and No.8 Aaron Wainwright battled hard in the face of a stampede.

The Dragons were under the cosh from the outset.

The Bulls opened the scoring from first phase possession after Nortje towered in the line-out before wings Sergeal Petersen and Sebastian de Klerk were influential in setting up a try for David Kriel.

If breaching the Dragons' defence off first-phase ball was cause for concern then the sight of barrel-chested lock Cobus Wiese stepping through the defence less than five minutes later should have set off alarm bells.

The hosts were becalmed after their first three tries as the tourists laid more claim to the ball but the Bulls reasserted their dominance just before the break when another Dragons penalty presented them the opportunity to deploy their much vaunted maul.

At 26-0 up at the break the Bulls had all but secured second spot on the points table.

The Dragons found a spark early in the second half as they went about the business with more purpose.

They went into contact with far more ferocity and it helped contribute to their opening score when wing Huw Anderson dotted down in the 42nd minute.

Their renewed vigour was equally evident when they manufactured another try six minutes later.

This time though the ever alert Williams exposed vacant space behind a ruck when he chipped the ball over Le Roux and beat the Bok in this short chase.

Their error rate however did not dissipate and from the kickoff Wainwright knocked on which helped the Bulls set up favourable field position.

The Bulls set up another maul opportunity and Van der Merwe did the rest.

The replacement hooker was not the only one to make an impression off the bench.

Bernard van der Linde and Marcell Coetzee also helped lift the tempo.

On Friday evening the Stormers cemented fifth place on the points table when they beat Cardiff 34-24 in Cape Town.

The Stormers ran in five tries to four to set up an away quarterfinal.

Given their poor start to the competition the Stormers did well to scramble back into contention.

Scorers

Bulls (26) 55 — Tries: David Kriel, Cobus Wiese, Sebastian de Klerk, Akker van der Merwe (2), Sergeal Petersen (2), Marcell Coetzee, Devon Williams. Conversions: Keegan Johannes (5).

Dragons (0) 15 — Tries: Huw Anderson, Rhodri Williams, Lewis Morgan.