The Bulls received the rugby equivalent of classroom corporal punishment when they went down 44-14 to Exeter Chiefs in their second Champions Cup outing at Sandy Park on Saturday.It was to be expected after director of rugby Jake White fielded a team that, without Springboks Morne Steyn, Nizaam Carr, Bismarck du Plessis and Lizo Gqoboka, would have been a Vodacom Cup team.Bright as some of the Bulls young talents were individually, playing former Champions Cup and English Premiership champions at full strength and on their own patch was always going to be a chastening experience.AS IT HAPPENED | Champions Cup: Exeter v BullsIt was like lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury fighting some super flyweight boxer - a huge mismatch.
At least in the ring, the referee can stop the fight but rugby rules don't allow Mathieu Raynal the same mercy.Exeter fielded British & Irish Lions internationals and multiple Test-capped players like hat-trick hero Luke Cowan-Dickie and Scotland fullback Stuart Hogg.Everywhere you looked, there was an international in a ruby red jersey: Wallaby Scott Sio at loosehead, Englishmen Sam Simmonds, the No 8, Henry Slade and Jack Nowell on the wings.By the sixth Exeter score, it seemed too long a game and it was a matter of how many points the Chiefs could rack up in the contest.The visitors, though, started brightly and gave hope that they would do what they did against Lyon at home last weekend.Wandisile Simelane made the Bulls' first try with a scything midfield break, darting in his usual slippery way, before the Bulls set up an extra phase to put wing Stravino Jacobs straight through in the sixth minute.Five minutes later, however, Chiefs No 6 Dave Ewers got the hosts' reply when he reached over