Bulls massacre abject Zebre in Italy to cure URC travel jitters

The Bulls finally properly flexed their muscles in Europe when they put six tries past Zebre Parma for a 45-7 win at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma on Friday night.

After dominating South African rugby since Jake White’s arrival, spreading their dominance away from home in the United Rugby Championship (URC) has proved a struggle so far.

They had one win on their Euro tour last year, 29-19 against Cardiff.

SCORECARD | United Rugby Championship - Zebre v Bulls

This was by far their most comfortable showing of the tournament, the performance that finally showed what they could do to teams. 

The start of the game, however, was characterised by some poor Bulls handling - reciprocated by Zebre - as well as rookie errors and cheap turnovers conceded, which was reminiscent of their Rainbow Cup final defeat at Benetton last year.

The Bulls were denied a try after eight minutes when wing Madosh Tambwe thought he scored following Lionel Mapoe’s midfield break. But Mapoe knocked the ball on in the move, resulting in a TMO review that was subsequently reversed.

They had another chance when wing Cornel Hendricks broke through but squandered it through poor handling.

Instead, Zebre struck the first decisive blow of the contest after Marcell Coetzee was sin-binned when flyhalf Antonio Rizzi scored the first try, profiting from a demonic lineout maul by the Italians in the build-up.

Hooker Johan Grobbelaar, though, scored the visitors’ first try from the back of a lineout drive to edge ahead after Chris Smith’s penalty and sweet, tight touchline conversion.

That score seemed to settle the Bulls down as they worked their hands with better precision, which resulted in Springbok scrumhalf Embrose Papier scoring their second two minutes