Handling a problem, but Bulls do enough to hold off Lions at wet Loftus

Cape Town — They battled to get going in the opening 40 minutes, but the Bulls scored tries on either side of halftime to secure a hard-fought 21-13 United Rugby Championship victory over the Lions on Saturday.

The rainy conditions at Loftus Versfeld made the ball difficult to handle for both sides, but with all their possession in the first half, the Bulls should have put the Lions away much earlier in the game.

On the evidence of this performance, Jake White’s team still have a long way to go if they want to challenge the likes of Leinster, Ulster and even Edinburgh in the top half of the URC log.

There was certainly a visible attacking intent from Bulls, as they started the match in fine fashion by holding on to the ball and stretching the visitors’ defence.

Captain Marcell Coetzee also opted for touch instead of the posts from a few penalties to try and take the fight to the Lions’ forwards.

But it was the Lions who fed off the scraps from knock-ons and the like from the home side, with flyhalf Tiaan Swanepoel slotting two penalties within the first eight minutes.

The Bulls again made a number of entries into the Lions’ half, but a sloppy lineout delivery or handling errors out wide halted their momentum.

Loosehead prop Simphiwe Matanzima was also penalised in the scrums a few times by referee Aimee Barrett-Theron, although he was unlucky most of the time as it appeared as if Lions No 3 Carlu Sadie should’ve been blown up.

The Bulls were eventually rewarded for their endeavour in the 25th minute, with Coetzee forcing his way over after No 8 Elrigh Louw was stopped just short of the line from a tap-penalty charge.

That put the hosts 7-6 up, and they seemed to gain more confidence, although it proved to be their