Jubilant 'C-team' Bulls stay clear of ref debate despite a crazy penalty count against them

It still couldn't sour a magnificent Currie Cup victory over what amounted to a first-choice Lions URC combination, but the Bulls must've privately felt bemused by a penalty count against them that bordered on crazy.

Despite claiming a 43-37 victory on Saturday evening at Loftus with that many observers classified as a C-team, Gert Smal's charges lost the indiscipline stakes 18-8.

It's an astonishing statistic, with referee Griffin Colby at one stage awarding 11 penalties in succession to the Lions.

Yet Smal, a phlegmatic character at the best of times, was never go to raise alarm about that given the result.

READ | WATCH | Lions skipper Odendaal's moment to forget at Loftus

"I don't want to say anything about the referee," he said.

"There is a system in place – comments go through [national head of referees] Mark Lawrence – and we will do that. We must remember referees are not perfect."

Instead, the former Springbok assistant was quick to point out that their opponents launched a stirring comeback effort, which - from his perspective - explained why the whistle was so shrill against them.

"It was sad that we could not keep our momentum in the second half, but this Lions team has been together for five weeks and they played very good rugby.

"They are a good team and they came hard at us. We struggled to get momentum and conceded unnecessary penalties," he said.

Not that he shied away from giving credit when it was due, singling out the warrior spirit of captain-on-the-night and Bok prop Lizo Gqoboka.

"I'm just very proud of the guys… the way they applied themselves, and they just got stuck in."You could see that there was not one guy hiding away, especially on defence. They tried to close as much as they can – especially when we