Marcell Coetzee immense as 14-man Bulls make heavy weather of Munster victory

Marcell Coetzee in the forwards and Madosh Tambwe in the backs were immense as the Bulls made heavy weather of their 29-24 win over Munster in their United Rugby Championship fixture at Loftus on Saturday.

The last overseas visiting team here, the Highlanders from New Zealand, were massacred here (38-13), which was the final time Loftus saw a Super Rugby encounter before Covid put paid to the old norm.

And at 26-3 at half-time, many would have expected the same kind of massacre to befall the men from Munster, but the Bulls couldn't press home their advantage in the second half.

AS IT HAPPENED | URC: Bulls 29-24

In fact, the Bulls scored just three points in the second half despite bossing the first half.

Munster had never heard the full blare of Kaptein blowing out of the Loftus stadium speakers. Although fractionally full, the Bulls faithful let the visitors know that they'd feel the full "Pretoria welcome".

On the pitch, a blue mist descended upon the Irish, who were overwhelmed by the intensity the Bulls can bring when they lock horns at home.

Bulls captain Coetzee was a big part of their dominance. He gave as good as he got in the breakdowns, as you'd expect, but he was everywhere in defence and carried like a man possessed.

He neutralised the Chris Cloete threat and made loud calls to be included in the next Springbok squad for the Wales inbound tour.

The only blight to their start was that the Bulls didn't take care of their restart ball when Munster kicked at them.

After one such fumble, Jack O'Donoghue might have scored the first try of the game from a lineout drive five metres out, but the touchdown was overturned when the TMO spotted obstruction in the maul set.

It was clear from early on that this was going to be a