Burger Odendaal and Warrick Gelant scored a hat-trick of tries as the Blue Bulls secured a 64-36 bonus-point win over the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Friday night. CRAIG LEWIS reports.
This was a much-needed result for the Bulls after three successive losses, while it reignites their playoff hopes with just one more round remaining in the pool stages of the Currie Cup.
For the Cheetahs, it’s another disappointing result as their season continues to unravel – largely as a result of the fact that their first-choice team continues to conduct duty in the Pro14.
The first half generally belonged to the Bulls, who were full of running and regularly exposed the Cheetahs’ porous defence, with as many as 15 tackles having been missed in the opening stanza.
The Cheetahs also conceded a litany of penalties early on, while captain Chris Dry spent 10 minutes in the sin bin as a result of repeated infringements.
Before the break, the Bulls had already wrapped up their bonus-point try – with Odendaal scoring twice – but the Cheetahs finished the half with a flourish as Daniel Maartens claimed a quick-fire double of his own.
It meant just four points separated the sides at the break, while Odendaal and Maartens then both wrapped up their hat-tricks within the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Yet, the Bulls again edged further ahead when Duncan Matthews latched on to a well-weighted through kick from Warrick Gelant, which enabled the visitors to hang on to a nine-point lead heading into the final quarter.
The Bulls then took full control as Johan Grobbelaar and Tim Agaba went over to score, while Gelant completed his hat-trick before fulltime.
Free State Cheetahs – Tries: Lloyd Greeff, Daniel Maartens (3), Stephan Janse van Rensburg. Conversions: Robbie Petzer (3), JP Smith. Penalty: Petzer.
Blue Bulls – Tries: Ivan van Zyl, Burger Odendaal (3), Warrick Gelant (3), Duncan Matthews, Johan Grobbelaar, Tim Agaba. Conversions: Marnitz Boshoff (6), Tony Jantjies.
Free State Cheetahs – 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 JW Jonker, 13 Ali Mgijima, 12 Lloyd Greeff, 11 Vuyani Maqina, 10 Robbie Petzer, 9 Zee Mkhabela, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Nicolaas Immelman, 6 Chris Dry (c), 5 Carl Wegner, 4 Dennis Visser, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Reinach Venter, 1 Johan Kotze.
Subs: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Gunther Janse van Vuuren, 18 Andrew Kuhn, 19 Jeremy Jordaan, 20 Daniel Maartens, 21 JP Smith, 22 Stephan Janse van Rensburg.
Blue Bulls – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Duncan Matthews, 13 Burger Odendaal (c), 12 JT Jackson, 11 Johnny Kotze, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Nic de Jager, 7 Tim Agaba, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Aston Fortuin, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Subs: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Matthys Basson, 18 Jano Venter, 19 Boom Prinsloo, 20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Tony Jantjies, 22 Ulrich Beyers.
Photo: Johan Pretorius/Gallo Images
