Youngster Manie Libbok scored a hat-trick of tries as the Blue Bulls secured a 44-42 bonus-point win over Griquas in Pretoria on Friday night. CRAIG LEWIS reports.
In the midst of what has been a nightmare year for the Bulls in Super Rugby and the Currie Cup, they have continued to speak of a ‘turnaround strategy’ as they endeavour to set this once-proud union back on track.
All considered, new executive of rugby John Mitchell will view this result as a small step in the right direction, especially bearing in mind that he made a host of changes to the side that was humbled in a 51-15 defeat to the Pumas last weekend.
The Bulls ultimately outmuscled Griquas at scrum-time, while they managed to stave off a late fightback from the visitors to claim a much-needed win.
Coming into this clash, both sides had managed just two wins from six games, and a loose and scrappy first half certainly painted a sorry picture for these two embattled teams.
With defence appearing to be almost an afterthought, each side scored three tries within the opening half an hour, with the difference at the break proving to be just a couple of penalties slotted by Marnitz Boshoff.
It enabled the Bulls to take a 27-21 lead into half-time, but they would have hoped for more, considering Griquas missed as many as 14 tackles in the opening stanza, while hooker Wilmar Arnoldi was yellow-carded in the 33rd minute for a reckless tackle.
However, the Bulls duly punished the Griquas within the first three minutes of the second half as Libbok ghosted over for two more tries while Arnoldi was still off the field.
Griquas made things interesting when Wandile Putuma and AJ Coertzen went over to score to reduce the deficit to just six points with 10 minutes to play, but Tony Jantjies sealed the result with an 80th-minute penalty.
Coertzen did score with the final play of the game to ensure Griquas had the last laugh, but the Bulls had done enough to claim the all-important result.
Blue Bulls – Tries: Rabs Maxwane, Dayan van der Westhuizen, Manie Libbok (3). Conversions: Marnitz Boshoff (5). Penalties: Boshoff (2), Tony Jantjies.
Griquas – Tries: Ederies Arendse (2), Christiaan Meyer, Wandile Putuma, AJ Coertzen (2). Conversions: Andre Swarts (3), George Whitehead (3).
Blue Bulls – 15 Manie Libbok, 14 Duncan Matthews, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 JT Jackson, 11 Rabs Maxwane, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Nic de Jager (c), 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Shaun Adendorff, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Aston Fortuin, 3 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Subs: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Matthys Basson, 18 Jano Venter, 19 Tim Agaba, 20 André Warner, 21 Tony Jantjies/Tinus de Beer, 22 Franco Naude/Stedman Gans.
Griquas – 15 AJ Coertzen (c), 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Tertius Kruger, 12 Johnathan Francke, 11 Koch Marx, 10 Andre Swarts, 9 Christiaan Meyer, 8 Jonathan Janse van Rensburg, 7 Sias Koen, 6 Wendal Wehr, 5 Pieter Janse van Vuren, 4 FP Pelser, 3 Stephan Kotze, 2 Wilmar Arnoldi, 1 Liam Hendricks.
Subs: 16 AJ Le Roux, 17 Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 18 Wandile Putuma, 19 De Wet Kruger, 20 Renier Botha, 21 George Whitehead, 22 Eric Zana.
Photo: Johan Rynners/Gallo Images
