Bulls march into another Final

Lions just fall short, again

The Blue Bulls kept alive their chance of winning the Currie Cup for a fourth successive time, which will be a record for them, when they beat a brave pride of Lions 31-23 at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday. The Bulls will meet the Cheetahs at the same Loftus next Saturday.

And for the Lions it was another heartbreak semi-final, as was the case last year, when they put up a great show, but just fell short.

The game was every bit as brutal as was predicted, with two gargantuan sets of forwards going at it like heavyweight boxers.

Not surprising then there was a host of blood substitutions - with the game at times looking like peak hour at Pretoria station as the players trundled off and back on to have their bleeding bodies repaired.

While the Bulls dominated the set pieces, as was expected, the Lions were very competitive at the breakdown and may just have shaded the backline play - with Springboks Wayne Julies and André Pretorius the stars of the afternoon.

But close games like these are won and lost by the forwards, which is where the Bulls had the edge, and with small things often making the difference.

That small difference was a 10-minute period just before the half-time break, when the Bulls scored 10 points to close the gap from 17-6 to just being one point down.

The Lions had all of the early play, as they caught the Bulls cold in the first 10 minutes.

In fact they quickly went up 10-0, as the Bulls struggled with the early pace and gave away a string of penalties.

Pretorius kicked the first of three attempts at goal, in the second minute, with the next two - both from the halfway line - drifting wide.

Then, following a failed Morné Steyn penalty, the Lions scored the first try of the game. It came with Conrad Jantjes kicking ahead, following up and the Bulls make a hash of it under pressure. Julies collected the lose ball and darted over. Pretorius converted for a 10-0 lead after 11 minutes.

The Bulls then settled and started working their way back into the game, with those giant forwards carrying the ball well.

Two Morné Steyn penalties - in the 24th and 28th minutes - narrowed the gap, before another bit of Julies magic left its mark on the game.

From a line-out near the Bulls line the Lions tried to maul it up. It all collapsed in a heap and then the Lions spun it wide. A brilliant pass from André Pretorius put Julies in space and with a couple of defenders drifting wide, expecting another pass, he stepped inside Wynand Olivier and went over virtually unopposed. Pretorius' conversion made it 17-6 and the Lions still looked in control.

But then came a moment of magic from the Bulls and a moment of madness from the Lions.

It all happened in the 36th minute, with the Bulls mauling it up inside the Lions 22. The maul started disintegrating and suddenly Pedrie Wannenburg peeled away, stepped inside a couple of defenders to crash over. In came Lions lock Willem Stoltz with a late knee.

The end result was not just a fine try, but a conversion and a penalty on the half-way line - with Steyn also converted - to make it 17-16 ... a 10 point play and all because of some stupid decision to use the knee on a prone player.

The Lions had one late shot at scoring more points, but Pretorius' attempt drifted wide and the teams went into the half-time break with the Lions still leading by just one point - 17-16.

The first score after the break belonged to the Bulls, when Fourie du Preez kicked ahead and Akona Ndungane collected from the air, offloaded to Anton Leonard, who charged 30 metres forward and over the tryline for a great score. The conversion was wide, but the Bulls were in the lead for the first time.

But in the process of dotting down, Leonard injured his shoulder. He tried bravely to stay on, but after a few minutes left the field.

The Lions came back when Pretorius slotted a great penalty from 50 metres out, on the angle.

But the Bulls were in a mean mood and another brilliant move by scrum-half Fourie du Preez, who broke around the fringes, set up Akona Ndungane for a great try. Steyn's  conversion made it 28-20 as the final quarter approached.

The brutal nature of the game gave the Lions their next point, when JP Nel tackled an opponent without the ball and Pretorius slotted the penalty to narrow the gap to five points.

But Steyn took the three points back with three minutes to go and the Lions again needed two scores for a win.

The Lions had one final surge, but it came to nothing as the Lions conceded a penalty and the Bulls kicked it into touch as the final siren went.

The scorers:

For the Blue Bulls:
Tries: Wannenburg, Leonard, Ndungane
Cons: Steyn 2
Pens: Steyn 4

For the Lions:
Tries: Julies 2
Cons: Pretorius 2
Pens: Pretorius 3

Teams:
 
Blue Bulls: 15 Johan Roets, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JP Nel, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Anton Leonard (captain), 7 Pedrie Wannenburg, 6 Jacques Cronjé, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Andries Human, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Kees Lensing.
Replacements: 16 Danie Coetzee, 17 Wessel Roux, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Johan Wasserman, 20 Heini Adams, 21 Derick Hougaard, 22 Riaan van der Bergh.
 
Lions: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Wylie Human, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Wayne Julies, 11 Jorrie Muller, 10 André Pretorius, 9 Nicholas Eyre, 8 Cobus Grobbelaar, 7 Wikus van Heerden (captain), 6 Gerhard Vosloo, 5 Willem Stoltz, 4 Trevor Hall, 3 Marius Hurter, 2 Lukas van Biljon, 1 Pietman van Niekerk
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Lawrence Sephaka, 18 KleinJan Tromp, 19 Ernst Joubert, 20 Jano Vermaak, 21 Nel Fourie, 22 Grant Esterhuizen
 
Referee: Mark Lawrence (SARU)
Touch judges: JC Fortuin (Western Province), Linston Manuels (Boland)