Saturday 28 March 2015 19:16, UK
An enterprising Bulls outfit outscored the Crusaders three tries to one as they recorded a 31-19 win in Pretoria.
Two kickable penalties were turned down by the home side as they sought to put the early pressure on the Crusaders and their positive intent was rewarded when Springbok Francois Hougaard was put in space on the right-hand side to score the opening try of the game with just three minutes on the board.
When Burger Odendaal went over in the other corner, this time converted by Handre Pollard, the Bulls had registered a 12-0 lead with less than ten minutes gone.
The Crusaders were not to be silenced though, as they rallied to take the lead thanks to a try from Nadolo Nasiganiyavi and three penalties from Dan Carter. But with Pollard adding two of his own the score was 18-16 to the Bulls at half-time.
Pollard added two more penalties in the second period before a breakaway try from Grant Hattingh put the game out of reach of the visiting New Zealand team, who left Pretoria without any points.
Second-half tries from SP Marais and Lwazi Mvovo spared the blushes of the Durban men as they went into the half-time break 6-0 down. The home side started the game better than their visitors but poor handling ensured that the scoreboard was untroubled for the entire first half as opportunities were butchered throughout.
Meanwhile the Force had added two penalties from the boot of Sias Ebersohn.
The Sharks clicked into gear at the second half and opened the scoring with a wide-ranging try from SP Marais who dotted down in the corner, though the conversion was missed.
Though the hosts looked to kick on they were still unable to effectively make use of their dominance in the scrum and loose play and it was up to SP Marais to once again spark them into life. He collected a kick from inside his own 22 and ran through the first line of defence before putting Lwazi Mvovo away to score what ended up being the winning score.
Luke Burton slotted a penalty to give his side a bonus point as the final whistle was blown in Durban.
The Highlanders answered an early Stormers score with 31 unanswered points with Fiji international Waisake Naholo scoring two of their five tries.
Fellow Fijian wing Patrick Osborne also touched down along with Aaron Smith and Dan Pryor, with Juan de Jongh scoring two tries for the Stormers.
It was a disappointing start to a tough Australasian road trip for the Stormers and took the gloss off celebrations for Springbok great Schalk Burger making his 100th Super Rugby appearance for the team.
They made the best possible start when de Jongh, leading the side in place of the rested Duane Vermeulen, scored first to finish a long Stormers build up.
But that was about as good as it got, with the Highlanders striking back when Smith touched down.
Lima Sopoaga landed the conversion, a penalty and then two more conversions as Naholo ran in two tries in the countdown to half-time.
Osborne scored the bonus point try early in the second half to put the Highlanders up 31-7 before Rhodes replied for the Stormers, with de Jongh's second score late on doing little but cut the Stormers' deficit.
It was a bad day for another New Zealand team as the Auckland Blues fell to their seventh straight defeat, going down 23-11 against the Waratahs in Sydney.
Scrum-half Nick Phipps and replacement Peter Betham scored tries and fly-half Bernard Foley kicked 13 points as the Waratahs collected their fourth win of the campaign to leave the Blues still searching for a first victory.
Phipps crossed for the first try in the eighth minute after the television match official ruled Michael Hooper's questionable final pass had not gone forward.
The Blues, though, refused to buckle and two Dan Bowden penalties sent them in at halftime only a point back at 7-6 after some tough tackling in defence.
Their renewed fight was rewarded with a try to Francis Saili in the 53rd minute after the Waratahs failed to cope with a high clearance kick and a neat offload from Charles Piutau sent the inside centre over.
Foley and the Waratahs responded with three penalties after pinning the Blues back in their own half and applying pressure in the right areas.
The hosts denied Kirwan's side a losing bonus point in the final five minutes when Betham finished a nice move, including a Will Skelton offload, to cross for the second try.
The Waikato Chiefs also secured a bonus point win over South African opposition as they held off the Cheetahs 37-27 in Hamilton.
Sam Cane, Andrew Horrell, Michael Leitch and Liam Messam crossed for the Chiefs, with victory taking them within a point of the Hurricanes at the top of the New Zealand conference.
All Blacks fly-half Aaron Cruden added 17 points with three penalties and four conversions for the Chiefs, while former Springboks flanker Heinrich Brussow scored two tries for the Cheetahs.
