Akker van der Merwe and David Kriel were the late heroes as an error-ridden Bulls pulled off a last-gasp 17-15 victory over Benetton in a see-saw United Rugby Championship clash in Treviso on Friday night.
The Pretoria outfit battled to find their rhythm throughout the 80 minutes, but in the final seconds, replacement hooker Van der Merwe kept his cool to control the ball at the back of a lineout drive to fall over the line to level the scores at 15-15.
It was then left to Kriel to slot the conversion from about 10m away from the right-hand touchline, but the inside centre showed his temperament to boot the ball through the uprights.
David Kriel comes in clutch for the Vodacom Bulls in the closing moments of the game 👇
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The Bulls then had to win the last kick-off and control the ball for a few phases before kicking the ball out to clinch the victory.
Jake White’s team showed tremendous fighting spirit after suffering three withdrawals on match-day, with flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain and replacement backs Stedman Gans and Sebastian de Klerk ruled out due to an “overnight illness”.
That saw Keagan Johannes donning the No 10 jersey, while Chris Barend Smit and Harold Vorster came onto the bench.
The visitors started off well enough by carrying the ball strongly through their forwards in the wet and slippery conditions, but the Benetton defence stood firm and forced a few knock-ons in contact.
The Bulls, though, overdid the one-off forward runners being fed by scrumhalf Embrose Papier, who should have been told to snipe around the fringes himself and also bring Springbok stars Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie into the action.
The Vodacom Bulls are still struggling to get over the line 🥲
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 25, 2024
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But it was Benetton flyhalf Tomas Albornoz and fullback Rhyno Smith who landed two early penalties, to which Johannes responded with a three-pointer to make it 6-3 after 23 minutes.
The Bulls, though, struggled in the lineouts, with hooker Johan Grobbelaar and young lock JF van Heerden seemingly on different wavelengths.
Johannes did well to keep the Bulls going at flyhalf, while he also got good distance on his kicks downfield to push the marauding Benetton attackers back into their half.
Albornoz slotted another penalty before halftime, and following two more lost lineouts, White had seen enough and brought on the Bulls ‘Bomb Squad’ to add some much-needed punch to the pack.
Papier eventually found some space and cut through the Benetton defence before finding Kriel, who passed inside to Arendse around the 22, but the Bok wing’s offload missed Van der Merwe.
Johannes pushed his second penalty at goal to the right in the 55th minute, and it looked like the Bulls were finding new ways to lose the game.
They were also unlucky not to score a try when Johannes burst through the middle and chipped towards Arendse inside the Benetton 22, with the ball bouncing around and flank Reinhardt Ludwig eventually dotting down.
But referee Eoghan Cross consulted the TMO, and they found a slight knock-on from Arendse to rule out the five-pointer.
The TMO intervenes 👇
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 25, 2024
Reinhardt Ludwig's try is no good ❌
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When Albornoz extended the lead to 12-3 in the 63rd minute, the Bulls’ challenge appeared to be over at the Stadio Monigo.
But the visitors finally claimed a lineout, and Ludwig wasn’t denied a second time to bring the Bulls right back into it at 12-10 in the 68th minute.
Reinhardt Ludwig will not be denied twice 👇
The Vodacom Bulls get their first try of the match ✅
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Albornoz added a fourth penalty with seven minutes to go to make it 15-10, and the Bulls needed to rally in the last five minutes.
They managed to do just that as first Kriel hammered a penalty from the halfway line into touch within seven metres of the Benetton tryline, and then the big moment came as the ‘Angry Warthog’ Van der Merwe controlled the ball at the back of the maul to dive over.
The @Vodacom @BlueBullsRugby steal the win at the death 😳
— vodacomrugby (@VodacomRugga) October 25, 2024
David Kriel converts 🎯#BENvBUL | @Vodacom #URC | #VodacomTurns30 pic.twitter.com/HsrOg7vlEf
Points-Scorers
Bulls 17 – Tries: Reinhardt Ludwig, Akker van der Merwe. Conversions: David Kriel (2). Penalty: Keagan Johannes (1).
Benetton 15 – Penalties: Tomas Albornoz (4), Rhyno Smith (1).