Bulls coach Jake White admitted that his team “got out of jail” a few times in their dramatic 33-32 United Rugby Championship victory over the Stormers on Saturday.
In front of over 47 000 spectators at the Cape Town Stadium, the two arch-rivals dished up a spicy affair that went virtually to the final whistle to decide the winner.
Stormers replacement back Clayton Blommetjies was unable to clinch a victory for the hosts when he missed the conversion of Ben-Jason Dixon’s 79th-minute try.
But Stormers flyhalf Jurie Matthee and Bulls centre David Kriel also missed a couple of shots at goal that proved to be costly.
In the end, though – with exciting No 8 Cameron Hanekom leading the charge as the Player of the Match – the Bulls secured their first URC victory in the Mother City, with tries by Cobus Wiese, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Harold Vorster and Ruan Vermaak.
“I thought David kicked quite well in the time that he had to kick, but it’s very different when you are picked as the goal-kicker,” White said at the post-match press conference.
“And we saw what happened at the end there, Clayton misses that kick... they win the game.
“So, missing kicks is obviously important for both teams.
“I sort of wrote in my book during the game that it’s also difficult when you move a guy like Willie (Le roux) to 10 and expect everything just to click.
“Then, the Stormers were never going to go away. When you ask my thoughts on the game, it is almost like we got out of jail, but we put ourselves there so many times – it was our own mistakes.
“We score and then we knock the kickoff. Then we get a turnover in our half by defending well, and then we don’t find touch. We run in front of the ball and give away three points or seven points.
“But these derbies are what it’s all about. People will talk about this derby for a long, long time. Thousands of people, sold out, last kick of the game... So, I’m very proud that this North-South Derby will (be remembered).
Akker van der Merwe = The runaway train 🚂💨@Vodacom #URC | #STOvBUL pic.twitter.com/0lmABcjpbt
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) February 8, 2025
“It wasn’t a classic, or that you’d take coaching tips out of that game for people. But it felt a little like a Test, until the last play of the game – and the game could’ve gone the other way.
“So, I’m very happy that we got a win, and a bonus point as well as that helps us away from home.”
The Bulls led 18-17 at halftime, and rocked the hosts with an early second-half try by centre Vorster.
But a yellow card to prop Gerhard Steenekamp – after he helped Wilco Louw to dominate the Bulls when Wessels left the field in the first half – saw the Stormers fight back with five-pointers by Evan Roos and Warrick Gelant.
The celebration matches the finish 😏🔥
This one is going down to the wire at the DHL Stadium 🏉👇
📺 Stream #VURC on DStv: https://t.co/0P0NNhnwKw pic.twitter.com/hKzs4vEcq3
The Pretoria outfit, though, held on for a bonus-point win after Blommetjies’ kick.
“I don’t know about hungry, but I spoke to them before the game and said when there’s a full house at a stadium, and you want to be remembered as one of the best players, you’ve got to play well in these big games,” White said.
“If I’m critical, there were individual times when we looked really good and poor. And as a team, times when we looked in control and out of control.
“I wrote in my book as well, about 10 minutes of madness before halftime.
“It was like incredible. We get a turnover, Cobus Wiese passes and there’s no Willie there. Then the ball goes along the ground, he kicks it and it doesn’t go out, and they get a penalty because we’re in front of the ball.
“From that, they get seven points.
“We just had to slow it down, get a bit of composure and get control of the ball, kick the ball out – the Stormers lineout was under pressure as well, to be fair.
“I would’ve been upset (if the Bulls had lost), and would probably have been asked if I was going to lose my job!
A thriller right to the very end 🍿
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) February 8, 2025
The Vodacom Bulls hold on to win in Cape Town 👏👏#VURC pic.twitter.com/uV8q7n4R2x
“That’s the margins, guys. If we had lost that game because he kicked it over, I wouldn’t be happy – I would really have been unhappy.
“We would’ve found a way to lose that game, and even Schalk Burger said to me, ‘Can you try any harder to lose a game?’ – and he’s right.
“We tried everything we could to actually lose that game. The fact that we got out of it and won is fantastic, but Monday’s video session will have to talk about us having to be more controlled and composed.
“We look at times, when we are in our half, that we are rushing it too much.”
Points-Scorers
Stormers 32 – Tries: Frans Malherbe, Salmaan Moerat, Evan Roos, Warrick Gelant, Ben-Jason Dixon. Conversions: Jurie Matthee (2). Penalty: Matthee (1).
Bulls 33 – Tries: Cobus Wiese, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Harold Vorster, Ruan Vermaak. Conversions: David Kriel (2). Penalties: Kriel (3).