Bulls head coach Johan Ackermann lauded his team’s scrum dominance that won them penalties at crucial stages, and flyhalf Handré Pollard’s composure to slot those penalty kicks during their 23-21 win over Scarlets in Llanelli on Saturday.
The victory lifted the Bulls one place to seventh on the United Rugby Championship table, giving them a stronger hold on their play-off spot with two games remaining against Zebre and Benetton in the regular season.
It capped a good tour of Europe for the Pretoria side, who rallied from a 25-21 defeat to Glasgow Warriors in their Champions Cup last-16 match in Scotland to thrash the Dragons 47-7 in Newport before claiming their first away win against Scarlets.
‘Proven himself over the years’
During the game, the Bulls, bolstered by the return of Springbok tighthead prop Wilco Louw, completely outmuscled the Welsh side come scrum time.
While this was not rewarded in the first half, they won two scrum penalties near the end that led to points.
The last one allowed the Bulls to kick for a lineout, where another penalty was awarded in the 77th minute. Pollard, cool as ever, booted the ball between the posts to retake the lead and secure the win.
It capped a great day out for the Springbok 10. He scored a try following a great run by Embrose Papier, and nailed all five of his kicks at goal to score 18 of his team’s points.
That, in comparison to his opposite number, Joe Hawkins, who missed three conversions.
“Pollard showed his class in his kicking display tonight,” said Ackermann.
“When that last penalty came, the fact that he had the nerve to slot it. He’s proven himself over the years.
“Credit to the team for getting us into those positions and then credit to him for slotting it.”
Bulls set-piece does it for them again
The Bulls coach said their lineouts were also good, despite one or two that were skew or mis-timed.
“Unfortunately, Scarlets put the ball into the scrums in the first half, and they didn’t let it play out.
“Saying that, the dominance continued in the second half. Luckily the call went our way at the end when the referee recognised dominance.”
Ackermann said the win wasn’t pretty. But it was “very pleasing” to beat the Scarlets in Wales for the first time.
He said the main area of concern for the Bulls was discipline. The referee yellow-carded Stedman Gans for an off-the-ball tackle and sent Francois Klopper to the sin bin for an offside tackle.
The Scarlets scored while both were off.
