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Rampant Bulls leave Sharks scoreless in record win

football02 August 2025 17:10
By:Brenden Nel
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Naas Botha famously quipped that the Currie Cup isn’t won in May. These days it isn’t won in round two of the shortened competition either, but the Vodacom Bulls made a massive statement as they smashed the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV 64-0 in a one-sided game at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.

As the Sharks will want to remind fans, this is the Sharks XV and not the United Rugby Championship version of the side. JP Pietersen’s young side are without many of the players that will be seen in the next few months, let alone their Springboks, and the young players who were sent to Loftus were given a stern rugby lesson.

This wasn’t even men against boys. It was worse. While the Bulls were made up of their fringe URC players and a few new signings, the gulf between the sides could not have been wider, and only some spirited play at the end of the game stopped the Sharks from conceding more.

Technically this is the biggest victory the Bulls have had over their coastal rivals - 64 points as a margin eclipses the famous 62-6 Lion Cup victory in 1991 and certainly is bigger than their 44-10 Currie Cup final win in 2021, which was the previous biggest margin between the two sides.

But there are few who will mark this down as anything other than a one-sided game between a side that wants to win the Currie Cup, and another whose sole aim is to develop players.

80 MINUTES OF REVELRY

Still, for those almost 10 000 fans that turned up on an icy August evening in Pretoria, it was 80 minutes of revelry that saw 10 tries for the home side without any answer from the visitors.

Phiwe Nomlomo’s side are unbeaten after two games and after mauling Western Province last weekend are odds-on early favourites for the title along with the Fidelity ADT Lions.

And it was easy to see why. Built around a strong forward pack that dominated up front, with the loose trio of captain Nama Xaba, Junior Pokomela and two try hero Jeandre Rudolph (who picked up his second man of the match award in as many weeks), the Bulls revelled.

But it was because of hard work from the likes of Sintu Manjezi and Marvin Orie among others that they revelled in the amount of ball they had.

This win was more than that though. The pace that the Bulls played with was a step up from anything the Sharks youngsters could handle.

Their ruck speed was exceptional and the tandem attacking plays of Boeta Chamberlain and Jaco van der Walt found gaping holes in the Sharks defence almost at will.

BOETA’S KICKING SUPERB

One word about Chamberlain - his kicking has been exceptional in the two games thus far. When he missed his final conversion of the night, he had kicked 15 straight in two games.

The caveat that his missed kick came after he sustained an injury in the lead up to a try.

Still the amount of freedom this side is playing with is wonderful to see and the amount of offloads to keep the ball alive has been a massive part of their success.

Their first two tries came from their forwards - Juann Else scored his first of two tries from the back of a maul, while Dylan Smith went over from a pick and go from close range after another monster maul.

But then the tries were superbly crafted, and the pack became a platform, rather than the blunt tool to bludgeon the moment home.

Rudolph was denied with an angled run that somehow Bradley Davids held up over the line, but shortly afterwards, the Bulls went over through Chris Barend Smit, who looped around, broke a tackle and found the tryline with ease.

EARLY BONUS POINT

Smit got the bonus point just on the half hour mark - this time from a punch up the middle by Orie and a smart chip by Zak Burger that dropped beautifully for him.

Else added another maul try before halftime and at 35-0 the Sharks were staring down the barrel at a big loss.

The second half didn’t get much better for the Sharks, as Burger’s next chip found Chamberlain, who took the ball up to metres from the line, with the recycled ball finding Rudolph in the corner.

Rudolph scored a second with a blistering run and Cornel Smit and Stravino Jacobs added their names to the scoresheet late in the game.

But the final moment was left to youngster JJ Theron, who got the ball on the sideline and put in a thundering run for a forward to score in the far corner, putting a cap on a perfect night for the Bulls.

The Pumas come next to Loftus, but they will have been forewarned by this performance. This Bulls side is on fire.

Scorers

Vodacom Bulls - tries: Juann Else (2), Dylan Smith, Chris Barend Smit (2), Jeandre Rudolph (2), Stravino Jacobs, Cornel Smit, JJ Theron. Conversions: Boeta Chamberlain (7)

Sharks - none

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