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Magnificent Coetzee leads Bulls to quarterfinals

rugby05 April 2025 14:00
By:Brenden Nel
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Marcell Coetzee @ Getty Images

Led by a magnificent performance by captain Marcell Coetzee, the Vodacom Bulls survived the Stade Jean Dauger cauldron to post an impressive 32-22 win over French side Bayonne and march on into the quarterfinals of the EPCR Challenge Cup.

Coetzee led a Bulls performance that tuned out a rabid, partisan crowd and all the trappings of playing away from home to secure the points needed and book a quarterfinal date next week against Sean Everitt’s Edinburgh.

It wasn’t the most impressive rugby at times, and the Bulls did get the rub of the green by a very absent TMO and some sway from English referee Christopher Ridley but it was an impressive win in the circumstances indeed.

Bayonne did themselves no favours by being ill-disciplined, arguing every decision with the referee, who kept his cool throughout. And while at times they had some cause for argument, they negated it by arguing every single decision, at times bordering on the ridiculous.

Still, given the way South African teams have played in France before, this was a good win for the Bulls. Their last outing saw them almost take 50 points at Castres, but it was clear this was a different Bulls animal this time around.

LOUW MONSTERED THE SCRUM

The scrum was monumental, with Wilco Louw feasting on his opposite number Pierre Castillon, to the point of the Bayonne prop getting a formal warning, and being yanked off the field at the same time after the fifth scrum penalty.

It was built around a forwards performance that was direct, in your face, and that terrorised Bayonne’s attack to the point at times that they simply kicked the ball away with Bulls players hunting them down.

But it wasn’t all one-sided. While Marcell Coetzee delivered one of his best performances in a Bulls jersey and he was ably assisted by the likes of Marco van Staden, JF van Heerden, Reinhardt Ludwig and an especially good performance by Akker van der Merwe, the Bulls at times put themselves under pressure with a string of poor penalties that allowed Bayonne back into the game.

Probably the best takeaway from the game was that the Bulls could have won by more, and Jake White will be drumming that into them, as the soft moments made the game a lot closer than it should have been.

BULLS MORE DANGEROUS AWAY FROM HOME

At the same time, it was also a reminder that when they do focus and show intent, South African sides can win away from home and should be doing it a lot more than they currently are. The Bulls' success this season, ironically, has been built on away form, with this victory adding to their wins at Benetton, Connacht and others.

Baptiste Germain may have put the home side ahead with an early penalty, but it was the Bulls who set the stadium alight and underlined the fact they weren’t there to make up the numbers when Sergeal Petersen went over.

The move, clearly headed for a highlights reel of tries of the season, started with a simple loop from Zak Burger to Harold Vorster, who popped the ball to a flying Devon Williams inside to ghost through the defence and offload to Petersen for the try. As a moment, it was superb. It was the type of thing that would normally bring the French to cry Chapeau!

But this wasn’t a French crowd in the mood for good rugby. They wanted blood and every minute their side wasn’t in the lead made them more angry.

MORI IMPRESSIVE FOR BAYONNE

Bayonne hit back through the impressive physical Italian midfielder Federico Mori just on the half hour, as the defence got sucked in and he stood on the wing to have an easy run in.

And yet, the Bulls didn’t sit back. They attacked and attacked with Burger causing chaos around the fringes, with a beauty of a step around the ruck flummoxing the defence enough for him to pop the ball to a flying Ludwig to run through and score.

The try just before halftime was a massive blow for Bayonne and made the crowd even angrier, but it was the blow after halftime that turned the players into contestants for trying to win an argument, with the ever polite Ridley rebuffing them at times.

A Bulls attack went wide to Stravino Jacobs, who tried to grubber the ball ahead, only to be deflected by a defender, off his leg again and forward enough for an advancing David Kriel to pick up and run the 20 metres to score.

LUCKY CALLS WENT BULLS' WAY

There were several arguments for offside, but Ridely rightly didn’t give them. What the replay did show, however, was that Jacobs’ outside leg may have been on the whitewash, which would have negated the try. Luckily for the Bulls, it wasn’t looked at again.

Akker van der Merwe was given a yellow card for a head high tackle that seemed like a harsh call at the time, but the Bulls handled the 10 minutes with 14 men without too many problems.

Marco van Staden almost put the Bulls too far ahead when he burst off the back of a ruck, was stopped and then placed the ball over the line. Again, Ridley ignored the protests, although a reasonable argument could have been made that he propelled himself with his legs to get over the line, but both Ridley and the TMO didn’t touch this.

It was a try that could be argued both ways, and a reminder that often, away from home in a partisan environment, the Bulls may not have gotten the rub of the decision. But it stood.

Bayonne attacked heartedly from the back and found space late in the game, leading to Tom Spring’s try that brought them within a score.

The Bulls held firm, and won a crucial penalty through Cameron Hanekom that allowed replacement Johan Goosen to drill home the kick and give the Bulls a win they will undoubtedly celebrate.

Scorers

Bayonne - tries: Federico Mori, Remy Bourdeau, Tom Spring. Conversions: Spring, Cheikh Tiberghien. Penalty: Baptiste Germain.

Vodacom Bulls - tries: Sergeal Petersen, Reinhardt Ludwig, David Kriel, Marco van Staden. Conversions: Keagan Johannes (2), Johan Goosen. Penalties: Johannes, Goosen.

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