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Three-try blitz downs sloppy Bulls in Belfast

rugby11 October 2025 21:15
By:Brenden Nel
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A costly yellow card at a crucial time saw the Vodacom Bulls leak three quick tries and lose control of a tight battle to go down 28-7 against Ulster in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship fixture in Belfast on Saturday night.

Jeandre Rudolph’s marching orders were given for a cynical act of slowing down the ball in the 47th minute of the game - a poorly thought-out decision which proved to be extremely costly for his side as it gave Ulster the perfect chance to take total control of a disjointed contest up till then.

While Rudolph was off the field, Ulster scored three tries and took control of the game, underlining how poor the Bulls were on the night and ballooning the scoreline to give themselves a massive win.

On a black Saturday for South African teams, it’s hard to say which of the three losing franchises put on the worst performance, but the Bulls certainly were one of the leading contenders.

This was, as we were told in the team announcement, a squad with eight Springboks in the starting lineup and a host of experience looking for their first win in Belfast.

SLOPPY PERFORMANCE

What transpired was a sloppy performance, without passion and spark, and with a lot to be said for the game management needed to win away from home.

Where the Bulls looked to their Springboks to inspire them, they were given flat performances as virtually every returning Bok played well below par, made crucial mistakes and were part of one of the poorest Bulls performances in the past few seasons.

After the opening two wins of the season, the Bulls were always going to be tested away from home, but few would have expected the poor performance they delivered.

But the inclusion of their Springboks had the opposite effect than they had hoped. Johan Ackermann will be right to point out that it would always have been a gamble, and including Boks that had not trained with the side until this week was a massive risk, but that doesn’t excuse the performances of the Bok players, who made elementary mistakes.

Their teammates were hardly better and relied on a scrum as their only real attacking weapon. While they may have scored almost 100 points in the opening two games, on Saturday night, that same attack was nowhere, easily stopped by Ulster and full of handling errors and cross-field running.

POOR SECOND HALF

The lineout fell apart in the second half and the performance deteriorated, and with it the scoreline ballooned to force the Bulls to play catch-up. That was never going to happen away from home in front of a fiercely partisan crowd.

But the Bulls only have themselves to blame. Most sides would kill for such experience on their match day 23, and they created more than enough chances for themselves. Their game management was poor, and as the pressure grew, it only got worse.

 

 

Ulster, by contrast, simply played a waiting game and pounced when the Bulls were down to 14. Those moments after the yellow card turned the game, and the Bulls had no answer.

QUESTIONABLE TRIES

But then again, some of the tries were also questionable, yet every time cleared by the television match official. Stuart McClosky’s opener for Ulster saw him clearly shoulder Marco van Staden off the ball when chasing the dropped pass that was kicked through. But the try was cleared and given.

The same with the Bulls' first score, where it seemed Zak Burger had knocked on before the ball went to Wilco Louw to crash over. Again, cleared and given.

The first try after the yellow saw lock, Iain Hendersonwas  clearly off his feet as he picked up the ball from the ruck and crashed over. The Bulls protested, but the try was given.

From there, it was one-way traffic. Ulster produced an exceptional rolling maul to see Rob Herring go over at the back and extend the lead, and then a poor Handre Pollard kick was gobbled up by Ulster, and the attack saw a cross kick and several passes before Cormac Izuchukwu crashed over.

YELLOW CARD A KILLER

By the time Rudolph returned in the 57th minute, it was game over. The Bulls were chasing and never had the physicality or desperation to claw their way back into the game. Several chances were wasted, and they never added to the scoreline.

 

 

There will be a lot of soul searching before they head to Galway to face Connacht next week, but the only consolation is that they can’t have a worse second half, and their Boks (minus Wilco Louw who flies home) should be better in tune with their teammates.

The Bulls won in Galway last season, but unless there is a massive turnaround this week, it is difficult to see them winning there twice in a row.

SCORERS

ULSTER - tries: Stuart McClosky, Juarno Augustus, Rob Herring, Cormac Izuchukwu. Conversions: Nathan Doak (4)

VODACOM BULLS - try: Wilco Louw. Conversion: Handre Pollard

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