Bulls whip the Cheetahs

Crunch! Adriaan Strauss is the victim of the ferocious Bulls tackling

The Bulls handed the Cheetahs a 40 point drubbing in Bloemfontein on Saturday, running in eight tries to win 60-20 in their last Super 14 game of the 2008 season.

It was a game of two halves as the Cheetahs traded blows with their visitors in a close first 40 minutes. The Bulls led 18-17 at the break and the home crowd were looking forward to an equally close second-half.

They were to be sorely disappointed however as the Bulls ran riot in the last half-an-hour, completely taking the Cheetahs defence apart and running in tries from all over the park.

Brian Habana and Akona Ndungane each scored two tries and Morné Steyn contributed 25 points as it was 'high-fives' and smiles all around for the Bulle.

The Bulls pack was at it's awesome best as Pedrie Wannenburg, Deon Stegmann and Bakkies Botha tackled the life out of the Cheetahs' moves before they could even get going. The Bulls backs reveled in the boundless space to run in and the freedom from pressure and that comes from a dominant pack in a game where they had nothing to loose.

It was JW Jonker however who opened the scoring to cap a good period of pressure in the early stages from the home side.

The Cheetahs centre used his pace to chase down a chip kick from fly-half Tewis de Bruyn and dived onto the bouncing ball after just six minutes. Jonker, who was a late replacement for the injured Meyer Bosman, was in the mix again when he scored his second try fifteen minutes later.

A great snaking run saw the Cheetah zigzag through the Bulls defence after shrugging off a poor tackle from Bulls full-back Zane Kirchner. Springbok prop CJ van der Linde was at the origin of the try, barging through the Bulls defence, carrying three blue clad players on his back, as he created a scoring opportunity out of nothing.

The Bulls struck back two minutes later when the home side failed to secure the restart cleanly. Bakkies Botha did some sterling work, drawing two defenders before timing his pass perfectly to allow Akona Ndungane to trot over.

The cut and thrust trend continued when Cheetahs number eleven Jongi Nokwe found himseld at the end of the Free Staters' back-line on the opposite wing to cash-in on some lethargic defending from JP Nel and Habana. De Bruyn's conversion made it 17-8.

For the second time in ten minutes the Cheetahs then made a mistake off the restart and the Bulls made them pay. A wayward pass from the base of the ruck flew over the deadball line and the Bulls had a scrum.

Pierre Spies had a great game for the defending champions and his reward was a try on the half hour mark, wrapping around from the base of the scrum to power over. Steyn converted, and then kicked a 45 metre drop goal to put the visitors ahead by one when it was time to swap ends.

The second period started much like the first with the teams kicking for territory. Habana found a little space to run in and kicked off the Bulls' six-try second-half bonanza by using his pure pace to score his first five-pointer.

De Bruyn kicked a penalty to score the hosts only points of the second period before going down like a sack of potatoes while attempting a second. It looked like the Cheetahs fly-half had torn a groin muscle and it didn't bode well for the locals.

When Werner Kruger crashed over at the head of the Bulls pack to give the visitors a ten point lead it was clear the traffic was going only one way.

Ndungane intercepted a Jonker pass a minute later to score his second try and the Cheetahs heads dropped.

Steyn, Kirchner and then Habana each contributed another try as the Cheetahs defence simply feel apart and the Bulls backs ran rampant.

It was cruel way to end the season for the Cheetahs and the Bulls must be wondering what their Super 14 campaign would have looked like if they had played with the same confidence and composure in February.

Man of the match:Pierre Spies was impressive with ball in hand and Bakkies 'the Enforcer' Botha lived up to his name, but Akona Ndungane gets the nod as much for his chasing that put the Cheetahs under huge pressure as for his two tries.

Moment of the match: The Cheetahs had been competing on an almost even footing until Werner Kruger's try put the visitors ten points clear. The home side were then forced to play expansive rugby which the Bulls loose forwards and backs preyed upon - as with Ndungane's second try which came a minute later.

Villain of the match: No major dusts-up merit the 'award', although as with any Bulls game, tempers occasionally frayed. Bakkies Botha, at his confrontational best, doesn't merit the label of 'villain' but he certainly didn't deserve a hallow either.

The Scorers

For the Cheetahs:

Tries: Jonker 2, Nokwe

Con: De Bruyn

Pen: De Bruyn

For the Bulls:

Tries: Ndungane 2, Spies, Habana 2, Kruger, Steyn, Kirchner.

Cons: Steyn 7

Pens:Steyn

Drop: Steyn

Cheetahs: 15 Bevin Fortuin, 14 Eddie Fredericks, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Hendrik Meyer, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Tewis de Bruyn, 9 , 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Heinrich Brussouw, 5 Barend Pieterse, 4 Rory Duncan, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Adriaan Strauss , 1 Wian du Preez.

Replacements: 16 Hans van Dyk, 17 Bees Roux, 18 David de Villiers, 19 Hendro Scholtz, 20, 21 Conrad Barnard , 22 Hennie Daniller.

Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JP Nel, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez (c), 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Pedrie Wannenburg, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Derick Kuün, 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.

Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Rayno Gerber, 18 Jaco Engels, 19 Danie Rossouw, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Burton Francis/Francois Brummer, 22 Hilton Lobberts.

Referee: Phillip Bosch (South Africa)

Touch judges: Willie Roos (South Africa), Joey Salmans (South Africa)

Television match official: Michael Cupido (South Africa)