The second game on this busy Friday morning takes us to Australia where the Rebels host the Bulls in Melbourne. This is sure to be an entertaining match as the Bulls will target this as one of their must win matches on tour, as they spar with the Stormers for top spot on the South African conference.
The Rebels have been forced into changes following the release of their English flyhalf Danny Cipriani, as well as the injury to James O’Connor, with Kurtley Beale shifted into flyhalf, where he might even run out for Australia during the June Internationals. Julian Huxley shifts to fullback where he will play alongside centurion Mark Gerrard, who will play his hundredth game.
The Bulls would like to start their tour off with a bang, and with them playing the less fancied Rebels battling with injuries, are sure to give the full five points a good go. The Bulls team has seen consistent selections over the last few weeks and could count in their favour as they aim to end the season at the top of not only the South African log, but the overall log.
Rebels: 1. Nic Henderson, 2. Ged Robinson, 3. Rodney Blake, 4. Cadeyrn Neville, 5. Hugh Pyle, 6. Luke Jones, 7. Tim Davidson, 8. Gareth Delve, 9. Nick Phipps, 10. Kurtley Beale, 11. Cooper Vuna, 12. Lachlan Mitchell, 13. Mitch Inman, 14. Mark Gerrard, 15. Julian Huxley.
Replacements: 16. Adam Freier, 17. Jono Owen, 18. Al Campbell, 19. Ryan Hodson, 20. Richard Kingi, 21. James Hilgendorf, 22. Stirling Mortlock.
Bulls: Zane Kirchner Akona Ndungane, JJ Engelbrecht, Wynand Olivier, Bjorn Basson , Morne Steyn, Francois Hougaard , Pierre Spies,Jacques Potgieter, CJ Stander, Juandre Kruger, Flip van der Merwe , Werner Kruger, Chiliboy Ralepelle , Dean Greyling .
Replacements: Willie Wepener , Frik Kirsten , Wilhelm Steenkamp , Arno Botha , Jano Vermaak, Louis Fouche, Johann Sadie.
Referee: Andrew Lees
Assistant Ref 1:Angus Gardner
Assistant Ref 2: Julian Pritchard
TMO:George Ayoub
Tweet
Go Rebels! 😛
bulls by 14, lets see
Bullies by 10.
GO REBELS!!!!!
Go Rebels! Let’s unite against the Bulls from Tswane!
Mark Gerrard playing his 100th SupeRugby game. Well done Mark.
Lol! Krusty kicks it out on the full!
How is Sadie not the Bulls captain yet?
Oh wait you have to get selected in the starting XV first! 🙂
Akona scores in the corner. TMO
Try!
Bulls taking the ball up at full tilt. Wish the Sharks could watch and learn!
Try converted.
Rebels 0 – 7 Bulls
7 mins
10 points should be given to the Rebels automatically for having to play against those ugly pink jerseys
Rebels try. Rodney Blake. Or RodZilla as the Aussies call him.
Converted.
Rebels 7 – 7 Bulls
12 mins
Some poor scrumming from Werner Kruger – got folded twice in a row
Poor defence from the Bulls – another try Rebels
Try time Rebels. Vuna over. Kurtley Beale you beaut!
Come On Final Whistle !!!
Converted.
Rebels 14 – 7 Bulls
17 mins
Basson try.
@Original Pierre (Comment 18) : jaaaaaa!!!
Bulls strike back – nice offload from Takhaar Potgieter
Converted from touch again.
Rebels 14 – 14 Bulls
20 mins
Flip gets a yellow card for throwing a punch. Thug!
nice flippie you tjop
@Ben (Comment 24) : thats the way the bulls play……
Hougaard is a brilliant ball player but his passing is often really poor for a scrumhalf. Ball and oppo flanks almost arrived instantaneous at Morne – from the scrum on Bulls tryline
Ouch – nasty tip tackle on Basson – yellow card for Rebels 6
Jones yellow carded. Spear tackle on Basson.
Bulls pk.
Rebels 14 – 17 Bulls
26 mins
Morne Steyn try.
Bulls offloading very well today.
Bulls forwards setting up a nice platform for the backs
Converted
Rebels 14 – 24 Bulls
29 mins
Flip back from the bin.
Try Rebels. Phibbs.
@Ben (Comment 31) :
Second FL try for the day..
Steyn can keep kicking them over as well 😉
This is going to be a high scoring game – neither side seem to too be interested in defence
Converted.
Rebels 21 – 24 Bulls
36 mins
Bulls maul the ball over the line. Stander flops over for the try.
Bonus point to Bulls. Top of SA conference at the moment
That was quick for the bonus point.
Bulls to lead SA conference now I guess.. Lack of bonus points costing Stormers.
Try converted.
Rebels 21 – 31 Bulls
39 mins
Only thing is the way they defending, they need to keep scoring tries to stay ahead
Rebels inside the Bulls 22. Attacking lineout.
Potgieter lucky not to get a yellow there
Hmmm if Butch did that he would`ve been gone.
Double standards for the bulls?
Delph scores another try.
Bulls part like Red sea for 8 to score
Half Time
Rebels 28 – 31 Bulls
8 tries in 40 minutes..
Nice to watch, but not the best rugby at the end of the day..
Rebels has bonus point too. Two bonus points in game before half time
Both teams have scored 4 tries in the 1st half.
Bulls taking the loss of their defensive coach to Boks so badly they decide to have a go slow on tackling 👿
Go Rebels 😛 😆
@JarsonX (Comment 55) : Hell Yeah – Revolution Theory.
The Bulls deserve to lose playing in that hideous kit
Bulls loose Potgieter due to injury. They better start slowing this game down or they are going to be out on their feet by the time the travel fatigue kicks in
Rebels 5m attacking scrum.
Ball lost forward.
It sometimes works to compete in the lineouts – Sharks please take notice
Kom Rebelle!
Stirling Mortlock on!
I see the tries have dried up 😈
@JarsonX (Comment 64) : Well spotted! 😈
Chilli does his best Bismarck impression at the lineouts today
How much time left?
Looks like I gave the Daisies waaayyyyy too much credit in my SB picks!
Bulls scored another try in the mean time – Bulls 38-28
That margin suits me just fine 😛
Rebels hit back with own try
Vuna try. Engelbrecht scored earlier for the Bulls.
Rebels 35 – 38 Bulls
66 mins
Back to margin of 3
@Ice (Comment 68) : As did I, Bulls by 24
Rebels attacking lineout. 10m out.
Where is Marius Jonker when your SuperBru needs him?
Bulls players starting to look very lead footed
Krusty does his best Viljoen impression
Bulls do really well with a maul – earns a penalty
Bulls PK
Rebels 35 – 41 Bulls
73 mins
Bulls defence holding on
Rebels pull Beale off – not sure why – he has troubled the Bulls defences all night
Come Rebels 😈
Rebels certainly don’t want to win this one! Wtf?
Both teams playing dryfings now
@Ben (Comment 84) : And thats why the are bottom dwellers 🙄
Bulls running the clock down with pick and drive and then Vermaak kicks the ball straight to the Rebels
I over estimated the Bulls on SB, again
Game ends with a bit of argy bargy – Bulls win
Bulls defence has gone seriously haywire. Carry on like this and they may soon push the Sharks of the top spot in the missed tackles category
2 from 2 and 1 margin point 😛
FULL TIME
Rebels 35 – 41 Bulls
Bulls take the 5 point to lead the SA conference and the S15 log for the moment
That concludes my Friday sports action, I’ll be out for a while 😛
Scary thing was the Rebels could have won this game, but they just seemed to give up in the end
How can you kick the ball away twice with 3 minutes remaining and trailing by 6? 😕
Did McFarland go with Meyer to his camps or is he with the Bulls on tour?
@Bokhoring (Comment 97) : That display was seriously no advertisement for his coaching skills – then again the Bulls players did not really look very committed today on defence
@Ben (Comment 96) : Seems the coach gave up when he pulled his best back line player of with 4 minutes to go – must have filtered down to the players
Or was Beale injured?
@Bokhoring (Comment 99) : Must have been injured. Can’t see any other reason for him to have gone off. Rebels were happy with 2 points from this game.
Saw it after the game when Delph said how proud he was of his players. Come on! Get real! You guys lost. No team is unbeatable!