Crusaders capitalise on Bulls' errors

8.15 am

PRETORIA - The Bulls saw a promising 15-point lead turn into a 42-29 defeat by the Crusaders in their Super 12 match at Loftus Versfeld.

The home team began the match positively, but were ultimately beaten by their own errors and a Crusaders side that waited patiently for their chances to come and then took them.

Bulls coach Phil Pretorius watched in frustration as his team squandered two certain tries in the first half through poor handling and bad judgement.

Right wing Casper Steyn broke through the Crusaders' line and, with only 10 metres to the try line, passed inside to Danie van Schalkwyk who was sandwiched between two Crusaders players.

Then left wing Friedrich Lombard knocked on with the try line in front of him.

Two Bulls tries in almost as many minutes went some way towards making amends.

Number eight Anton Leonard led the way with a superb breakaway try in the 29th minute, followed by a try from Steyn in the 31st minute.

The Bulls saw out the rest of the half on defence, leading 21-12 at the break.

But the Crusaders took the lead five minutes into the second half when right wing Ben Blair converted his own try as well as adding a penalty.

The Crusaders built on that with two tries late in the half from first five-eighths Aaron Mauger and left winger Caleb Ralph while Blair added two more penalties to crown a solid kicking performance.

Bulls centre Danie van Schalkwyk scored a consolation try in the final minute of the match.

Teams:

Northern Bulls - 15-Marius Goosen; 14-Casper Steyn, 13-Adrian Jacobs, 12-Danie van Schalkwyk, 11-Friedrich Lombard; 10-Franco Smith (Boeta Wessels, 67), 9-Joost van der Westhuizen; 8-Anton Leonard, 7-Janneman Brand, 6-Nicky van der Walt, 5-Victor Matfield, 4-Braam Els (Gerhard Laufs, 50), 3-Johan Human (Piet Boer, 63), 2-James Dalton, 1-Gunder Williamson.

Crusaders: 15-Leon MacDonald; 14-Ben Blair, 13-Mark Robinson, 12-Daryl Gibson, 11-Caleb Ralph; 10-Aaron Mauger, 9-Justin Marshall; 8-Brad Thorn, 7-Scott Robertson, 6-Reuben Thorne, 5-Norm Maxwell (Chris Jack, 51), 4-Todd Blackadder (captain), 3-Greg Somerville, 2-Matt Sexton (Andrew Hore, 38), 1-David Hewitt (Greg Feek, 60).

- REUTERS