Brumbies steal victory from Bulls

The Brumbies needed an injury time penalty goal to beat the Vodacom Bulls by 23-20 at Canberra Stadium in a tough Vodacom Super Rugby match in the Australian capital on Saturday morning (SA time).

This after the Vodacom Bulls had pulled level at the death thanks to a try by JJ Engelbrecht in the corner, which was calmly converted by Morné Steyn from the left-hand touchline. This try came at the end of a good second half, where the visitors fought back from 14-3 down at the break to level the scores at 20-20.

But Christian Lealiifano’s sixth penalty goal, after the hooter had sounded, saw the Vodacom Bulls end their Australasian tour with a third successive defeat.

Although they were in it in the end, the Pretorians simply conceded too many penalties – on the ground and at scrum time – which Lealiifano gladly converted into points for the log-leaders.

Two of these came in the last 20 minutes, when Vodacom Bulls prop Morné Mellett was sin-binned for repeated scrum-infringements, which cost his side valuable momentum. It was 14-13 when Mellett was yellow carded and 20-13 when he returned 10 minutes later.

The fact that the Vodacom Bulls outscored the Brumbies by two tries to one counted for nothing as their ill-discipline on the ground and struggles in the scrum proved too costly. Their tactical kicking game also wasn’t great, while the use of the South Africans’ bench was also not too good.

It’s the fourth time in the last 10 years that the Bulls have to return to Pretoria without a victory in Australia – it also happened in 2005, 2008 and 2011.

Scorers:

 Brumbies – Try: Robbie Coleman. Penalty goals: Christian Lealiifano (6).

Vodacom Bulls – Tries: Jurgen Visser, JJ Engelbrecht. Conversions: Morné Steyn (2). Penalty goals: Steyn (2).