Bulls 45-21 Cardiff Rugby: Late rally not enough as visitors' URC play-off hopes suffer blow

Wales Online

10-05-2025

Cardiff saw their United Rugby Championship play-off hopes suffer a blow at the hands of the Bulls, despite a late rally in Pretoria.
The hosts took advantage of an error-strewn first half from Matt Sherratt's side, running in four tries courtesy of Harold Vorster, Wilco Louw, Canan Moodie and Cameron Hanekom to take full control of the contest
Sebastian de Klerk then completed a second-half brace to extend the hosts' lead, which never looked like being overtaken, even in the face of a late Cardiff fightback.
Alex Mann crashed over shortly after the interval, while late scores from Teddy Williams and Gabe Hamer-Webb brought the visitors on the brink of a bonus point, only to fall short on what was a largely chastening afternoon.
Cardiff will now likely need to take something from their second match in South Africa if they are to book their place in the top eight, with the Stormers lying in wait next week.
After an impressive win at home to Munster last time out, this was something of a reality check for Sherratt's men, who were eased onto the back foot more or less from the off here.
Johan Goosen got the hosts up and running with a penalty after just four minutes, which arrived on the back of an early demonstration of the home side's superiority in the setpiece.
Three minutes later, Bulls had the first try. Johann Grobbelaar's offload opened up some space for Moodie, whose dinked kick found Vorster, and he raced away to score.
The withdrawal of Goosen through injury might have perhaps put a pin in some of the early jubilation of the hosts, but the Bulls only tightened their grip on the contest as the first half wore on.
First, Louw muscled his way over for a second, before Willie le Roux got the better of Hamer-Webb to get on the end of an up-and-over and offload for Moonie, who then hit the gas to gallop his way over the line.
Cardiff were second-best in every department and a fourth try duly arrived just before the break, with the Bulls pack once again at the heart of things.
Hanekoum picked up on the edge of the scrum, and the Cardiff defence just evaporated to allow him a free path over the whitewash.
It was a try that would have left Sherratt furious, but Cardiff's defence proved just as fragile in the second half.
Another box kick from Le Roux was scooped up by de Klerk just three minutes after the interval, and he then burst away for another converted score.
Cardiff, to their credit did respond, with Mann just about doing enough to stay in play and ground in the corner just a few moments later.
With the game itself gone, a bonus point would have probably been the most pressing part of Cardiff's brief at this point, but when de Klerk slid over for his second of the game, even that task felt a tall order.
But the Bulls, perhaps sensing the job was done, did take their foot off the gas a little in the latter stages, and Cardiff duly took advantage.
Teddy Williams was the first to go over eight minutes from time, before Hamer-Webb finished off a fine move three minutes later.
However, a fourth try never arrived, and Cardiff leaving Loftus Versfeld empty-handed, and knowing a big improvement against the Stormers on Friday will be needed.
Bulls: Willie le Roux; Canan Moodie, David Kriel, Harold Vorster, Sebastian de Klerk; Johan Goosen, Zak Burger, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Johann Grobbelaar, Wilco Louw, Cobus Wiese, JF van Heerden, Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Nortje (capt), Cameron Hanekom
Reps: Akker van der Merwe, Alulutho Tshakweni, Mornay Smith, Jannes Kirsten, Marco van Staden, Keagan Johannes, Devon Williams, Stedman Gans.
Tries: Vorster, Louw, Moodie, Hanekom, de Klerk (2)
Pen: Goosen
Cons: Goosen, Johannes (5)
Cardiff: Cam Winnett; Josh Adams, Harri Millard, Ben Thomas (capt), Gabe Hamer-Webb; Tinus de Beer, Johan Mulder; Corey Domachowski, Evan Lloyd, Keiron Assiratti, Josh McNally, Rory Thornton, Alex Mann, James Botham, Alun Lawrence.
Reps: Liam Belcher, Danny Southworth, Rhys Litterick, Teddy Williams, Dan Thomas, Taulupe Faletau, Aled Davies, Rory Jennings.
Try: Mann, T.Williams, Hamer-Webb
Con: Thomas (3)
Kick-off is at 3pm, with the match broadcast on Premier sports and S4C