Bulls down Crusaders

Bulls 35 Crusaders 20

PRETORIA, South Africa - The Bulls produced 80 minutes of intense rugby to down The Crusaders 35 to 20 in their Super 12 match in Pretoria.

The Bulls, seven places behind the Crusaders' at 11th in the league, played with tremendous passion and intensity from the start.

The sublime kicking of first five-eighths Daniel Carter put the Crusaders 6-0 ahead with two penalties in the first eight minutes, but his Bulls counterpart, Morne Steyn, then potted two penalties of his own for the home side to draw level.

In the 19th minute, halfback Fourie du Preez caught the Crusaders defence by surprise when he took a quick tap penalty and his visionary long pass out wide gave wing Bryan Habana the space to speed over for a try under the posts. Steyn converted for the Bulls to lead 13-6.

The Crusaders struck back with a try of their own three minutes later, however, when Mose Tuiali'i controlled a bobbling ball at the base of the scrum and left the defence in his wake before hooker Tone Kopelani took the final pass for the Crusaders' only try.

Four minutes later, Bulls fullback Johan Roets' kick through landed in the hands of Habana after Crusaders wing Vilimoni Delasau could not gather the ball in, and Habana burst through Leon MacDonald's tackle for his second try.

The teams went into the break with the Bulls 21-17 ahead, Carter having added two penalties and Steyn one.

The Bulls, mixing up their attacking options and defending stoutly, kept the Crusaders under pressure through most of the second half.

From deep inside their own territory, Bulls centre Ettienne Botha took advantage of some tardy defence to tear through the Crusaders. He made it to over halfway, before lock Victor Matfield took the counter-attack on, giving the scoring pass to wing Akona Ndungane, who went over in the corner.

Steyn kicked the conversion, but Carter added another penalty for the Bulls to lead 28-20 going into the final quarter. Botha found his way over the Crusaders' goal-line to stretch the lead to 35-20, with Steyn's conversion.

Although the Crusaders threw everything into attack in the last 10 minutes, the deficit proved too great to overcome.

The powerful forward drives of tighthead prop Richard Bands were a hallmark of the Bulls performance, with his first such charge ending Crusaders' captain Richie McCaw's participation in the match after just two minutes.

McCaw was treated for concussion.

Halfback Du Preez was the Bulls' other outstanding player, proving a fantastic link between backs and forwards.

- REUTERS