The Brumbies recovered from back to back losses by beating the Bulls 23-6 in Canberra and went to the top of the Australian Conference.
The victory for the Brumbies moves them above the Rebels who have a bye this weekend and cannot over take the Canberra side.
The Brumbies outscored the Bulls by two tries to none as the Bulls could only score a penalty kick in each half.
The Brumbies have now played 10 matches won six, lost four while the Bulls have played 8, won 6, drawn one and this is just their second loss this season.
The loss for the Bulls ends a five match unbeaten run which started in round 4 with a draw against the Sharks.
Poor discipline and some strict refereeing combined to condemn the Bulls in the match.
The Bulls showed some encouraging signs on attack in the first half, with a number of offloads in the tackle as they looked to keep the ball alive in a new-found positive approach.
Bjorn Basson, Jan Serfontein, Jesse Kriel and captain Adriaan Strauss often looked for support on their shoulders, and it gave the Pretoria side momentum.
But they were heavily penalised by New Zealand referee Ben O’Keeffe, who was particularly severe at the breakdowns. He eventually issued the Bulls with a warning for too many infringements with 30 minutes to go, especially for not releasing the tackled player.
However, many of the calls were tight, and even Australian commentators Tim Horan and George Gregan noted that the Bulls were getting a raw deal at the rucks.
But after Francois Brummer put Nollis Marais’ team ahead with a fourth-minute penalty, the Brumbies quietly accumulated points with three shots at goal in a seven-minute period in the first quarter to take a 9-3 lead through flyhalf Christian Leali’ifano.
Strauss also questioned O’Keeffe at the scrums, as the Kiwi blew the Bulls pack off the park at the set-piece despite some early dominance. The referee felt that the Bulls were not stabilising the scrum and were pushing early, but that is an old Australian tactic, and O’Keeffe fell for it.
The Bulls’ all-Springbok front row of Trevor Nyakane, Strauss and Marcel van der Merwe had the upper hand in the scrums, but were not rewarded accordingly.
There wasn’t much accuracy from the normally slick Brumbies, though, as they battled to put their renowned phase-game together, while Leali’ifano and fullback Aidan Toua missed touch from penalties on three occasions between them.
The Bulls clawed their way back to within three points with a second Brummer penalty after halftime to reduce the deficit to 9-6, but Stephen Larkham’s team eventually found their range with two excellent tries within 12 minutes.
After a poor Bulls exit, the Brumbies were right on attack in the 22, and they executed a perfect set-piece move off the lineout as powerhouse centre Tevita Kuridrani ran a decoy line to create the space for right wing Nigel Ah Wong to slice through the middle and burst past Serfontein’s attempted tackle to dot down.
Even after Leali’ifano missed his penalty kick at goal, the Canberra side placed relentless pressure on the Bulls defence with a multi-phase attack, and after a few darts at the line, scrumhalf Tomas Cubelli’s quick tap penalty saw him wriggle over in the left-hand corner.
Bulls coach Marais introduced Springbok scrumhalf Rudy Paige and a host of other replacements in the last quarter, but it made no difference as the Brumbies held on for victory.
Next week the Brumbies travel to Melbourne where they will play the Rebels and the Bulls take on the Waratahs in Sydney.
Final Score Brumbies 23 (9) Bulls 6 (3)
Scorers
Brumbies
Tries – N.Ah Wong, T.Cubelli
Pen – C.Lealiifano 3
Con – C.Lealiifano 2
Drop –
Cards –
Bulls
Tries –
Pen – F. Brummer 2
Con –
Drop –
Cards –
Match Officials
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe
Assistant Ref 1:Will Houston
Assistant Ref 2:Ed Martin
TMO : Peter Marshall
Teams
Brumbies
1. Scott Sio, 2. Stephen Moore (c), 3. Ben Alexander, 4.Rory Arnold, 5.Sam Carter, 6.Scott Fardy, 7.David Pocock, 8. Jarrad Butler, 9. Tomás Cubelli, 10. Christian Lealiifano (c), 11. James Dargaville, 12.Robbie Coleman, 13. Tevita Kuridrani, 14. Nigel Ah Wong, 15. Aidan Toua
Replacements : 16. Josh Mann-Rea, 17. Allan Alaalatoa, 18. Ruan Smith, 19. Tom Staniforth, 20. Blake Enever, 21. Jordan Smiler, 22.Joe Powell, 23.Lausii Taliauli
Bulls
SP Marais, Travis Ismaiel , Jesse Kriel , Jan Serfontein, Bjorn Basson , Francois Brummer, Piet van Zyl, Hanro Liebenberg , Arno Botha, Lappies Labuschagne , RG Snyman , Marvin Orie , Marcel van der Merwe , Adriaan Strauss (c), Trevor Nyakane
Replacements: Bandise Maku Lizo Gqoboka, Werner Kruger, Jannes Kirsten, Roelof Smit, Rudy Paige, Tian Schoeman, Dan Kriel.
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