The Bulls return home from their tour of New Zealand and Japan to host Argentina’s Jaguares in the final match of Round 8.
The Jaguares have never lost to the Bulls as the teams have only met once and that match was won by the Jaguares.
The Bulls are coming off a horrible loss to the Sunwolves in Tokyo and will be looking to take pressure off their coach Nollis Marais.
Jan Serfontein celebrates his 23rd birthday today. Handré Pollard and Piet van Zyl return to the team.
The Jaguares front row has 123 Test caps between them.
The teams are out on the field. Adriaan Strauss leads the Bulls out.
Match detail
We are waiting for the kick-off.
Beep! Santiago Gonzales Iglesias starts the game with a kick directly into touch. Oh dear!
1.00: Scrum is reset.
2.00: Good scrum by the bulls and no advantage was played. Penalty Bulls; Pollard will take a shot from 54 metres.
4.00: PENALTY! Handré Pollard slots the monster kick.
6.00: The Bulls win another penalty and kick deep for a lineout.
7.00: Matias Orlando is penalised for offside and Piet van Zyl takes it quickly. The Bulls lose the ball initially, but they win it back again. Scrappy start to the game by both teams.
9.00: The Bulls set up a rolling maul but Agustín Creevy wins the turnover on his goal line. Superb by the Argentian.
10.00: Scrum reset.
11.00: Penalty to the Jags for collapsing.
13.00: The visitors take the ball through the phases but have still not made any ground as they hang around the halfway line. Eventually, they lose the ball forward. Scrum to the Bulls.
16.00: We are still camped on the halfway line. The field is slippery and the players are dropping the ball too much already.
17.00: Penalty to the visitors. Santiago Gonzales Iglesias calls for the tee.
18.00: PENALTY Santiago Gonzales Iglesias!
20.00: The Jaguares win another penalty after Jeronimo De La Fuente is tackled high. They kick to the corner.
22.00: Jan Serfontein claims the mark after the Jaguares kick the ball away. They take it quickly and Jesse Kriel sets off. He looks for support but none is forthcoming and the Bulls kick for territory. Jags lineout.
24.00: The Bulls are on the attack inside the opposition’s half. They keep the ball in hands and it is now past nine phases.
26.00: The Jags turn the ball over but kick to the hosts who come straight back and score.
27.00: TRY Travis Ismaiel! The Jaguares lose the ball and Adriaan Strauss collects the loose ball and offloads to the winger in support. He is tackled short but rolls over and dots down in the tackle.
28.00: Pollard adds the easy conversion.
29.00: The Bulls think they should have a penalty but, referee Ben O’Keeffe says “no!” it’s a scrum to the visitors.
30.00: The Bulls forwards win the penalty with a big scrum.
31.00: The hosts take the lineout option and start an attack inside the Jags’ 22.
32.00: Burger Odendaal loses the ball forward and the Jaguares kick clear. The Bulls come roaring back with Jesse Kriel and they set up a ruck.
33.00: The home team are trying but they make another handling error in good field position. Scrum to the Jags.
35.00: Kriel makes another break from deep inside his 22. The Bulls are looking for another score to take into the shed. The phases are building.
37.00: Pollard attempts a dropped goal but it sails wide. However, the ref calls the players back for another penalty. Pollard kicks to touch and will have a lineout on the Jaguares’ 5.
38.00: Yellow Card Santiago Gonzales Iglesias! The Bulls moving forward with their maul. Yellow card for Iglesias for cynical play. Pollard will look to extend his team’s lead.
39.00: PENALTY Pollard!
40.00: The Jaguares come storming back and are camped on the Bulls try line. After a few phases, they lose it and the hosts clear.
The halftime score was Bulls 13 Jaguares 3
BEEP! We are back underway in Pretoria. The Bulls will look to hold on here and get their second win of the season.
42.00: The Jaguares have started well and are on the attack inside the Bulls’ 22. Trevor Nyakane wins the penalty at the breakdown.
43.00: Creevy is shouting at his team after they give away another penalty. Last week they conceded seven penalties but, the Jags have already given away eight tonight. Pollard calls for the tee.
44.00: PENALTY Pollard! The flyhalf kicks his fourth of the evening and the Nollis Marais’ team lead by 13 points now.
47.00: De la Fuente sends Leonardo Senatore away on the sideline. The No 8 is tackled and the Bulls win the ball back. Santiago Gonzales Iglesias is back on and the De la Fuente’s evening is over as he is replaced by Nicolás Sánchez.
49.00: The Jaguares win a penalty and kick to touch. They need to chase the game now.
51.00: It looks like Sánchez has gone to flyhalf and Santiago Gonzales Iglesias has moved to the midfield.
52.00: TRY Gonzalo Bertranou! The South Americans have hit back after bashing away at the Bulls defence round the fringes of the breakdown. The scrumhalf took Sánchez’s pass and barged over.
53.00: Sánchez adds the conversion to his try assist and the Jaguares are back in this match.
55.00: Jaco Visagie looks to be waiting to come on. The Bulls make three changes. Adriaan Strauss is off for Visagie and Pollard takes over the captaincy.
56.00: Penalty to the visitors. The ref asks Creevy if he wants to have a shot at goal and he says, “yes.”
57.00: PENALTY Santiago Gonzales Iglesias! He makes the kick from around 45 metres and the Jaguares are creeping up on the Bulls. The deficit is only three now.
59.00: The Bulls are on the attack but it comes to nothing after Burger Odendaal kicks the ball out on the full.
60.00: Pollard ahs been called over by Ben O’Keeffe. The ref tells him that that is three infringements in quick succession and the next one is a yellow card.
61.00: Burger Odendaal redeems himself and wins a penalty at the breakdown.
64.00: TRY Lood de Jager! Pollard took the ball to the line and put in a little grubber. Warrick Gelant collects the bouncing ball and offloads to the lock, who goes over untouched. It’s the big man’s first Bulls try.
65.00: Pollard extends the lead to 10 points with 15 minutes to play. Big 15 here for the home team.
69.00: Massive scrum by the Bulls’ forwards. They win the penalty for not staying straight and Pollard will have another shot. Very important kick on the halfway line.
70.00: PENALTY! It’s good by the Bok flyhalf and the Argentinians will need two converted tries in the last 10 minutes to win in Pretoria.
74.00: The Jaguares are trying anything to get past the belligerent Bulls.
76.00: They win another penalty and tap and go. They have a scrum after the Bulls won the ball and then lost it in quick succession.
78.00: The clock is ticking down.
80.00: The hooter sounds and the Jags move the ball around the park, looking for a losing bonus-point.
81.00: The ball is lost at the lineout and the Bulls have an upset win over the Jaguares.
Full Time.
Final score: Bulls 26 (13) Jaguares 13 (3)
Scorers
Bulls
Tries – Ismaiel, De Jager
Pen – Pollard (4)
Con – Pollard (2)
Drop –
Cards –
Jaguares
Tries – Bertranou
Pen – Gonzales Iglesias
Con – Sánchez
Drop –
Cards – Gonzales Iglesias (Yellow, 39th minute)
Match Officials
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe
Assistant Ref 1: Angus Gardner
Assistant Ref 2: Egon Seconds
TMO: Willie Vos
Teams
Bulls
15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Jamba Ulengo, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Nick de Jager, 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Rudolph Snyman, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Martin Dreyer, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Marnus Schoeman, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Warrick Gelant.
Jaguares
15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Jeronimo De La Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Santiago Gonzales Iglesias, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Rodrigo Baez, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Marcos Kremer, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (captain), 1 Lucas Noguera.
Replacements: 16 Roberto Tejerizo, 17 Santiago Garcia Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Benjamin Macome, 20 Tomas Lezana, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Nicolás Sánchez, 23 Ramiro Moyano.
