Bulls Secure First Away Win in Champions Cup

The Vodacom Bulls took a significant step towards the Champions Cup playoffs with a four-try bonus-point win against the Bristol Bears in England on Saturday.

Leading 10-7 at halftime, the Bulls scored three tries in the second half and flyhalf Johan Goosen kicked nine points in a 31-17 victory at Ashton Gate – a first away win for the Pretoria outfit in the competition.

The Bulls kicked off their 2023-24 Champions Cup assault with a win over three-time winners Saracens before falling to a one-point defeat in Lyon. That left Jake White‘s team in third place in Pool 1 prior to this weekend’s round of fixtures.

Goosen split the uprights from the kicking tee for the visitors in the sixth minute, but then earned 10 minutes on the naughty chair for a deliberate knock-on, before left winger Sergeal Petersen dotted down midway through the first half to extend their advantage.

Outside center David Kriel added the extras, only for the hosts to swiftly reply and cut the deficit to three points at the break with a converted try from scrumhalf Kieran Marmion.

Bristol replacement prop Max Lahiff saw yellow for a scrum infringement soon after the restart, and the Bulls capitalized on the numerical advantage with their second try of the match through substitute Khutha Mchunu before the close of the third quarter.

Bulls blindside flanker Elrigh Louw and hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels crossed the whitewash inside the final 20 minutes, and the 14-man South Africans – who lost Louw to the sin bin at the death – weathered a Bears fightback that included tries from winger Gabriel Ibitoye and No 8 Magnus Bradbury, for an emphatic result.

The Bulls will now refocus for their final group stage match in Pretoria on Saturday against Bordeaux Begles at Loftus Versfeld.

Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images