Cardiff’s hopes of maiden play-off place dented by Bulls defeat
Cardiff’s hopes of securing a maiden appearance in the United Rugby Championship play-offs will go down to the wire following a 45-21 defeat to Bulls in Pretoria.
Sitting fifth heading into the final two rounds, tough assignments against Bulls and Stormers in South Africa, the game was over for Cardiff by half-time as the home side ran in four tries.
After an early Johan Goosen penalty, Harold Vorster, Wilco Louw, Canan Moodie all crossed, with Goosen and Keagan Johannes (twice) converting, to put Bulls 24-0 ahead just past the first-quarter mark.
Bonus-point try
Cameron Hanekom secured the bonus-point try for Bulls, Johannes again adding the extras, before the break and Sebastian de Klerk’s converted score early in the second half extended their lead.
Cardiff got on the board through Alex Mann, with Ben Thomas adding the extras and, after De Klerk’s second try of the game, Teddy Williams and Gabe Hamer-Webb crossed late on, Thomas converting both.
The Welsh side must now hope other results go their way and may also need to beat Stormers on Friday to guarantee a top-eight finish.
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I find the Welsh regions have the inability to win against South African sides away from home. Saying that. They struggle at home. We used to produce tough players, grafters , who put the fear of god into opposition. Now our players spend more time putting fake tan on and washing their hair. The Blues competed to a certain extent, but like the Wales national side fell away after making silly errors allowing the more physical South African side, usually packed with former and current Boks, to get the upper hand and pull away out of sight. And we wonder… Read more »
The 2005 to 2019 4th Golden Era came from reducing our professional tier to 4 teams, but it ended partly because those 4 teams chose to cut off most of the country in favour of two old club derby rivalries with very little catchment. Underhand English tactics such as the Quentin / Alphonsi sabotage kicked the legs out from under us when we were already on our knees – that takes some doing, but shows the envy that build up over 15 years from England and the other parties who also piled in. As an indigenous nation who has been… Read more »