The Vodacom Bulls rampaged to a bonus-point victory over Benetton in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon to ensure a top-four URC finish.
Nine tries in total, including a hat-trick from Canan Moodie, gave the Vodacom Bulls a 56-35 win in a rather one-sided encounter in warm conditions at Loftus Versfeld.
The result and all five log points sees the Bulls ensure themselves of a home quarter-final and temporarily move up to second place, with Glasgow Warriors and Leinster still to play on Saturday.
It also almost certainly rules the DHL Stormers out of the race for the top four as the Capetonians will now need Glasgow and Leinster to get no log points from their final two games.
However, it is a result in favour of the Lions, as it opens the door for the men from across the Jukskei to overtake Benetton in the race for the top eight, even though the Italians did get a solitary bonus point of their own from the match, as they grabbed five tries.
A ruthless performance from the Bulls saw the hosts secure the four-try bonus point as early as the 25th minute through a score from captain Ruan Nortje, excellently created by Willie le Roux.
YHU! 🤯
Willie le Roux splits the Benneton defence open with a sumptuous dummy and a step before giving Ruan Nortje the ball for a superb try 🔥
📺 Stream #VURC live: https://t.co/0P0NNhnwKw pic.twitter.com/3fcBPOxi5O
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) May 18, 2024
This came after the Bulls opened the scoring in the third minute with Moodie’s first try, before Kurt-Lee Arendse set up David Kriel’s first try and showed excellent power to score a try himself.
Benetton produced something of a response by scoring tries either side of half time, cutting the deficit to 10 points, but the Bulls re-established their ascendency as Kriel grabbed his second try and unselfishly set up Moodie’s hat-trick.
No second invite needed for David Kriel 🥶@Vodacom #URC | #BULvBEN pic.twitter.com/Xs6CRKMu6G
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) May 18, 2024
To their credit, Benetton did finish the game strongly, scoring two tries in the final 15 minutes, something the Bulls will be concerned about, after Glasgow produced a similar response at Loftus Versfeld last weekend.
The Bulls will have a week off during next weekend’s European finals, before facing the Sharks – who will be involved in the Challenge Cup final in London – in the final game of the URC season in Durban on 1 June.
Photo: Gordon Arons/Gallo Images