Bulls win in tough match with Rebels

Bulls coach John Mitchell was not entirely satisfied with his side’s overall performance after their 28-10 Super Rugby win over the Rebels at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria on Saturday.

But he took comfort from the fact that the victory was achieved with a bonus point.

After a good first-half performance during which they scored three unanswered tries from Adriaan Strauss‚ Jesse Kriel and Divan Rossouw‚ the Bulls were frustrated by the Australians, who resorted to slowing the game down at crucial phases.

“The overall performance wasn’t superb from our side but‚ having said that‚ we managed to create enough opportunities especially in the first half‚” Mitchell said.

“The guys must be commended for the manner in which they managed to deal with the opposition’s ploy of slowing the game.

“We will take the five points‚ which were achieved in a difficult way, and commend the guys because they never allowed the frustration to get to them.

“We put some good lines and speed at them‚ we were terrific in the tackle but some weeks you get it right and some you don’t.”
Rebels coach Dave Wessels‚ who was born in Cape Town‚ said they had played the game to their strengths to try and get an advantage over the opposition.

“Our job is not to come here and entertain the Loftus crowd‚ it is to win for the people of Melbourne‚” he said. “I should be clear that we wanted to slow the game down at appropriate times and play at the appropriate time. “We are learning and hoping to get better with time. The big learning after this match was the improvement we showed in certain areas, but we need to keep on working.” Mitchell had something good to say to his

defence as they conceded onSTANDINGS ly one try in the second half and 10 points overall on the day to stretch their unbeaten run to three matches following victories over the Stormers and the Sharks.

“We enjoy the transitional effect that comes from our defence but clearly we did not convert enough from the way we created‚” he said.

“We gave away some offside line penalties but we will look at that this week because we take pride in our defence.

“It is the scoreline which determines how the game was won and it is the defence that was of the highest calibre on the day.”

The Bulls welcome the Highlanders on Saturday and Mitchell is expecting a tough battle against the New Zealanders, who have lost only once after seven matches.

“I can guarantee our fans that next week is going to be hectic because the Highlanders like friction‚ they just edge you the whole time‚” he said. – TimesLIVE