A momentous afternoon for Bristol’s Bears and the most miserable for a Bulls team for which there is no appropriate adjective when it comes to describing their lack of defensive effort. Loftus, for home supporters, has turned from an altitude-powered fortress to a defensive house of horrors. This is the Investec Champions Cup; the toughest club rugby competition in the world, where pride comes in the form of protecting one’s tryline and hope does not come from scoring 49 points at home and conceding 61 points.
The Crusaders, in the 2017 Super Rugby competition, scored 62 points and 10 tries against the Bulls at Loftus. The Bears won in Pretoria 61-49, but the result was not safe until the final hooter. That says as much about the Bears’ feeble defence as it does the Bulls’.
Both teams were a defensive disaster. The greatest teams in the history of the Champions Cup are defined by their defensive resolve, their ability to stop tries even more than a desire to score them. None of that was on display at Loftus in a match where the English visitors led 21-0 after eight minutes and scored a fourth try and bonus point within 15 minutes.
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At halftime, 75 points had been scored, 47 to Bristol and 28 to the Bulls. It was a try-scoring carnival, but it betrayed the fabric of this great competition, and the current Bulls are doing everything to curse the legacy of a jersey worn, not too long ago, by tournament champions Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Danie Rossouw, Fourie du Preez, Morne Steyn and Bryan Habana. Bristol, a week ago, played a game in near snow.
Yesterday, at altitude and in 30°C heat, they toyed with and destroyed a Bulls team, whose individuals, defensively, looked like they had met in the warm-up drills. There can only be rugby shame for every one of those Bulls players who leaked 61 points at home. Forget the 49 scored and the craziness of a match in which the Bulls could still have won it with five minutes to go.
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