THE Bulls made heavy weather of it at times, but they are through to the semi-finals of the URC after beating plucky Benetton 30-23 on Saturday in a quarter-final that could easily have gone to extra time. The Bulls had to hang on for dear life at Loftus Versfeld, but they scraped over the finish line – and to a considerable degree, they can thank Johan Goosen’s accurate boot for the nervy win. They will now enjoy a home semi-final next weekend against the winners of Saturday evening’s all-Irish quarter-final between Leinster and Ulster in Dublin.
The Bulls went into their quarter-final with the most effective attack in the league this season, having scored the highest number of points (639), including a league-topping 85 tries, but they are still struggling to put together their first 80-minute performance of the season. Their attack was always going to be tested by the first Italian team to reach the URC play-offs. The men from Treviso had managed this largely due to their impressive discipline, having given away just 150 penalties and six yellow cards across their campaign.
That makes them a useful side in knockout rugby, but they could not have had a worse start when Kurt-Lee Arendse scored after just 24 seconds of the match. From the kick-off, the deadly wing gathered a perfectly weighted kick by Willie le Roux and finished brilliantly. But Benetton boast some feisty players from Italy’s successful Six Nations campaign, and they showed their fight when Goosen was.
