ex Sport 24
Cape Town – It will need a few other weekend results to go their way, but three-time Super Rugby champions the Bulls could climb several notches on the overall log if they beat the Stormers in their Loftus derby on Saturday (19:10 kick-off).
The two matches played on Friday in the latest round didn’t do the currently 10th-placed Bulls’ playoffs hopes too much damage.
It probably suited them that ambitious, defending title-holders the Chiefs saw off one the many “middling” teams in this year’s race, the Blues, 32-20 in Hamilton as the result now leaves the Aucklanders only a point clear of the Bulls after an equal tally of matches.
A perfect Friday for Frans Ludeke and his charges would probably have been the Rebels beating the rather more high-riding Hurricanes in Melbourne; that didn’t occur but at least they comfortably denied the New Zealanders a four-try bonus point in the 25-15 outcome.
That result hoisted the ‘Canes to fourth on the overall ladder ahead of the majority of other weekend fixtures, but it did serve as a reminder that even they aren’t exactly out of sight of the Bulls, who only play games on South African soil for the rest of the ordinary season – they are six points ahead, also after 11 of their 16 fixtures.
If the Bulls can cash in on the depleted, makeshift look to the Stormers’ match-day squad for the ever-spicy “north v south” Pretoria clash, by winning with a bonus point, they would surge to 29 points.
That would place them level on points with the presently fifth-placed Waratahs, the only team with a bye this weekend, albeit that the Bulls will have played two games more by then.
A pretty reasonable possibility after the completion of the weekend roster is the Bulls sitting seventh -- just outside the playoffs zone and a healthy hike of three places for them -- provided that compatriots the Cheetahs do them a favour by beating the Force in Bloemfontein and the under-achieving Reds (still very useful-looking on paper) see off the Crusaders on Sunday at their Brisbane home base.
