United Rugby Championship: Bulls 34-16 Ulster - Coetzee inspires Bulls' second-half blitz

Marcell Coetzee came back to haunt his former side as he led the Bulls to a deserved victory over Ulster.

The back row, who spent five years in Belfast, scored one of four second half Bulls tries as they overturned a half-time deficit in Pretoria.

Ulster conceded 17 unanswered points after the break before a Luke Marshall try brought them back into the game.

However Johan Grobbelaar and Kurt-Lee Arendse scored late to seal the Bulls' win.

The win moves the South African side up to sixth in the URC table while Ulster remain second, five points behind leaders Leinster having played a game more.

The visitors wilted at the high altitude Loftus Versfeld Stadium having shaded a tight opening half, at the end of which they held at six-point lead thanks to Nathan Doak's long range kicking.

They were also initially successful in stifling the Bulls' attack - denying them any continuity with a stingy defensive effort that saw their try-line largely unthreatened before the break.

However as the game opened up in the second half the hosts appeared far better equipped to deal with the conditions as their pack began to find joy in the set-piece while space opened up for their backs on the edges.

Ulster's cause was not helped by the fact that they were forced into bringing on Stewart Moore - one of just two backs on their bench - after three minutes when Ethan McIlroy was forced off having caught an accidental elbow in the face while contesting a high ball.

The Bulls sprung into life as soon as the second half began and nearly found a way over inside three minutes of the restart only for a brilliant scrambling tackle from Ian Madigan that dislodged the ball from Madosh Tambwe's grasp as the wing went to touch down.

The hosts only had to wait another minute though as Coetzee showed the deadly finishing that made him a fan favourite during his time at Ravenhill to crash over and breach Ulster's defence.

Mistakes began creeping into the tiring Ulster's attacking play, with Madigan's pass failing to find Lowry allowing the Bulls to gather and move left for Tambwe to finish in the corner.

Luke Marshall's 64th minute try gave Ulster hope of a second half comeback

In desperate need of a response the visitors drove forward and found the score that brought the contest back to life, with Madigan finding Marshall on a short line for the centre to dive beneath the posts.

The momentum was with Ulster who found themselves back within four points of the Bulls, but the life was sucked from the province's charge when Kieran Treadwell was sent to the sin-bin with 15 minutes remaining for a high tackle on Arendse.

The hosts immediately capitalised on the penalty, putting the ball in the corner and mauling over the line for Grobbelaar to ground and effectively end Ulster's hopes of a comeback.

Even Coetzee's late yellow card for a high tackle on Ben Moxham came too late for the visitors who coughed up one final score that secured the Bulls' bonus point when Arendse picked off Doak's pass to canter in untouched.

Bulls: Arendse, Moodie, Hendricks, Vorster, Tambwe, Smith, Burger; G Steenkamp, Grobbelaar, Smith, W Steenkamp Nortje, Coetzee (capt), Brink, Louw.

Replacements: Van Zyl, Matanzima, Hunt, Ludwig, Botha, Johannes, Steyn, Mapoe.

Ulster: Lowry, Moxham, Hume, Marshall, McIlroy, Madigan, Doak; Warwick, Roberts, M Moore, Treadwell, Henderson (capt), Murphy, Timoney, Vermeulen.

Replacements: Stewart, O'Sullivan, O'Toole, Kearney, Rea, Cooney, Rea, S Moore.