Cardiff's late comeback falls short at Bulls

Bulls have lost just one game at home this season

United Rugby Championship

Bulls (31) 45

Tries: Vorster, W Louw, Moodie, Hanekom, De Klerk 2 Cons: Goosen, Johannes 5 Pen: Goosen

Cardiff (0) 21

Tries: Mann, Williams, Hamer-Webb Cons: B Thomas 3

Play-off chasing Cardiff were left empty-handed as a late comeback fell short against the Bulls.

The hosts crossed for six tries in a desperately one-sided contest at Loftus Versfeld until the final 10 minutes.

What Cardiff's defence coach Gethin Jenkins made of his team's scatterbrain resistance can only be imagined when they trailed 45-7 after 52 minutes.

Cardiff knew their best hope of claiming the single point that could be enough to secure a top-eight finish would be from scoring tries.

But they fell agonisingly short of a bonus point despite second-half tries from Alex Mann, Teddy Williams and Gabriel Hamer-Webb.

They now have six days to rediscover the form that had lifted them to fifth before this weekend to reach the play-offs for the first time.

No team has made more tackles in the league this season than Cardiff and that position rarely looked under threat as Bulls dominated from the start.

The hosts romped into a 31-0 lead with a combination of far more than just typical South African brute force.

Willie le Roux, among three returning Springboks, and Canan Moodie revelled with so much possession and the acres of space they were allowed by Cardiff.

Moodie set up the first try for Harold Vorster before galloping clear from 40m out off Le Roux's perfectly timed pass.

Of course there was sheer power as Springbok forwards Wilco Louw and Cameron Hanekom barged through tired tackles on the try line.

Le Roux twice set up Sebastian de Klerk for easy scores. The first from Johan Mulder's wayward kick before leaving Harri Millard ball-watching for the wing's second.

Trailing 45-7, the arrival of Taulupe Faletau and Williams off the bench galvanised a late Cardiff rally.

Mann combined with Williams for a second try and Hamer-Webb got his fifth in three games in the last eight minutes.

But Hamer-Webb's earlier missed pass to Cam Winnett proved costly as Cardiff narrowly missed a bonus-point.

Cardiff captain Josh McNally said: "Our game just didn't come together. We showed in the last 20 minutes what we could've done but we didn't fire any shots in the first half.

"When you give a quality side like the Bulls so much possession and momentum then it's going to be hard to come back.

"We will look at that and get ready for a big game next week."

Bulls: Willie le Roux; Canan Moodie, David Kriel, Harold Vorster, Sebastian de Klerk; Johan Goosen, Zak Burger, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Johann Grobbelaar, Wilco Louw, Cobus Wiese, JF van Heerden, Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Nortje (capt), Cameron Hanekom

Replacements: Akker van der Merwe, Alulutho Tshakweni, Mornay Smith, Jannes Kirsten, Marco van Staden, Keagan Johannes, Devon Williams, Stedman Gans.

Cardiff: Cam Winnett; Josh Adams, Harri Millard, Ben Thomas, Gabriel Hamer-Webb; Tinus de Beer, Johan Mulder; Corey Domachowski, Evan Lloyd, Keiron Assiratti, Josh McNally, Rory Thornton, Alex Mann, James Botham, Alun Lawrence.

Replacements: Liam Belcher, Danny Southworth, Rhys Litterick, Teddy Williams, Dan Thomas, Taulupe Faletau, Aled Davies, Rory Jennings.

Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)

Assistant referees: Griffin Colby (SARU), Dylen November (SARU)

TMO: Andrew Brace (IRFU)