The Bulls claimed their first Super Rugby match outside of South Africa in more than three years yesterday when they held off tournament newcomers the Sunwolves 30-27 at Singapore’s National Stadium.
The new Japanese franchise came agonisingly close to registering their first win since joining the expanded competition this season, scoring three spectacular tries against the three-time tournament champions from South Africa before running out of time and settling for a second bonus in four matches.
What the Sunwolves lack in big-match experience they make up for with enthusiasm, adopting a spontaneous approach to the game both with the ball in hand and with their kicking.
They caught the Bulls by surprise to score the opening try after less than two minutes when the South Africans failed to clean up an astute chip-kick from Riaan Viljoen and openside flanker Andrew Durutalo crashed over.
Samoan flyhalf Tusi Pisi duly converted and added a penalty shortly after but the Sunwolves spent the rest of the first half defending after struggling at the set pieces and with their discipline, giving away 10 penalties in the opening 40 minutes and losing Tomas Leonardi for 10 minutes for a cynical penalty.