Bulls thrash woeful Stormers

Pretoria - The Bulls thrashed a woeful Stormers outfit in their South African Super Rugby derby at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Bulls won 40-3, after leading 21-3 at half-time.

As it happened: Bulls v Stormers

The start of the match was pushed back by 20 minutes due to a traffic jam caused by an accident on the N1 nearby, but the delay didn't hurt the home side one bit as they set about their task in ruthless fashion.

The Bulls were 7-0 ahead inside five minutes after winger Rosco Specman pounced on a loose pass and broke through the defence to score his first try on debut.

The Stormers brought the deficit down to just four points after wing SP Marais converted a penalty kick, but that would be as good as it got for them on the day.

Specman soon had his second try after he stole the ball and produced another great run, stretching over the line to dot down despite the attention of two Stormers defenders as the Bulls went 14-3 up inside 20 minutes.

Less than five minutes later, they had their third try courtesy of surprise midfield selection Johnny Kotze, a well-crafted running move started by hooker Schalk Brits doing the trick this time, with Kotze applying the finishing touches on the wing.

Try as they might the visitors couldn't find a way back into the game, and instead it was the Bulls who scored their fourth of the night five minutes into the second half, a beautiful move started by a chip over the defence and ended by centre Jesse Kriel powering his way over the line.

Specman looked to have scored a hat-trick shortly after before the TMO spotted a knock-on in the build-up, but it made little difference to the result.

The Bulls stayed in total control throughout the contest, with Pollard adding four more penalties during the second half thanks to their territorial ascendancy to send the Stormers crashing to a heavy defeat.

Next weekend, the Stormers host the Lions in Cape Town, while the Bulls travel to Argentina to face the Jaguares in Buenos Aires.

Scorers:

Bulls

Tries: Rosko Specman (2), Johnny Kotze, Jesse Kriel

Conversions: Handre Pollard (4)

Penalties: Pollard (4)

Stormers

Penalty: SP Marais

Teams:

Bulls

15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Johnny Kotze, 13 Jessie Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Hanro Liebenberg, 6 Ruan Steenkamp, 5 Lood de Jager (captain), 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Lizo Gqoboka

Substitutes: 16 Corniel Els, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 19 Eli Snyman, 20 Thembelani Bholi, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Dylan Sage

Stormers

15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 JJ Engelbrecht, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 SP Marais, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ali Vermaak

Substitutes: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Corné Fourie, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Chris van Zyl, 20 Kobus van Dyk, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 23 Dan du Plessis