Bulls hang on for victory

Western Force may have out-scored the Bulls by four tries to three but it was the South African side that claimed a vital 32-29 success in Pretoria.

Victory - without the bonus-point - cements Bulls' position in third place in the Super 14 standings after they withheld a late thrust by the Perth-based outfit, who crossed three times in the second half.

The hosts went into the break with a 15-10 advantage thanks to tries from Bryan Habana and Werner Kruger, but Zane Kirchner crossed soon after the re-start and two penalties from Morne Steyn extended the lead to 16 points.

But Cameron Shepherd, Josh Tatupa and Ryan Cross all scored to give the visitors hope, but a Burton Francis penalty gave the Bulls enough leeway to hang on for the win.

The Bulls heavies did well early on to hamper the Force at breakdown, but both teams struggled initally to get clean ball off the line-out and scrum.

As the Bulls jumpers asserted their dominance at the set-piece, the structured Force defence meant they struggled to get over the advantage line.

Opportunistic try

Bulls pivot Steyn got the ball rolling with a standard penalty kick four minutes into the game after the ever enthusiastic Force were blown up after strolling offside.

The cheers soon turned to jeers once Drew Mitchell took advantage of a wobbly restart by Matt Giteau, only to be rewarded by an opportunistic try after the full-back followed up his pivot's kick into no-man's land with a try under the posts.

Springbok flyer Habana showed a glimpse of his old self with a fantastic run that saw the 2007 IRB Player of the Year break through four defenders to score untouched under the poles.

In the second half the Bulls kicked the ball away far less and started playing the ball by running it through the phases which put pressure on the Force's defence, and they continually gave penalties away which Steyn kicked with accuracy.

But Gurthro Steenkamp knocked on with the line at his mercy that would have sealed the five points, and the home team would have rued the mistakes throughout the game that put them under unnecessary pressure.

It was a slow and effective poison which looked to have killed off the Force with the score 26-10 until Steyn put in a no arms tackle on Giteau which earned him a yellow card.

The Force then used the numbers and sent Tatupu in for a try which with the conversion brought them to within seven points.

But a penalty allowed Francis to extend the lead once again which took the Force out of contention for a losing bonus point.

They were not about to give up though, and Cross then scored a bonus point try which Giteau converted and brought the Force back to within three and they crucially ended with two bonus points.