Late comeback for Bulls

The Bulls made it two wins from two on Friday, albeit in stuttering fashion once more as they came from behind to beat the Cheetahs 25-23 in Bloemfontein.

The defending Super 15 champions struggled to a 24-20 victory in their opening match against the Lions last week and again looked out of sorts for most of the game at Vodacom Park.

They found themselves 15 points down at one stage but managed to fight their way back into contention nonetheless, with a late try from Fourie du Preez sealing the win.

Bakkies Botha landed the opening try for them, but scores from Andries Strauss, Robert Ebersohn and Ashley Johnson put the hosts on course for an upset with 20 minutes to go.

However, Danie Rossouw cut the deficit with a push-over try before Du Preez broke through the scrambling defence moments from the end to level the score, with Morne Steyn then converting for the winning points.

Attacking intent

The home side, who gave a poor showing during last week's defeat to the Sharks, showed good attacking intent from the start.

The first points came when Kabamba Floors made a swift break through the middle, with Naas Olivier kicking the resulting penalty in front of the posts.

The Cheetahs had, however, lost captain Juan Smith - a major doubt before the game due to an Achilles problem - during a ruck prior to the kick.

They managed to blank out the visitors for 18 minutes, but the Bulls then responded as Botha appeared in a somewhat unlikely position on the right wing before stretching for the line.

Steyn missed the conversion and then missed a 48-metre penalty - Olivier also struggling with a three-pointer to leave the Bulls 5-3 in front after 25 minutes.

The South Africa fly-half finally found his range with a third difficult attempt to stretch the visitors' lead, but the hosts hit straight back with their first try.

It was Strauss who scored, the midfielder being set up by Johnson's quickly exchanged pass before running in on the right.

Olivier again missed the chance to add the extras and immediately followed that up with his third failure in four.

However, he did manage to find the target just before the break to hand his side an 11-8 half-time lead.

Pressure

After the restart, scrum-half Sarel Pretorius showed fleetness of foot to create more pressure with a breakaway run that set up a lineout, with the number nine then off-loading excellently for Ebersohn to score.

Olivier converted and five minutes later the home fans had even more reason to cheer after Johnson's pick up and drive saw him score in the corner.

The fly-half found the upright with his conversion attempt - the lead standing at 15 points at that stage.

But the hosts then suffered a setback when Wilhelm Steenkamp was sent to the sin bin as a result of illegal entry into the ruck.

The Bulls managed to capitalise on their advantage with Rossouw's converted try setting up a tense final 15 minutes, while Steyn then landed a penalty to bring them to within five.

Du Preez then completed the comeback to secure the win.