Habana hurt in Bulls win

Wet conditions did not damped the Bulls' early-season win column as they defeated spirited local rivals the Lions 16-9 at Ellis Park.

The 2007 champions are up there with the competition's form teams at the moment but, due to torrential rain, failed to continue as the only winning outfit to have picked up a bonus point in each of their outings.

However, despite their lack of tries on Saturday, there is no doubt they will certainly be feared just two years on from their memorable Durban triumph.

The contest was always going to be physical up front between these two South African neighbours, with the contact not disappointing.

Missed chance

It's easy to forget that the Johannesburg franchise had failed to beat the Bulls in three years and seemed to be going behind on thirteen minutes but for Morné Steyn dragging a very kickable penalty wide of the uprights.

They did not have to wait long for their score though, and it was Super 14's in-form man Pierre Spies who finished off Akona Ndungane's solid work to add to last week's try - the conversion duly followed.

Steyn was then quick to punish some slack work from the Lions at the breakdown as they seemed out of sorts on home soil, particularly at lineout time as the sizeable Bakkies Botha got to work.

With a quarter of the game gone, the hosts finally began to settle as both possession and territory stakes swung their way for a short period.

That was until the conditions played their inevitable part again as a ball from Jano Vermaak slipped through a team-mate's hands with Bryan Habana, who would later suffer a suspected broken hand, subsequently chasing down the loose ball, leading to another three points which stretched matters to 0-13.

The Bulls made their opponents pay again with three more points before the break and after both sides had dried off slightly, the turnaround saw yet more clever work from Kirchner, as he drilled another perfect kick to the Lions corner.

But their early territory was not to last as a superb counter-attack that involved Jaque Fourie and Henno Mentz ended with the former being dragged down 25 metres from the as yet untouched whitewash.

There was some consolation for both team and Pretorius though as the experience fly-half landed three record-breaking points to move above Louis Kuun and close the scores to 3-16 on 52 minutes.

Man advantage

Was there to be a fightback? A man advantage would help their charge as Louis Ludik eagerness to begin one saw him taken out by Wynand Olivier, with the Bulls man shown a yellow card for what was a very soft late challenge.

Whether it was referee Phillip Bosch or the Bulls struggling to find the momentum that had served them so well in the opening 40 minutes, but the visitors were on the back foot in Johannesburg with two converted tries the difference.

A 10-point gap quickly became seven though as Earl Rose, excuse the pun, was a thorn in the Bulls' side by sending a fine long-range penalty attempt over with eight minutes on the clock.

However, the big comeback was not to be as Rose's sin-binning for what was deemed a dangerous tackle took the wind out of the spirited Lions' effort.