Bulls too strong for 'Tahs

The Bulls got back on the winning trail in Sydney, out-scoring the Waratahs by two tries to nil in a game dominated by the boot.

Flying winger Bryan Habana and prop Werner Kruger crossed either side of half-time to enable the Bulls to leapfrog over their opponents into third place in the Super 14.

The Waratahs' scrum was at its dominant best early, neutralising the threat of the once-vaunted Bulls forwards who were forced backwards at the set piece.

But the 'Tahs struggled elsewhere as they conspired to turn possession over to their visitors on far too many occasions, notably at the line-outs where Tatafu Polota-Nau and his jumpers struggled to link up cleanly.

Morné Steyn wasted an early chance to put the visitors ahead by missing an easy penalty but Habana would make no mistake just before the 20-minute mark.

When a skip pass in the Bulls midfield went astray, Zane Kirchner came flying in from full-back to pick the ball up off his shoelaces and feed Habana out wide.

Sustained pressure

The Springboks wing is a lethal weapon from 10 metres out and he beat three defenders to score.

The rest of the half was a kick-fest with Steyn generally winning the battle and keeping play in Waratahs territory.

The hosts only had one realistic chance of scoring which came from period of sustained pressure in the dying minutes of the first period, started by a mistake by refereeing Jonathan Kaplan who saw an imaginary Bulls forward pass, and ended by Daniel Halangahu, who slotted a penalty after the hooter to make it 7-3 to the visitors.

Steyn extended the lead soon after the break with a wonderfully executed drop goal from over 40 metres but missed another from right out in front of the posts a few minutes later.

The match officials were in the spotlight again when Benn Robinson was penalised for a dangerous tackle on Kirchner. It was a very harsh call since the Bulls full-back had jumped in the air a moment before impact. Either way, Steyn was on target to extend the lead to 10 points.

As if to balance out their previous mistake, the officials then nailed Habana for supposedly knocking the ball down intentionally and Kurtley Beale slotted three points to make the score 13-6.

The teams in blue (yes, both of them, but that's a whole different argument) continued their slug-fest and the visitors continued to get the upper hand.

With 10 minutes left on the clock Steyn dropped back into the pocket for another potential drop, but the Bulls pack picked and drove their way 35 metres to score their second try, with Kruger providing the coup de grace.

Steyn added the extras and at 20-6, the game was effectively over. When JP Neal broke clear and chipped ahead for Akona Ndungane, the Bulls looked to have sneaked another, but the TMO spotted the wing's knock-on in-goal and the scores remained unchanged.