MATCH REPORT: The Bulls made it seven wins from nine matches in the United Rugby Championship after they edged the Stormers 33-32 in a dramatic North-South derby in Cape Town on Saturday.

The rescheduled Round One encounter had everything, and it included some shocking goal-kicking.

And that proved very costly for the Stormers with Jurie Matthee missing three kicks, while replacement Clayton Blommetjies could not convert Ben-Jason Dixon’s 79th-minute try, which would’ve sealed the win for the hosts.

For the Stormers, it was their sixth defeat out of 10 outings, but the two losing bonus points pushed them up to 10th in the standings.

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It was a magnificent start for the Bulls as they showed their intent with ball in hand.

It started from the kick-off with Cameron Hanekom bursting through the Stormers’ defence and making some serious metres.

The ball then went wide after some excellent vision by Willie le Roux at flyhalf and it eventually found its way to Cobus Wiese, who ran in for the try in the second minute.

David Kriel could not find the direction with his conversion attempt.

The home side bounced back in the 11th minute with the help of their forwards.

After, initially forming a maul deep inside the Bulls’ 22, the ball went through the hands and Frans Malherbe was put into space to score a try after a neat offload by Ruben van Heerden. Flyhalf Jurie Matthee managed to put his side in front with a conversion.

However, the Bulls regained the lead in the 19th minute when hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels dived over the Stormers’ tryline from close range to score a five-pointer. It started when the Stormers failed to deal with a Le Roux grubber kick inside their 22.

After nailing the conversion, Kriel added a three-pointer in the 30th minute as the Bulls extended their lead to eight points.

The Stormers clawed back three points with a Matthee penalty a few minutes later before they scored their second try in the 36th minute.

After sustained pressure inside the Bulls’ 22, Salmaan Moerat eased over for a five-pointer after the ball bounced in his hand from an attempted grubber kick by Warrick Gelant.

Matthee added the extras with the conversion.

However, the Bulls had the final say in the first half with Kriel slotting a penalty to give his team an 18-17 lead at the break.

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The Bulls carried that momentum into the second half when Harold Vorster powered over for a try in the 42nd minute and it all stemmed from a powerful scrum inside the Stormers’ 22.

Kriel made it an eight-point lead again with the conversion.

Kriel had an opportunity to extend their lead in the 47th minute, but he pulled his penalty kick horribly wide.

A few minutes late Matthew also missed his penalty shot which would’ve put his team to within five points of the Bulls.

The Bulls were reduced to 14 men in the 55th minute after Gerhard Steenekamp received a yellow card for his team’s repeated infringements when it came to not retreating 10 metres for a penalty.

And not long after that, the Stormers scored their third try when Evan Roos showed his strength to power over from a few metres out. Matthee found the upright with his conversion attempt.

The Stormers then found themselves in front in the 58th minute when some excellent handling put Gelant into space to race away for a bonus-point try.

This time the shot clock was a bit too fast for Matthee’s conversion attempt.

The Bulls regained the lead once again a few minutes later with a Kriel penalty before hooker Akker van Merwe played a huge role in the visitors’ fourth try.

The Bok hooker stole the ball from Herschel Jantjies at the back of the ruck before storming to the home side’s tryline. He was brought down just short, but the ball was recycled quickly and it found its way to Ruan Vermaak who crashed over for the score.

Kriel then had a shocker with the conversion as the ball went horribly wide again.

The Capetonians thought they had snatched victory when  Dixon scored a try with less than two minutes left on the clock.

However, replacement Blommetjies missed the conversion and the visitors held on for the win with just 14 men after Nizaam Carr was yellow-carded for a high tackle.

The scorers:

For Stormers:
Tries: Malherbe, Moerat, Roos, Gelant, Dixon
Cons: Matthee 2
Pen: Matthee

For Bulls:
Tries: Wiese, Wessels, Vorster, Vermaak
Cons: Kriel 2
Pens: Kriel 3

Yellow cards: Gerhard Steenekamp (Bulls, 55′ – cynical play, not retreating 10 metres); Nizaam Carr (Bulls, 80′ – foul play,

Teams:

Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sti Sithole.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Jonathan Roche, 23 Clayton Blommetjies.

Bulls: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 David Kriel, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Sergeal Petersen, 10 Willie le Roux, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Reinhardt Ludwig, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johann Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Replacements: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Ruan Vermaak, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Sebastian de Klerk.

Referee: Morné Ferreira (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Griffin Colby (South Africa), Sean Muller (South Africa)
TMO: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)