Heineken Champions Cup: Vodacom Bulls 39-28 Exeter Chiefs

Wandisile Simelane
Wandisile Simelane scored Bulls' fourth try to earn the bonus point against Exeter Chiefs
Vodacom Bulls: (20) 39
Tries: Louw, Kriel, Vermaak, Simelane 2 Grobbelaar Pens: Smith Cons: Smith 2, Goosen
Exeter: (14) 28
Tries: Hodge, Kata, Kirsten, Jenkins Cons: J Simmonds 2, Skinner 2

Bulls avenged last month's defeat at Exeter Chiefs with a bonus-point victory over the Premiership side's 14 men in the Heineken Champions Cup.

Elrigh Louw, David Kriel and Ruan Vermaak scored first-half tries for the hosts, while Exeter hit back through Josh Hodge and Solomone Kata.

Wandisile Simelane scored twice and Johan Grobbelaar crossed after the break while Henry Slade was sent off.

Former Bull Jannes Kirsten and Dafydd Jenkins won a losing bonus for Chiefs.

Chiefs beat Bulls 44-14 at Sandy Park in December, but they were behind after 16 minutes in Pretoria as Louw smashed through from close range for the opening try.

Slade, who was captaining the Chiefs in Luke Cowan-Dickie's absence, then threw the pass of the game as Hodge ran a terrific line against the traffic to score a well-worked team try to draw the visitors level.

A Chris Smith penalty and a smart finish by Kriel handed the hosts the lead once again, but Kata grounded the ball for Chiefs' second try to reduce the gap to one point.

Vermaak powered over for a third Bulls try before the interval and Simelane showed his footballing skills to prod the loose ball through the Exeter defensive line to run onto and claim the bonus point after the break.

Grobbelaar and a long-range finish by Simelane stretched the hosts' lead but Kirsten, who progressed through the Bulls academy, scored late on and Jenkins came off the bench to earn Chiefs a bonus point.

Exeter are third in Pool A after two previous wins and can seal their progress to the last 16 with a home win over Castres in their final game, while the South African side are up to fourth.

Line-ups

Bulls: Arendse; Moodie, Simelane, Vorster, Kriel; Smith, Burger; Steenekamp, Grobbelaar, Smith, Vermaak, Nortje (capt), Van Staden, Carr, Louw

Replacements: Du Plessis, Smith, Klopper, Swanepoel, Steenkamp, Papier, Goosen, Mapoe

Exeter: Hodge; Nowell, Slade (capt), Kata, Woodburn; J Simmonds, S Maunder; Sio, Innard, Williams, Dunne, Jenkins, Ewers, Tshiunza, S Simmonds

Replacements: Yeandle, Kenny, Iosefa-Scott, Kirsten, Fisilau, J Maunder, Skinner, O'Loughlin

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Source: BBC Rugby Union News

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By adamreeves / Administrator, bbp_keymaster on Jan 14, 2023