A poor performance from the Border Bulldogs in front of a passionate home crowd saw them close out their 2018 SuperSport Rugby Challenge campaign with a whimper as the Eastern Province Elephants claimed their first win of the competition, sealing a 26-14 win at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium yesterday afternoon.
It was an error strewn performance from the hosts, while the Elephants were ruthless with the chances they received as they picked up a full house of points while the Bulldogs left with nothing.
The visitors were very impressive at the breakdown, as they disrupted the Bulldogs’ play and stole a number of balls, while the home side made a slew of handling errors, many in the Elephants 22m that cost them dearly in the end.
The Bulldogs got the match off to a fast start as they received an early penalty in the third minute which they kicked to touch on the Elephants’ 5m line.
They then secured the line out and mauled over in right hand corner where captain Billy Dutton emerged with ball to claim the try.
With fullback Xolela Payi ready to take the conversion the TMO then called down to the referee wanting to check on the maul and ruled that there was changing lanes. The try was then overturned and Border penalised, allowing the Elephants to clear.
The visitors then missed the chance to go ahead in the ninth minute as flyhalf Ruben de Vos missed a long range penalty attempt.
The match then moved from one side of the field to the next as both teams showed a willingness to run the ball, with some enterprising play, while some big collisions showed the ferocity of the play.
The deadlock was then finally broken in the 26th minute when the Bulldogs scored a fantastic long range try.
The Elephants chipped the ball into the Bulldogs’ half where new man Carlisle Jordaan showed off his talent. He fielded the ball before making a run, breaking through a fractured Elephants defence and then chipped over a defender, collecting the ball and offloading to eighthman Athenkosi Manentsa on the 22m, with him then running in for the try next to the uprights, as Payi added the extras to lead 7-0.
A shoulder injury to Payi after a tackle around the 30 minute mark then brought Lonwabo Ntleki on.
With just a few minutes to go to half-time, the Bulldogs were reduced to 14 men when a big hit from Manentsa on Elephants replacement forward Anele Lungisa was deemed high and dangerous and he was sent to the sinbin for 10min.
The Elephants immediately exploited the extra man, kicking the ball to touch, securing the line out and mauling over with prop Xandre Vos emerging with the ball.
De Vos converted from the left side as the teams went into the break level at 7-all. The Elephants then came out for the second half all guns blazing as they turned down two early shots at goal to first tap and then scrum, with it paying off as eight phases later Lungisa crashed over to the right of the uprights for a converted score.
The Bulldogs then had a couple of chances to draw level, but handling errors on attack cost them and this allowed the Elephants to stretch their lead in the 60th minute.
Another knock on, this time just outside the Bulldogs’ 22m allowed the Elephants to go down the short side, with right wing Riaan Arends going over in the right hand corner for an unconverted try as they moved 19-7 up.
The Elephants then effectively ended the contest seven minutes later as the Bulldogs on attack in the visitors’ 22m knocked on for the umpteenth time, allowing them to break at pace, slicing through the home side’s broken defence, with fullback Michael Botha streaking away to score under the poles.
Replacement back Simon Bolze popped over the extras giving the Elephants a comfortable 26-7 lead.
The Bulldogs did manage a consolation try in the 72nd minute as lock Johannes Janse van Rensburg showed good strength to power over in the left-hand corner for a converted score, but it was too little too late as the Elephants celebrated an excellent win...