Bulls fight back to see off Western Province

The Currie Cup hasn't dug up turf quite in the way it did at Newlands on Saturday night.

Springboks, in recent times, have almost been extinct from the world's oldest provincial competition but their weighty presence brought gravitas and a sense of occasion.

When the dust settled it was the Blue Bulls who stood tall after a brutal and thoroughly absorbing clash.

The Blue Bulls showed remarkable fortitude to win this clash having to play the last 34 minutes a man down. Having also been humbled in their Super Rugby Unlocked clash in Pretoria, the Cape side will now wonder how they will beat Jake White's team.

When matches are played with this intensity and breakneck speed errors creep in but none were as glaring and potentially defining as the one made between referee AJ Jacobs and television match official Rasta Rashivhenge.

The match was very much in the balance when Blue Bulls loose head prop Jacques van Rooyen was shown a red card for foul play in the 47th minute. Van Rooyen clattered into Warrick Gelant hitting the player shoulder to shoulder but without using his arms. It was worthy of a penalty with the potential of a yellow card.

Rashivhenge initially suggested that as a sanction but when he repeated to Jacobs what he claimed to have seen on the replays he suggested Van Rooyen had hit Gelant's head with force.

Given Rashivhenge's revised account of what he thought he saw, the referee had no option but to show Van Rooyen red.

The Bulls however drew inspiration and redoubled their efforts. Duane Vermeulen, Marco van Staden and Ruan Nortje did some of the hard yards but it was left to flyhalf Chris Smith to snatch the win with an ice cool conversion.

The Stormers forwards too deserve plaudits.

Juarno Augustus and JD Schickerling worked like Trojans, while Steven Kitshoff proved influential at the breakdown and the set piece.

As you'd expect with the assembly of Springboks the scrums were contested with earth shattering ferocity. Western Province held the advantage in that facet in the first half and it helped them hold the possession and territorial ascendancy at the break.

The Bulls however showed more composure when it mattered.

They certainly made the more telling start.

Cornall Hendricks stepped inside Dan du Plessis and scythed through a gap which presented the Blue Bulls a considerable overlap on the left. His floaty pass found Kurt-Lee Arendse who ran in unchallenged.

Western Province had the better of the exchanges in the middle of the game but their poor goal kicking also came back to bite them.

FT Score Update

WESTERN PROVINCE (10) 20

Tries: Juarno Augustus, Angelo Davids, Ernst van Rhyn. Conversion: Damian Willemse. Penalty: Willemse.

BLUE BULLS (5) 22

Tries: Kurt-Lee Arendse (2), Marco Jansen van Vuuren. Conversions: Chris Smith (2). Penalty: Smith.