'He is now called Os du Randt in the changing room'

Jake White’s Bulls spiked Glasgow’s attacking guns for most of Friday’s ‘revenge’ mission at Scotstoun to make themselves warm favourites to claim a top-two URC finish and the home advantage that could offer through the play-off stages.

The powerhouse Pretoria outfit claimed an impressive 26-19 victory at the home of the reigning champions to move within a point of Warriors, who clung onto second place by virtue of George Horne converting Stafford McDowall’s last-minute try.

But did the Bulls miss a trick in denying the hosts a bonus point? Conceding two tries in four minutes late on may have put them on red alert when they still had to kick off in the closing seconds and the momentum was all with the hosts.

But when Kyle Steyn and Tom Jordan collided in both trying to gather the restart and only succeeded in conceding a penalty, it appeared Glasgow had undone all their hard work in recovering from 26-7 down to at least claim a consolation point.

Bulls could have moved level on points with Warriors in second place with a successful shot at goal but in the event, Springboks full-back Willie le Roux, on as a replacement on his return from injury, wasted little time in kicking the ball off the field instead.

Fly-half Johan Goosen – who had nailed six from six in a superb goalkicking display – had departed a few minutes earlier, but head coach White insisted the pragmatic decision was taken out of respect for what Glasgow were still capable of.

“Obviously you think, ‘should you take the point off them?’ he explained. “But if it hits the poles, Glasgow are good enough to run the whole length of the field and score. Or they counter-attack and you could give away a penalty, maybe for a high tackle, and the next thing you know you are drawing the game.

“That is respect for Glasgow. The reality is we have a massive amount of respect for them. It wasn’t a case of giving them a point, it was a case of taking the four points.

“It is a massive win in the context of the competition because we are right behind them. We couldn’t get arrogant and say, ‘let’s take their point away’ because that could come back to bite us.”

With home games against Cardiff and Dragons to conclude the regular season, while Glasgow face tricky away days against Benetton and leaders Leinster, Bulls will return to South Africa in confident mood after back-to-back URC wins on the road against Munster and Warriors, who beat them in last year’s final in Pretoria.

The player of the match at Scotstoun was Bulls loosehead Jan-Hendrik Wessels, who showed remarkable speed and strength to track back and hold up flying Glasgow wing Sebastian Cancelliere over the line early on.

The 23-year-old prop, who won his first three South Africa caps last year, also impressed in winning breakdown penalties over the ball, putting in some crunching tackles including one memorable hit on Tom Jordan as well as helping the Bulls pack win five penalties at scrum-time.

“He is now called Os du Randt in the changing room,” White said, in reference to the legendary two-time World Cup-winning prop. “He’s always been a phenomenal talent. He played lock in his second-last year of high school and then he moved to prop. He has also played hooker for us as well, so he has got everything.”

White also praised the impact of Springboks wing Canan Moodie, who made several telling interventions in defence with thumping tackles on Cancelliere in the first half and Jamie Dobie in the second, and captain Ruan Nortjé in shutting down Glasgow’s attack.

United Rugby Championship

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

Leinster

15

14

1

0

67

2

Glasgow

16

11

5

0

59

3

Bulls

16

12

4

0

58

4

Sharks

15

10

5

0

49

5

Cardiff Rugby

16

8

7

1

46

6

Benetton

15

8

6

1

41

7

Munster

16

7

9

0

41

8

Stormers

15

7

8

0

40

9

Edinburgh

16

6

9

1

39

10

Scarlets

15

7

7

1

38

11

Ulster

15

7

8

0

37

12

Connacht

15

5

10

0

35

13

Ospreys

15

6

8

1

33

14

Lions

15

6

9

0

31

15

Zebre

16

5

10

1

29

16

Dragons RFC

15

1

14

0

9

“Having Moodie there is a secret weapon for us,” the head coach added. “He doesn’t mind shooting out of the line and he makes the right reads on hitting people. Having him there has obviously helped us.

“We moved Nortjé from lock to the flank and he was outstanding. He is an un-sung hero, scrambling back in defence. He put them under pressure to make a decision on the last pass just because he got there.

“Glasgow are not champions for nothing. They have beaten good sides and play a style of rugby that suits the ground they train on, a 4G pitch, so they play with a very quick tempo. You need guys like Jan-Hendrik [Wessels] and Ruan doubling up, and tripling up, in their actions. If you don’t stay on your feet and get numbers in the line, you get opened up on the edges.”