Vodacom Bulls player ratings vs Munster | 2025/26 URC quarterfinals

Johan Ackermann’s Vodacom Bulls took the next step in their bid to secure a maiden United Rugby Championship crown with a 45 – 14 win over Munster at Loftus Versfeld.

Going up early with two tries inside the opening ten minutes, the Bulls rarely looked challenged by their visitors.

Fixture

United Rugby Championship

Bulls

45 - 14

Full-time

Munster

All Stats and Data

Dominating the set piece and gainline, the Bulls always had the answers for anything Munster threw their way.

To the fore for the hosts once again was scrumhalf Embrose Papier who netted the player of the match award for his two try performance.

Here is how the Bulls players rated.

1. Gerhard Steenekamp – 7
Dominant at scrum time, the Springbok loosehead time and again got underneath Michael Ala’alatoa to shunt the Munster pack backwards.

2. Johan Grobbelaar – 8
Powered over for a well-executed try from a fractured maul was a nice reward for Grobbelaar who was rock solid across the board. Topping the tackles made charts with 22 and winning a turnover offer a snapshot into how much work he got through.

3. Francois Klopper – 7
No Wilco, no problem for the Bulls. Klopper fronted up in a mighty way with a dominant performance against Irish international Jeremy Loughman. Time and again, the big tighthead in conjunction with the pressure being exerted by Steenekamp on the other side marched the Munster scrum backwards.

4. Ruan Vermaak – 7.5
Performing the role of breakdown maestro, the big lock ran amuck of the Munster breakdown. Winning a turnover whilst ensuring his side kept rolling with quick ball, Vermaak will not garner the headlines of his flashier teammates but he was instrumental in their dominant display.

5. Ruan Nortje – 8
Absolutely everywhere from the off, the roaming lock was his side’s go-to option with 16 carries for a whopping 60 meters made. Defensively, he didn’t shirk one ounce of responsibility making 15 tackles to go with his table topping 4 line-out grabs.

6. Marcell Coetzee – 7
Brought his usual physical presence to the Bulls defence with 16 tackles. His best work was done at the breakdown where he was constant presence at times stepping through the Munster cleaners to disrupt Craig Casey’s ability to get the ball clear.

7. Elrigh Louw – 8
Getting back to his best for the season run in, the 2026 version of Danie Rossouw just does everything to such a high standard. Once again today, he got through a mountain of work with 15 carries, 19 tackles and 3 line-out wins.

8. Cameron Hanekom – 8
Fronted up one expect in the physical exchanges. Winning a super turnover in 33rd minute just after his side had conceded a try was a bit time moment. Displaying all of his power for his 39th minute try where he powered through three Munster defenders.

9. Embrose Papier – 8.5
Started perfectly with a pair of pinpoint box kicks to set the platform for his side’s opening attacks. Five minutes later and he would be the one to finish off his side’s first try with a clever snipe from 10 meters out.

10. Handre Pollard – 7
Did exactly what we have come to expect him as arguably professional rugby’s greatest ever pressure kicker. Drilling his shots at goal, finding solid touches from hand and carrying well, the Bok kingpin facilitated well for those around him.

11. Stravino Jacobs – 6.5
Dominant kick receipts for the Bulls’ opening two kicks which set up his side’s first attacking opportunity. Away from these moments and a straightforward 58th minute run in try, Jacobs was quiet in attack but did have a few crunching defensive interventions.

12. Harold Vorster – 7
Unmarkable in his ability to get his hands free, Vorster topped the offload charts with 4. Occupying multiple Munster defenders, Vorster quickly became a pivot point for his side’s attack with players running brilliant lines of him.

13. Canan Moodie- 7.5
Crunched several Munster carriers with dominant hits to bring a halt to a few promising attacks. In attack, the rangy back got his hands free on a number of occasions to keep his side rumbling forward.

14. Kurt-Lee Arendse – 8
Finished off the easiest of tries with a simple run in that typified his day. This perhaps typified his day where everything just seemed so easy for a player of his quality. This free roaming performance led to the most meters made by any player with 95.

15. Willie le Roux – 8.5
Set up a pearl of a try for Arendse with the help of the winger initially bumping off a would be defender before receiving the ball. This form continued in what was a throwback attacking performance from the 98 times capped Springbok. Combining as a high flying kicking and distributing pairing with Pollard, Le Roux stretched the Munster backfield from pillar to post.

Substitutes
16. Marco van Staden – 6
Continuing his development at hooker, the backrow enjoyed a couple of nice carries and was top notch at lineout time.

17. Jan-Hendrik Wessels – 6
The Bulls utility front row was relatively quiet in terms of his loose play but more than matched the standards set by the starters at set piece and the breakdown.

18. Mornay Smith – 6
Formerly linked with Munster, the powerhouse tighthead offered no let up in his side’s dominance at scrum time.

19. Cobus Wiese – 7
Went looking for carries and found a handful of them. Releasing a nice offload and beating a couple of defenders was a solid impact from the powerhouse.

20. Jeandre Rudolph – 5
The Bulls’ find of the season clearly relished his 20 minute run, whilst the stats don’t reflect the busiest of outings he was notably present for a few key breaks.

21. Paul de Wet – 7.5
Came within a meter of scoring the final try of the match. Brought plenty of impetus from the bench in a match that suits his freewheeling running style.

22. Stedman Gans – 5
Had a few nice carries and made 2 tackles during his 20 minute spell but was otherwise pretty quiet.

23. Sergeal Petersen – N/A
Played for 5 minutes before departing with a knock albeit did make 40 meters with his 4 carries in a busy 5 minute stint.