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Watch: Willie le Roux claims debut try as Bulls cruise to a big win
South Africa Rugby World Cup winner Willie le Roux claimed a debut try as the Bulls cruised to a crushing 53-27 bonus-point victory over Connacht in the United Rugby Championship.
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Playing his first match since helping the Springboks retain the Webb Ellis Cup, full-back Le Roux was joined on the scoresheet by Akker van der Merwe, Elrigh Louw, Ruan Nortje, Nizaam Carr, David Kriel and Chris Smith.
Fly-half Jaco van der Walt added five conversions and two penalties for the dominant South African hosts. Connacht hit back through tries from Diarmuid Kilgallen, Tadgh McElroy and Shamus Hurley-Langton, plus 10 points from Jack Carty, but were unable to prolong their strong start to the season in Pretoria.
Victory for the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld Stadium was a fourth from six URC fixtures this term, a record that matches that of the outclassed Irish province.
While the South African side handed a maiden appearance to veteran le Roux following his four-year spell with Japanese club Toyota Verblitz, the away side remained without injured Ireland pair Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen.
?@Springboks #RWC2023 Champion Willie le Roux scores in his first try on debut for the Vodacom @BlueBullsRugby since lifting the World Cup trophy ?
#BKTURC #URC | #BULvCON pic.twitter.com/UFBZbOsacW
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) November 25, 2023
Recalled Connacht captain Carty and rival number 10 van der Walt exchanged early penalties before the hosts seized the initiative. Hooker van der Merwe claimed the opening try, benefiting from a series of fine offloads involving Sebastian de Klerk and captain Nortje to cross wide on the right.
Flanker Louw quickly added a second by powering over from close range after spotting a gap in Connacht’s defensive line. The visitors were seeking another scalp on South African soil following last weekend’s single-point success over the Sharks in Durban.
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Yet they were on the back foot for much of an entertaining opening period which the hosts ended with a convincing 32-13 advantage. Following further penalties from former Scotland international van der Walt and Carty, lock Nortje registered the Bulls’ third try with a simple finish after Zak Burger’s dummy broke the line.
Connacht briefly responded when wing Kilgallen raced clear to touch down wide on the left. But le Roux quickly extinguished a potential momentum shift by collecting a stray pass from de Klerk to bag the bonus point on his landmark outing just before the break.
Bulls scrum-half Burger was denied a breakaway try early in the second period when the television match official spotted a cynical infringement in the build-up, which resulted in a yellow card for van der Merwe. Hooker McElroy then burrowed over as Connacht capitalised on the man advantage.
However, the Irish side soon lost replacement back row Conor Oliver to the sin-bin after he conceded a penalty which led to Bulls number eight Carr going over.
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Kriel’s fifth URC try of the season, in the 66th minute, made the scoreline more emphatic before replacement fly-half Smith converted his own score, prior to Hurley-Langton’s late consolation on a punishing afternoon for the away team.
- Click here for all the RugbyPass stats from the Bulls vs Connacht match
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments