Cardiff Rugby dropped to sixth in the table after their 45-24 defeat to the Bulls in Pretoria and now have to hang their hopes on picking up points against the Stormers in Cape Town this week to clinch a top eight finish in the BKT United Rugby Championship.
The Bulls were 31-0 ahead at the break and then led 45-7 before the hour mark. A late rally enabled the visitors to cut the gap to 24 points, but with only three tries they missed out on a bonus-point.
While the Bulls scored half a dozen tries to move to within a point of bagging a home quarter final and possible semi-final, Matt Sherratt’s men dropped to eighth place. That leaves them vulnerable to being overtaken in the rush for the final play-off places next week.
Second-half tries from Alex Mann, Teddy Williams and Gabriel Hamer-Webb took Cardiff to within one try a earning a priceless bonus-point. It also meant they won the second half 21-14.
But it was too little, too late in the end after the hosts romped into a 31-0 lead with a combination of far more than just typical South African brute force. Willie le Roux, among three returning Springboks, and Canan Moodie reveled with so much possession and the acres of space they were allowed by Cardiff.
Moodie set up the first try for Harold Vorster before galloping clear from 40 metres out off Le Roux’s perfectly timed pass. Springbok forwards Wilco Louw and Cameron Hanekom barged through from close range to score their tries.
Le Roux also set up Sebastian de Klerk for two easy scores. The first came after a wayward kick by Cardiff scrum half Johan Mulder’s wayward kick before leaving Harri Millard ball-watching for the wing’s second.
Taulupe Faletau and Williams came off the bench with the scoreboard showing 45-7 to the home side and they helped in the late try rush.