BULLS 54 – 26 SCARLETS
The Scarlets left their mark on South African rugby by scoring 10 tries in their two BKT United Rugby Championship matches in Durban and Pretoria, yet they were only able to return with two try bonus-points.
Despite battling back to get on level terms in the second half for the second weekend in a row – it had been 40-40 against the Sharks in Durban, and it was 26-26 against the Bulls – they were outgunned in the end.
Four of their tries came from international centre Joe Roberts, who followed up his hat trick against the Sharks with another at Loftus Versveld, with the others coming from hooker John McKee, lock Sam Lousi and emergency wing Archie Hughes.
The visitors were forced to mke a late change before kick-off when wing Ioan Jones pulled out with a hamstring injury and former Wales U20 scrum half Archie Hughes was pressed into emergency duty on the flank.
They then suffered a bad start as the Bulls, beaten finalists in the last three years, got off to a flying start. They scored three tries in the opening 27 minutes through Jeandre Rudolph, Willie le Roux and Dylan Maart to race into a 19-0 lead.
Yet by the break the gritty Scarlets had closed the gap to seven points with two tries in six minutes from McKee and Lousi, one of which was converted by Carwyn Leggatt-Jones.
The Bulls increased their lead with their bonus-point try from Marcell Coetzee five minutes into the second half, Curwin Bosch again converting, but then came the fightback from the Welsh region. Hughes crossed and then Roberts raced over to make it 26-26 with 24 minutes to play.
That was as good as it got for the Scarlets, though, as the Bulls found a final flourish that included four more tries.