Carling Currie Cup
The Vodacom Bulls ended a Carling Currie Cup drought going back more than a decade when they beat the Cell C Sharks 26-19 in extra time in this year’s final at Loftus.
The Bulls, who last won the Currie Cup way back in 2009, had to dig deep in the second half, coming from ten points down to level it up at 19-19 after 80 minutes.
In fact, Bulls replacement flyhalf Chris Smith had a chance to win it for the hosts after the final hooter, but he pulled his kick well left to force the contest into extra time.
Sharks flyhalf Curwin Bosch also left his kicking boots at home, missing no-less than five attempts at goal although they were all long range efforts.
In a match, halted briefly by the threat of a lightning storm in the first half, Jake White’s Bulls finally got the reward they were hoping for with a sustained passage of attack late in the second half of extra time with the score still deadlocked at 19-19.
Playing under repeated penalty advantage, the Bulls moved the ball through 20 phases until the proverbial dam wall broke and Arno Jacobs stretched over for his second try of the match.
The Bulls had topped the log through the course of the regular season, but the Sharks deserve huge credit for first going to Cape Town to beat DHL Western Province in their Newlands fortress in the semi-finals and then coming so desperately close in the final in yet another away fortress at Loftus.
