Cats rout Bulls 57-24 in all-South African Super 12
Cats rout Bulls 57-24 in all-South African Super 12
JOHANNESBURG (Agencies): Cats captain Johan Erasmus led his side to a 57-24 rout of the Northern Bulls in an all-South African Super 12 rugby union match on Saturday.
The victory was the Cats' third in the competition, while the Bulls have yet to win in six games, setting them up for the four- match Antipodean leg of the tournament.
With five tries in the first half and three in the second, the Cats' dominance was clear-cut.
Yet it was the Bulls who scored first. The Cats pack was punished twice in the first two minutes for offsides with Bulls flyhalf Franco Smith converting both penalties.
But the superb loose trio of captain Johan Erasmus, Andre Venter and Andre Vos then began to take control. Three of the Cats' five tries came from bad errors by the Bulls.
The second try by Andre Venter involved the first of two mistakes by Bulls' fullback Gavin Lawless.
Lawless brought the ball under control deep in his own 22 but spilled it in the tackle and Cats flanker AJ Venter was on hand to pick it up and feed Andre Venter on his left.
Lawless also erred in the final two minutes of the half when the fullback saw his intended up-and-under land straight in the hands of Cats wing Thinus Delport, who scored.
Lawless redeemed himself slightly by scoring the Bulls' first try a minute later to see the half end 36-14 to the Cats.
It took the Cats over 20 minutes to add to their score, and they did so via Erasmus' second pushover try.
Conrad Stoltz hammered home the advantage with his try, and then lock Albert van den Berg produced a moment of genius to pop a pass to wing Ricardo Loubscher on his right. Bulls captain Schutte Bekker scored in the first minute of injury time.
In Seoul, South Korea thrashed the Netherlands 78-14 in the second leg of their first-round repechage World Cup qualifier here Sunday.
The Koreans, who knocked out the Dutch team on aggregate points, will now play Tonga for a place in this year's World Cup finals in Wales.
The home team suffered a narrow 31-30 loss in the first leg of the tie in Amsterdam. But on Sunday they overpowered the Dutch early on through four tries by Kim Jae-hyun and Yong Hwang-myung.
The Koreans led 38-0 at half-time and their forwards also dominated in the second half.
Kim Jae-sung converted five tries and two penalties, along with a drop goal.
The Netherlands scored their first try in the 83rd minute on a rush by Arno Seybel. Caine Elisara crossed the line three minutes later.
In Sydney, Cronulla weathered a fierce late attack from Melbourne to beat the Storm 20-16 and go to the top of the Australian Rugby League table Sunday.
After both sides had scored three tries, the Sharks toughed it out in a frantic final 12 minutes.
Cronulla stood alone atop the ladder after St George-Illawarra ended North Sydney's unbeaten run with a 32-12 victory.
Facing the first test of support for their merged entity in Wollongong, the Dragons came through with flying colors, scoring an emphatic win before a near-capacity crowd of 12,566.
There were other pluses, with the contentious pairing of halfback Trent Barrett and five-eighth Anthony Mundine combining well and winger Jamie Ainscough scoring three tries.