Bulls crush the Chiefs

Fourie du Preez and Bryan Habana dotted down two tries each in the first stanza as the home team took control of the game, gaining the momentum that they never relinquished. The visitors were first off the mark when flyhalf Stephen Donald broke clear on the right wing in the seventh minute and offloaded to Lelia Masaga who was given a clear run, dotting down between the posts.Donald added two for the conversion, but those would be the last points the Chiefs would notch up in the first half.

And in the space of six minutes Fourie Du Preez changed the game. Two minutes after Masaga had touched down, Du Preez got the Bulls on the board with a try of his own. Three minutes later, he added a second. Man of the Match Wynand Olivier tore into Aled de Malmanche with probably the hardest tackle of the game and Morne Steyn picked up the loose ball, offloading to Du Preez who put the Bulls in the lead, and they never looked back.

Just three minutes after Du Preez's second try, the scrumhalf chipped the ball down the left wing and Habana broke clear to put the Bulls up 21-7. A drop goal and a penalty from Steyn further extended their lead, and Habana ensured they would go into the half-time break 27 points ahead when he intercepted a Chiefs' pass in the Bulls' half and tore down the field to dot down his second -- and the 36th of his career for a South African Super 14 record.

The Chiefs got off to another good start in the second half with captain Mils Muliaina doing well to control a pass and finding a gap to hand his team their second try. But in the 52nd minute, after both sides had added a penalty each, Bulls skipper Victor Matfield regained the momentum when he bulldozed his way over the top of a ruck to score his first try of the season.

Eight minutes later veteran centre Jaco Pretorius should have secured his maiden career try but lost the ball inches before it touched down. And with victory in sight, the hosts ran away with it. Olivier, who missed the Bulls' semifinal with a hip injury, added a try in the 67th minute, Pierre Spies put one down in the 72nd and Danie Rossouw added another for good measure in the 80th.

Source supplied: sarugby.com