Flyhalf Morne Steyn dropped four goals as Northern Bulls staged a stunning recovery to defeat Canterbury Crusaders 36-23 on Saturday and reach the Super 14 final.
Steyn also converted the three Bulls tries before a capacity 52,000 Loftus Versfeld crowd and kicked a penalty to consolidate his position as top scorer in the southern hemisphere championship with 172 points.
Bulls, who face another New Zealand side Waikato Chiefs in the final at the same venue next Saturday, turned a 13-point deficit into a 27-20 halftime lead with a magnificent late first-half surge. The only South African team to lift the Super 14 trophy were helped by the expulsion to the “sin bin” of Crusaders outstanding No. 8 Thomas Waldrom after 36 minutes and 13 points were conceded during his absence.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“We will need to build extra stands for the final,” joked Bulls skipper and lock Victor Matfield as he thanked the passionate blue-clad crowd after a great day in Bulls history. “I hope our critics realize now that we are not a kick-and-hope team. The Crusaders began with a bang and the way our boys came back was nothing less than awesome.”
Crusaders and All Blacks flanker Richie McCaw accepted defeat with dignity.
“We were not good enough because after a great start, we surrendered the momentum to the Bulls,” McCaw said.
It was only the second time seven-time champions Crusaders have lost a semi-final and the previous failure also came at Loftus when they fell 27-12 two years ago. On that occasion the darling of Loftus, Derick Hougaard, broke the hearts of the visitors with a string of penalty goals and his successor in the No. 10 jersey, Steyn, emerged as their tormentor-in-chief this time.
The flyhalf could do no wrong and greatly boosted his chances of making his Springboks debut against the touring British and Irish Lions next month as first-choice Ruan Pienaar is nursing an ankle injury.
But as the Bulls wore down their adversaries in the second half, it was hard to believe the same team were in serious trouble during the opening period when the Crusaders bolted out of the blocks to snatch two early tries.
Bulls early field kicking left much to be desired and the New Zealanders counterattacked with a vengeance and an errie silence enveloped the Bulls fortress when flanker Kieran Read scored the second try. It gave the defending champions a 20-7 advantage they retained for nine minutes until a blindside break by flanker Deon Stegmann led to wing Akona Ndungane crossing and the Bulls were back in business.
The crowd sensed something special was about to happen and as Waldrom walked off, Steyn took charge to drop two goals and level the scores before No. 8 Pierre Spies ran like an Olympic sprinter to touch down under the posts.
Understandably, the frenetic pace could not be maintained and the Bulls wore their flagging opponents into the ground during a second half that produced penalties and drop goals, but no tries to follow the first-half fest.
Wings Ndungane and Bryan Habana, and Spies crossed the line for the Bulls, with Steyn converting all three, landing a penalty and planting four drop goal attempts between the posts.
Wing Adam Whitelock and Read scored the Crusaders’ tries, fullback Leon MacDonald kicked both conversions and a penalty, flyhalf Stephen Brett a penalty and scrumhalf Andy Ellis a drop goal.
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