The record-breaking Bulls put their name in the history books with an unbelievable 61-17 victory over a hapless Chiefs team in the Super 14 Final in Pretoria on Saturday.

It is the biggest winning margin in a Final, by the proverbial country mile - the 44-point margin beating the 30 points (36-6) win the Brumbies posted over the Sharks in 2001. The 61 points also smashed the 47 points posted by the Brumbies in the 2004 Final.

And then there is Morné Steyn, with a Super 14 record of 11 drop-goals in a season - having kicked one in the Final.

Words are not enough. What is one to say? What can one say? What super-superlatives are there?

One of the glories of sport is unpredictability. This score was not predictable. If anybody wrote this score down beforehand he must have been seriously confused or thinking of something else, certainly not rugby, certainly not Super 14 rugby and certainly not the Super 14 Final.

61-17.

And it could have been more. There was nothing of the fluke about this, no lucky bounce, no questionable decision. It was simply a massive victory and the place to be on Saturday night was Pretoria and the colour to wear was blue. Even the newly elected President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, was there and he wore a blue jersey.

Early in the first half, the final outcome would have been unpredictable. You would not have said for sure that the Bulls would win, let alone in that fashion. And then there was a period early in the second half when the Chiefs promised a comeback but it was shortlived and in the end they were a dispirited group who trudged onto the stage to receive runners-up awards. They were so proud about reaching the Final, so elated by that win in Hamilton and they travelled with hope and determination. In the end they looked humiliated and must have wondered if reaching the Final was really worthwhile.

Of course, it was worthwhile, their first ever and on the back of a terrible start to the Super 14, which spoke volumes of their character and ability. They just walked into a team of great ability filled with confidence and riding the crest of a wave.

The Bulls played in waves. They attacked in waves. There was always a team-mate on hand. They tackled in waves. Their first-time tackling was not always good but there were always so many of them to tackle. The Bulls' wave swamped the Chiefs,

Both teams ran from the start. The Bulls ran and looked good when Zane Kirchner broke, but it was the Chiefs who scored first, a try of simple brilliance. Kirchner kicked down to the touch-line on his left where Stephen Donald caught the ball, skated away from Kirchner and then gave inside to Lelia Masaga of the powerful legs. The wing raced beyond Matfield's grasp and round under the posts. 7-0 after 7 minutes.

It was a shortlived lead. One minute is a short time in an 80-minute game. First Kirchner cut back but stumbled. The Chiefs were freekicked and Fourie du Preez tapped and broke past James McGougan and through Donald to score near the posts. 7-7 after 8 minutes.

The tied score did not last long either and again it was that man Du Preez. The Chiefs countered and burly Aled de Malmanche was felled by Wynand Olivier, losing the ball forward. Morné Steyn picked it up and gave to Du Preez who sped 45 metres to score in the right corner as Mils Muliaina came racing across in cover. 14-7 after 11 minutes.

The Bulls were strange at the tackle. The Chiefs got more men there but the Bulls were still able to protect their own ball and win turnovers. They went left on their third post-tackle turnover, won this time by Deon Stegmann. Steyn threw a long pass to Matfield who gave to Du Preez. The multi-talented scrumhalf grubbered with his left foot and Bryan Habana picked up the ball and sped 38 metres to score in the left corner. 21-7 after 15 minutes.

There was some lively back-and-forth play with an outstanding break by Richard Kahui, thwarted by an ankletap by Kirchner.

In that turnover which he had won, Stegmann hurt an ankle and at this stage he was forced to hobble off and was replaced by Pedrie Wannenburg. Stegmann was not the first casualty of the match for de Malmanche had left the field in Olivier's tackle.

The Loftus Versfeld crowd, so silent after 7 minutes, was now roaring and the only change for the rest of the match was the ever-rising decibel level. Steyn kicked a regulation dropped goal as the Bulls attacked. 24-7. When Sione Lauaki, lying on the ground at a tackle/ruck interfered with Du Preez's pass Steyn made it 27-7. In some matches Lauaki may well have been sent to the sin bin.

The Chiefs went through phases which had lots of activity but won no territory. The game was stalemated till Habana stepped forward, intercepted and raced an unchallenged 60 metres to the posts. That made thew half-time score 34-7.

As in the first half the Bulls attacked first and the Chiefs scored first. From a tapped free kick Kirchner was stopped at the line but the Chiefs won a turnover and made ground down the field till Donald, going left, turned the ball back inside to Muliaina for the fullback, who was the star of his side, to race over under the posts. 37-14 after 46 minutes.

The Chiefs had new life and started doing what they do best, attacking with speed and variety. Steyn's penalty when McGougan obstructed did not put them off and, when Donald made the score 37-17, it seemed that there was the strong possibility that the Chiefs would come whooping back.

It was not a new dawn. As in the fast half the Bulls immediately shattered the Chiefs' hopes. They attacked on the right and Kirchner was stopped at the line. There was a tackle ruck and then Matfield picked up the ball arched himself over the pile of bodies and reached a long arm down to the ground to score an unusual try. Steyn's conversion bounced back off the upright. 42-17 after 56 minutes.

From now on the Bulls were back on top and the game ceased to be a contest. It was now a fiesta. The crowd sang and roared and cheered and laughed. even the Bulls smiled and relaxed. They took all the players off the bench and allowed them to savour an historic moment.

They should have scored when Pierre Spies won a Chiefs' throw into a line-out (They lost six and threw in skew once.) The Bulls went left and Olivier went through a half gap and gave to Jaco Pretorius. Under no pressure, with nobody significantly close, the centre dropped the ball in the act of grounding it.

Olivier broke again but Akona Ndungane knocked on. So Olivier did it all on his own, breaking past Callum Bruce to score. 47-17 with 13 minutes to play.

The Chiefs attacked but Spies intercepted and raced 75 metres down the field to score in the left corner. 54-17 with 9 minutes to play.

It was still not the end. Back came the Bulls. Matfield tapped a free kick and Danie Rossouw forced his way to the line, stretching out a long arm to score. He did so far out but Burton Francis goaled. 61-17. The match ended soon afterwards.

It was a time for rejoicing for the Bulls and their fans and a time to kneel in prayer. It was a time for the Chiefs to draw up their circle and listen to their chief, Mils Muliaina. It was a time for speeches to be made, the captains to be gracious, awards to be made and blue and white macro-confetti to descend on an ecstatic Loftus Versfeld, one of the great days in the great grounds history.

Man of the Match: Apart from Mils Muliaina, who again made a speech of great maturity and generosity, they were Bulls - lot of them. Of that lot Zane Kirchner and Wynand Olivier, Dewald Potgieter and Derick Kuün were all excellent. Fourie du Preez again revealed his calm class and the vast array of his talents that scored two tries and made a third when they were really needed. But for us our Man of the Match was the captain, Victor Matfield. He made the decisions which counted, led the line-out domination, passed, tackled, covered and scored that unusual try - and did it all as the calm ruler of all he surveyed.

Moment of the Match: There were ten of them as all the tries were special but our Moment of the Match is Fourie du Preez's second try, great in itself and the start of this startling victory.

The scorers:

For the Bulls:
Tries: Du Preez 2, Habana 2, Matfield, Olivier, Spies, Rossouw
Cons: Steyn 5, Francis
Pens: Steyn 2
DG: Steyn

For Chiefs:
Tries: Masaga, Muliaina
Cons: Donald 2
Pen: Donald

Teams:

Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Derick Kuün, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Rayno Gerber, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Pedrie Wannenburg, 20 Heini Adams, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Marius Delport.

Chiefs: 15 Mils Muliaina (captain), 14 Lelia Masaga, 13 Richard Kahui, 12 Callum Bruce, 11 Dwayne Sweeney, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Toby Morland, 8 Sione Lauaki, 7 Tanerau Latimer, 6 Liam Messam, 5 Kevin O'Neill, 4 Craig Clarke, 3 James McGougan, 2 Aled de Malmanche, 1 Sona Taumalolo.
Replacements: 16 Hika Elliot, 17 Joe Savage, 18 Toby Lynn, 19 Serge Lilo, 20 David Bason, 21 Mike Delany, 22 Sosene Anesi.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Touch judges: Craig Joubert, Cobus Wessels
TMO: Johann Meuwesen

  • Was this everything you expected it to be? It's your shout!

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