Bulls captain Victor Matfield said that Saturday evening was "the best night of my life" after his side defeated the Chiefs 61-17 to clinch the Super 14 trophy in the Final at Loftus Versfeld.

It was the first home Final for the Bulls - who also won the title in 2007, defeating the Sharks in Durban - and Matfield thanked their fans for the support they had given them this week.

People started queuing for tickets immediately after their semifinal victory over the Crusaders at home last weekend.

"Two years back we were awesome with two South African sides, but I think this last week, arriving here on Monday morning and seeing everybody queuing here, we almost couldn't get to training on Monday," Matfield said.

"Luckily we trained at Tuks [University of Pretoria] otherwise we wouldn't have been able to train with all the people here [at Loftus].

"It was just awesome with all the support and everything. It's been a great year and we're happy to finish it like this."

The skipper, who scored one of eight Bulls tries on Saturday, said that continuity and progression had been the keys to their success.

"I think it's just nice that we had the same plans throughout the year. That's one thing that we believe in at the Bulls, we do the same things, we just try and do it better every week and fortunately the ball bounced for us and we're very happy with the result."

Matfield also gave credit to the Chiefs, who took a thumping in their first Super 14 final. He said they had shown a lot of character and that the away conditions had played a big part in their disappointing performance.

"They're a great team," he said.

"I think they showed throughout the year what a good side they are."

Chiefs coach Ian Foster was clearly gutted - he admitted as much - but said they hadn't expected to be handed such a hiding.

"Clearly we didn't expect a runaway victory when we came here and we got beaten by a very good team," Foster said.

"They took opportunities early and we got behind, and then we had to try to play catch-up rugby."

365

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