Bulls overpower a young Stade Francais team to advance to the last 16 of the Challenge Cup

It was the final round of the Champions Cup pool stages with Stade Francais, and the Vodacom Bulls faced a challenging yet achievable task: win by 22 points or more and come away with 5 log points.

 Bulls started the strongly, scoring two quick tries to take a 14-0 lead. One of the tries was a penalty try awarded after a deliberate knockdown by Paris number 10, Louis Carbonel, who also received a yellow card. A penalty try is awarded in such situations as a certain try would have been scored without the cover defense. The Bulls capitalized on poor defense within 10 minutes, scoring after an excellent interplay between Sergeal Petersen and Devon Williams, with Williams scoring. Johan Goosen successfully converted, extending the home side's lead to 14-0.

Four minutes later, Embrose Papier displayed individual brilliance by slicing through the defense to score, extending the lead to 21-0 with Goosen's kick once again on target. Throughout the game, particularly in the first 60 minutes, the Bulls were precise in their attack, avoiding unnecessary mistakes They were also solid in the scrums, especially on Paris's throw, despite the away side winning 10 out of their 12 scrums.

After 23 minutes of immense pressure, Paris finally scored through Sekou Macal. This did not deter the side, as they added two more tries and a penalty from substitute Boeta Chamberlain, leading 36-7 at halftime.

The second half began with the same pace as the first, as Stedman Gans made a brilliant clean break and assisted Boeta Chamberlain for a try of his own. The final score for the Bulls came in the 50th minute from the eventual of the match, Cameron Hanekom, with Harold Vorster setting up the try.

Here are some stats for that game: 

Bulls	Stats	Paris
7	Tries	1
47%	Possession	53%
47%	Territory	53%
5/7	Conversions	1/1
12/16	Lineouts	14/18
1/1	Penalties	0/0
16	Handling Errors	6
123	Passes	120
9	Offloads	3
437	Meters gained	303
5	Clean Breaks	2
26	Kicks from hand	30
108	Tackles	68
16	Tackles Missed	8
4	Mauls	4
6	Penalties Conceded	12
0	Yellow Cards	1

What is quite remarkable to me is the tackle statistics. I believe there were actually more tackles made, but that is just my opinion. In terms of possession and territory, it appears that Paris should have scored more tries as they led in those particular statistics. They also made fewer tackles than the Bulls, which would normally indicate that they dominated in attack, but this was not the case. I think, in this instance, the penalty count let them down as they conceded double the number of penalties compared to the Bulls.

Nevertheless, it was quite a spectacle from both sides; I absolutely enjoyed watching this game. Kudos to Cameron Hanekom on his MOTM performance; this is exactly what the Bulls needed to get back to winning ways. The Bulls will now travel across the Jukskei to face their arch-rivals, the Lions, in round 10 of the Vodacom URC..