Jake White's Bulls tame Lions to boost Shield hopes

The Bulls clawed back some ground in the United Rugby Championship’s South African Shield with a 34-10 victory over the Lions in Johannesburg.

Jake White’s men have struggled to live up to expectations this season and came into the weekend five points adrift at the bottom of their regional pool.

However, tries from Johan Grobbelaar, Embrose Papier, Arno Botha and Harold Vorster saw them to a bonus-point victory in a match in which they also had two scores disallowed.

The Lions, themselves, had a touchdown ruled out in the first half and although they did go over through Jaco Kriel just short of the hour mark, it was an afternoon to forget for the home side.

Morne Steyn kicked 14 points for the Bulls while Fred Zeilinga and Tiaan Swanepoel split the posts once apiece with a penalty and conversion respectively for the Lions.

The result sees the Bulls pull level on points with their third-placed hosts in the South African Shield after seven matches.