Bulls beat Lions in their PRO14 Rainbow Cup SA opener

The Bulls began their PRO14 Rainbow Cup SA campaign with a 22-9 win over the Lions at Loftus Versfeld.

The home side made a flying start when Chris Smith wriggled through a couple of tackles and sprinted over the whitewash from 20 metres out before converting his own second-minute try.

Two Fred Zeilinga penalties reduced the deficit to one point with the Bulls’ Janko Swanepoel seeing his try disallowed by the TMO after Embrose Papier was adjudged to have knocked the ball on.

Smith and Zeilinga traded penalties either side of half-time while the Lions saw EW Viljoen receive a yellow card for a deliberate knock on as the Bulls piled on the pressure.

The Bulls finally made their dominance count when Zak Burger darted over for his first senior try with the club, which was converted by Morne Steyn.

Madosh Tambwe had a try ruled out for the Bulls following a successful Captain’s Challenge, with the line-out ball deemed not to be straight, but Elrigh Louw went over late on to wrap up a 12th straight home win.