Bulls co-captain Ruan Nortje is back to his best. (Photo by Tyler Miller/Gallo Images)
A devastated Ruan Nortje said his decision not to take a kick at poles in the closing stages of the Bulls’ United Rugby Championship (URC) final defeat to the Glasgow Warriors would probably “haunt” him a bit.
Trailing 21-16 (the final score) in the last quarter of a tense affair, the Bulls’ captain tried to pull the trigger early by going for the corner so the hosts could maul their way over instead of taking a 66th-minute kick at goal that would have reduced the deficit to two points with over 10 minutes remaining.
When he made that call, Nortje probably had not bargained with an interesting statistic casually dropped by Glasgow coach Franco Smith after the match – that the team who have scored a tournament-high 23 maul tries (16 more than the next) had yet to concede a five-pointer to a lineout drive this season.
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