Bulls (rugby franchise)

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Bulls
Founded	1997
Union	South African Rugby Union
Location	Pretoria, South Africa
Region	Pretoria Limpopo Province East Rand
Ground	Loftus Versfeld
Capacity	50,000
Coach	Heyneke Meyer
Captain	Victor Matfield
League	Super 14
2006	3rd
Home colours		Away colours

The Bulls, for sponsorship reasons known as the Vodacom Bulls, are a South African rugby union team competing in the Super 14 competition. They are based in Pretoria and play their home matches at Loftus Versfeld. The team is centred around the Blue Bulls union (Pretoria plus Limpopo Province), but also draws players from the Falcons (representing the East Rand). Through 2005, the Bulls also drew players from the Pumas (Mpumalanga) and Leopards (North West), but in the realignment of franchise areas that came from the expansion of Super 12 to Super 14, these unions were moved into the franchise area of the Cats, now known as the Lions. Prior to 1998, the Bulls competed in the then-Super 12 as the Blue Bulls, as in those years South Africa was represented in the Super 12 by its top four Currie Cup unions instead of franchises.

Especially outside of South Africa, it is easy to confuse the Bulls with the "Blue Bulls", also known by their sponsorship name of "Vodacom Blue Bulls". The Blue Bulls are the representative team of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union, and compete in South Africa's domestic competition, the Currie Cup. As noted above, the Bulls draw most of their players from the Blue Bulls, but can also draw from the Falcons. The current team captain is lock Victor Matfield.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early competition 1.2 Super 12 1.3 2006 - present 2 Stadium 3 Current squad 4 Records and statistics 4.1 Match 4.2 Individual 4.3 Season 5 Season standings 6 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early competition

Prior to the professional Super rugby leagues, Northern Transvaal (Blue Bulls) competed in the Super 10, which was a tournament featuring ten teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Tonga and Western Samoa, which ran from 1993 to 1995. The top three teams from the previous Currie Cup tournament were promoted to compete in the Super 10 series.

Northern Transvaal were promoted for the 1993 season, where they were grouped in Pool B alongside Transvaal, New South Wales, North Harbour and Waikato. Transvaal finished at the top of the pool, with Northern Transvaal finishing third, behind New South Wales. They were not represented in the 1994 or 1995 season.

After rugby union went professional, the Super 10 tournament was restructured. The Super 12 was created, and was to be competed by teams fom Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Both Australia and New Zealand adopted new franchise models for their teams, whereas South Africa chose to use the Currie Cup to decide what teams were to be promoted in the Super 12 each season.

Competeing in the inaugural Super 12 season of 1996, Northern Transvaal were one of the 12 teams. The side won eight of their 11 games and finished third on the table - behind only Auckland and Queensland. Jannie Kruger finished the season in the top three leading point-scorers, behind only Matthew Burke and John Eales. The side was however soundly defeated in a semi-final by the Auckland Blues, with the final score being 48 points to 11. The game was played at Eden Park in Auckland.

[edit] Super 12

After their fairly successful performance in the opening competition, the subsequent competition of 1997 saw the team plummit to three wins and three draws from 11 games. They finished at eight - far from a semi-final appearance. Following the 1997 season, South Africa adopted a similar franchise system to that of Australia and New Zealand's, abolishing the Currie Cup promotion system in favour of creating new franchises. The Bulls were formed as one of the four new teams. Though that year did not see any improvement in the Bulls' results, and the side finished second last on the competition ladder at the end of the 1998 season.

It got even tougher the following year for the Bulls as they dropped to winning only one game during the 1999 season and finished at the bottom of the table. The one win and three bonus points saw the Bulls have just seven competition points by the end of the season, far less than the second-last Cats, who finished on 22 points. In 2000 the Bulls still only managed to win one match during the regular season, though two draws ensured they did not finish last.

The 2001 season was a disaster for the Bulls. After losing the opening round match against the previous seasons' wooden-spooners the Sharks, the Bulls went for a number of rounds without winning a game. The Bulls won their first game in round 10, defeating the Blues in Pretoria, 28 to 25. The side won only one other game that season, against the Cats, and ended up finishing at the bottom of the table. In 2002 the Bulls again finished 12th.

The 2003 and 2004 seasons saw a dramatic improvement in the Bulls performance. After finishing near the bottom of the table during the early 2000s, the Bulls finished in 6th place in both 2003 and 2004, though still missing out on a finals position.

They equalled there 1996 performance in 2005, although there was a very poor start to the season, it was followed by six straight wins to earn them a semi-final berth, where they were defeated by the New South Wales Waratahs. Bryan Habana finished in the top three try-scorers by the end of the season, and was short-listed for IRB player of the year.

[edit] 2006 - present

In 2006, the Super 12 became the Super 14, with the addition of two new franchises, the Central Cheetahs and the Western Force. By the last round of the 2006 season, the Bulls, along with the Brumbies and Sharks were all in contention to take the fourth and final position on the ladder to make the semi-finals. After the Brumbies were defeated 33 to 3 by the Crusaders, the Bulls or Sharks could mathematically take the fourth spot. The Bulls defeated the Stormers at Newlands in Cape Town 43 points to 10, which ensured they went through to the semi-finals. The Bulls travelled to Christchurch where they were defeated 35 to 15 at Jade Stadium and knocked out of the finals.

[edit] Stadium

The Bulls play all their home matches at the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria]], which is also the home of the Blue Bulls during the Currie Cup season. The stadium is also a regular host for Springbok Test matches, and was a host during the 1995 Rugby World Cup which South Africa hosted.

For the 2006 season the Bulls had by far the largest crowd average at their home games; averaging 47,000 throughout the season.[1]

[edit] Current squad

As of 2006 Super 14 season

Heinie Adams Richard Bands Bakkies Botha Gary Botha Rudi Coetzee Jacques Cronjé Marius Delport Danwel Demas Tim Dlulane Fourie du Preez Jaco Engels Bryan Habana Derick Hougaard Andries Human Victor Matfield Akona Ndungane	JP Nel Wynand Olivier Johan Roets Danie Rossouw Wessel Roux Dries Scholtz Pierre Spies Morné Steyn Gurthrö Steenkamp Danie Thiart Riaan van der Bergh Kobus van der Walt Francois van Schouwenburg Pedrie Wannenburg Johan Wasserman

[edit] Records and statistics

[edit] Match

• Biggest victory: 75-14 (v. Stormers, 2005)
• Largest points for: 75 (v Stormers, 2005)
• Biggest defeat: 9-73 (v ACT Brumbies, 1999)
• Most points conceded: 75 (v Crusaders, 2000)
• Most tries: 9 (v Cats, 2004/v Stormers, 2005)
• Most tries conceded: 11 (v Crusaders, 2000)
• Most points by a player: 35 by Morné Steyn v Stormers, 2005)
• Most tries by a player: 3 by Fourie du Preez v Cats, 2004)
• Most conversions by a player: 9 by Morné Steyn (v Cats, 2005)
• Most penalties by a player: 7 by Jannie de Beer (v Highlanders, 2000)
• Most drop goals by a player: 3 by Louis Koen (v Cats, 2003)

[edit] Individual

• Most appearances: 51 by Victor Matfield (2001-2005)
• Most points: 156 by Casper Steyn (1998-2001)
• Most tries: 17 by Frikkie Welsh (2000-2004)
• Most conversions: 25 by Derick Hougaard (2003-2005)
• Most penalties in a season: 31 by Jannie de Beer (2000)
• Most drop goals in a season: 7 by Louis Koen (2003)

[edit] Season

• Most points: 320 (11 matches, 2003)
• Most points by a player: 139 by Louis Koen (2003)
• Most team tries: 36 (11 matches, 2004/12 matches, 2005)
• Most tries by a player: 9 by Bryan Habana (2005)
• Most conversions by a player: 17 by Louis Koen (2003)
• Most penalties by a player: 31 Jannie de Beer (2000)
• Most drop goals by a player: 7 by Louis Koen (2003)

[edit] Season standings

Season	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	BP	Pts	Notes
1996	4th	11	8	0	3	329	208	+121	6	38	As Northern Transvaal, lost semi-final to Auckland Blues.
1997	8th	11	3	3	5	264	342	-78	4	22	As Blue Bulls (Nth Transvaal).
1998	11th	11	3	0	8	249	306	-57	4	16
1999	12th	11	1	0	10	203	447	-244	3	7
2000	11th	11	1	2	8	231	395	-164	3	11
2001	12th	11	2	0	9	241	378	-137	3	11
2002	12th	11	0	0	11	232	500	-268	1	1
2003	6th	11	6	0	5	320	354	-34	5	30
2004	6th	11	5	1	5	302	320	-18	6	28
2005	3rd	11	7	0	4	301	229	72	6	34	Lost semi-final to Waratahs.
2006	4th	13	7	1	5	355	290	65	7	38	Lost semi-final to Crusaders.

[edit] External links

• Bluebulls.co.za Official website
• blourugby.com Unofficial website
• Data and Statistics itsrugby.com
• Bulls on super14.com
• superrugby.co.za