Brilliant Bulls boss Cardiff under Friday night lights in Pretoria

Johan Ackermann's charges got their URC campaign back on track with a superlative victory built on the back of forward dominance, aerial skills and staunch defence.

The only real blemish came in the fourth minute. Cardiff were first on the board when the Bulls attempted to run it wide, only for David Kriel to drop a pass. Centre Harri Miller was on hand to pick up the pieces and run in unopposed under the posts.

But the hosts bounced back quickly. They set up a five-metre lineout, everyone knew what was coming, and the Cardiff forwards couldn't do anything about it. Captain Marcel Coetzee rumbled over behind his forwards for the equaliser.

Minutes later, the Bulls smuggled hooker Johan Grobbelaar over the line for an identical try, this time off the back of a technical penalty. Pollard's conversion attempt struck the upright and the Bulls were 12-7 up.

The men in blue thought they had extended their lead when Cobus Wiese crashed over, but Embrose Papier was rightly pinged for obstruction. It mattered little, as 90 seconds later Kurt-Lee Arendse weaved his magic in broken play and put Kriel under the poles.

Cardiff continued with their box-kicking tactic, much to Arendse's delight. The Springbok winger gathered, jinked and jived to beat three and fed eventual man of the match Papier on his outside, who showed tremendous gas to round his defender.

But the Bulls were just warming up. Canan Moodie got the midfield break and flung the ball back after the tackle, only for Nizaam Carr to hoof the loose ball off the deck for an audacious 30m kick-pass to Elrigh Louw on the wing, who rode a tackle to score in the corner. With the score 33-7 at the break, Ackermann was beaming in the coaches' box.

However, Cardiff came out strong in the second stanza, turning the match into a proper armwrestle. The Bulls finally broke the deadlock in the 57th minute, with replacement Ruan Vermaak crashing over from close range after sustained pressure.

The Welsh franchise knocked on the door several times, but their errors combined with the Bulls' firm defence to keep them scoreless for the final 76  minutes.

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