Bulls v Glasgow: Five takeaways as the Warriors’ maul ‘masterclass’ overcomes ‘improbable’ URC title run

Following Glasgow’s 16-21 victory over the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship final at Loftus Versveld, here are our five takeaways.

Top line

For the first time, Glasgow Warriors are the United Rugby Championship winners after they overturned a 13-0 deficit to stun the Bulls in Pretoria.

Franco Smith’s men struggled in the opening period, with the hosts’ gargantuan pack and scrum dominance taking them into an early lead. In truth, the South Africans should have been further ahead after half-an-hour so they deservedly held a 13-0 advantage given to them by Marco van Staden’s try and a pair of Johan Goosen penalties heading into the interval.

Had they kept the visitors scoreless at the break, it might have been a different story, but Scott Cummings’ effort summed up the spirit in the Glasgow ranks. The lock touched down on the stroke of half-time to give them genuine hope and the Scotsmen took that momentum into the second period.

They were exceptional in the final 40 minutes, with their big players all coming to the fore, and scores from George Turner and Huw Jones deservedly put them ahead. At that point, the visitors were in control, but Tom Jordan’s yellow card gave the Bulls one final shot as they put pressure on the Scottish outfit’s line.

The South Africans attempted to send the maul across the whitewash but, rather aptly, the Warriors, who have excelled in that area this season, held firm to spark jubilant scenes amongst the players and staff.

Loftus has seen its fair share of mauling brilliance over the years, but today, it was Glasgow who produced a driving masterclass akin to that of the Victor Matfield-Bakkies Botha era, in a shift even the legend Frik du Preez – who was in attendance – would have admired.

Magnificent Glasgow Warriors fight back to stun Bulls at Loftus Versfeld for first United Rugby Championship title

Glasgow do it the hard way

Like Munster last year, Glasgow achieved the improbable by winning on enemy soil. While it wasn’t quite as staggering as the Irish province, who claimed three successive victories on their travels, it was no less impressive.

To some extent, they only had themselves to blame in their final league position, losing successive games in South Africa – including to the Bulls – to leave them down in fourth place, one point behind second, but they certainly won’t care about that now.

A home triumph over the Stormers in the quarter-final set up a match with the league leaders and defending champions Munster in the last-four, but they produced a superb breakdown display to reach the showpiece event thanks to a 17-10 success.

It didn’t get any easier as they had to immediately travel to South Africa ahead of Saturday’s clash. At 13-0 in arrears after 30 minutes – again making it difficult for themselves – it appeared a long way back for the Warriors, but Smith’s charges have found a way of overcoming adversity throughout the past few weeks, and they did it once more to taste URC glory at one of South Africa’s rugby cathedrals and a sold-out one.

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Glasgow’s unheralded defence

Much has been made about Glasgow’s brilliance in the maul and their equally lethal phase-play attack, yet the really underrated part of their game has been their nigh-on unbreakable defence.

Peter Murchie will be an incredibly happy man after his defensive system holds firm when it matters most, and it deserves many more plaudits than it currently gets.

Yes, the Bulls were rather flat and lacked the variety that Willie le Roux would normally offer their attack but even the world-class attacking brilliance of Kurt-Lee Arendse and the potent David Kriel were by in large kept quiet.

Much of their excellence on defence stemmed from their truly outrageous performers in the back row, with Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge and Henco Venter rising to the occasion and some.

It’s seldom that Dempsey and Fagerson would put in below-par performances, but on Saturday, they raised the bar as the pair possibly produced their career-best shifts in a Warriors jersey to power their side to victory. It was all-action, all the time.

Defence is a team effort, and throughout the squad, Glasgow were committed from start to finish and remained patient even when the Bulls went through the double-digit phases time after time.

Bulls’ depth just too shallow this time

Jake White undoubtedly made several sharp signings ahead of this season, with many paying dividends in the semi-final victory over Leinster, but today, too many key men were missing.

Le Roux’s absence was stark as the Bulls attack lacked fluidity and clear direction and the decision not to make any backline replacements suggests there was some hesitancy to throw those into the mix.

Marcell Coetzee’s leadership and impact from the bench surely would have been massive in the latter stages of the game, as would have Canan Moodie’s X-factor.

It’s hard to plan for the kind of injury toll that the Bulls endured in the season’s run-in, but the depth was just not there to get them over the line.

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Fine margins

One drive, in the final minute, stopped inches away from the tryline and… it was not to be for one while it was for the other.

The final play of the game summed up the sensational final that was jampacked with the closest of margins that ultimately decided the result.

Before that final play, what could have been for the Bulls had Elrigh Louw not knocked on the kick-off into Arendse’s hands? Or even before that, what if Goosen kept possession instead of chancing a drop goal on an advantage? For Glasgow, what if the tackle on Arendse been a split second later and Dempsey’s try stood?

Had Goosen not rushed his botched touchline kick, would the Bulls have launched a far better attack? There is no point in hovering on each individual moment, but the combination of them led to the Bulls’ downfall and Glasgow’s success, as is always the case in these mighty match-ups.

For the Bulls, they will be left thinking ‘what if’ while the Warriors drink in the success of a maiden URC since the South Africans joined the competition and rightfully so; they won those small battles and the big ones. They did it the hard way, on the road and in front of an imposing crowd.

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