Bulls scrum stuck to their guns

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Mornay Smith says the Vodacom Bulls never stopped believing that they could win a scrum penalty on Leinster ball in the last play of the game at Loftus.

The 27-year-old replaced Wilco Louw at tighthead prop in the 52nd minute of Saturday's Vodacom URC match, having last featured for the Bulls against Castres in January when making his only start of the season so far in five appearances.

Boosted by Smith and fellow front-row replacements, loosehead prop Jan-Hendrick Wessels and hooker Johan Grobbelaar, the hosts won several second-half scrum penalties and scored two tries from lineout mauls to turn an 11-point deficit into a one-point lead.

But flyhalf Ross Byrne's 78th-minute penalty put Leinster back in front and, with time up, the URC log-leaders just had to win a scrum on their put-in and kick the ball out to preserve their unbeaten record this season.

However, the Bulls pack had other ideas.

"Grobbies had just left the field and Akker [van der Merwe] came back on," Smith recalled on Tuesday.

"The scrum was reset three or four times, and we told each other to keep building, keep going, keep composed, just do what we do well, stick to our guns and it will come off in the end. And that's exactly what happened.

"I was privileged to be on the field then and to be part of that moment," he added. "I had the whole pack with me, so hats off to them. Without them, and Jan-Hendrick on the other side and Akker next to me, there aren't moments like this."

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Smith stood behind David Kriel as the midfielder lined up his penalty kick.

"We have a lot of confidence in David," he said. "Even if he's not kicking [for goal] this weekend, he's out there practising his kicks. I had no doubt he was going to kick it over. I wasn't nervous and I was cheering before the ball went through the posts."

Smith admitted it was difficult not to play for weeks and then be thrown in the deep end, but said all props in the squad were on the same page.

"We have a thing at the Bulls called 'what is needed'. What is needed for this weekend? If you are needed for this weekend, then you need to be ready. You always need to be ready. We all want to play at the end of the day, so you just have to keep working hard."

Smith said the Bulls would look to build on their confident-boosting win going into Saturday's home match against Zebre, who lost 35-34 to the Sharks in Durban last weekend.

"You can't write them off. They are quite a good team and have quite a good scrum. I think since we joined the URC, this is the most games they have won in a season [five], so we will have to prepare well for them because they don't stop."

Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images 

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