Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Bulls received the rugby equivalent of classroom corporal punishment when they went down 44-14 to Exeter Chiefs in their second Champions Cup outing at Sandy Park on Saturday.
It was to be expected after director of rugby Jake White fielded a team that, without Springboks Morne Steyn, Nizaam Carr, Bismarck du Plessis and Lizo Gqoboka, would have been a Vodacom Cup team.
Bright as some of the Bulls young talents were individually, playing former Champions Cup and English Premiership champions at full strength and on their own patch was always going to be a chastening experience.
AS IT HAPPENED | Champions Cup: Exeter v Bulls
It was like lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury fighting some super flyweight boxer – a huge mismatch. At least in the ring, the referee can stop the fight but rugby rules don’t allow Mathieu Raynal the same mercy.
Exeter fielded British & Irish Lions internationals and multiple Test-capped players like hat-trick hero Luke Cowan-Dickie and Scotland fullback Stuart Hogg.
Everywhere you looked, there was an international in a ruby red jersey: Wallaby Scott Sio at loosehead, Englishmen Sam Simmonds, the No 8, Henry Slade and Jack Nowell on the wings.
By the sixth Exeter score, it seemed too long a game and it was a matter of how many points the Chiefs could rack up in the contest.
The visitors, though, started brightly and gave hope that they would do what they did against Lyon at home last weekend.
Wandisile Simelane made the Bulls’ first try with a scything midfield break, darting in his usual slippery way, before the Bulls set up an extra phase to put wing Stravino Jacobs straight through in the sixth minute.
Five minutes later, however, Chiefs No 6 Dave Ewers got the hosts’ reply when he reached over the line from close range following sustained home side pressure.
Not long after, Exeter got up the field and capitalised on various Bulls errors and ill-discipline to strike their second try through England international hooker Cowan-Dickie from the back of a maul drive.
On the half-hour, it was a case of rinse and repeat as Cowan-Dickie scored again in the same corner after another lineout maul emanating from a penalty.
Winger Slade danced his way past the hapless Bulls defence for the fourth Exeter try of the half with less than five minutes left before the break.
At 32-7, the half-time team talk needed to be akin to the one that won Jake White the Rugby World Cup in 2007 if his young charges were to claw their way back into the contest.
It wasn’t to be for the men from Pretoria as Cowan-Dickie scored his third try of the afternoon after stretching over the line from his own quick tap five metres out early in the second half.
From there, Exeter managed a game that was already won by half-time.
Although the Englishmen conceded a try to centre Chris Smit after a deft Steyn chip, they quickly answered back through substitute Solomone Kata.
The last quarter of the contest was an open-ended mess but the hosts had long sown up the contest to be bothered.
Scorers:
Exeter Chiefs 44 (32)
Tries: Dave Ewers, Luke Cowan-Dickie (3), Henry Slade, Solomone Kata
Conversions: Joe Simmonds (4)
Penalties: Joe Simmonds (2)
Bulls 14 (7)
Tries: Stravino Jacobs, Chris Smit
Conversions: Morne Steyn (2)
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