Bulls (rugby club)

Before the creation of a professional rugby league in the Southern Hemisphere, the Northern Transvaal team (Northern Transvaal team, later the Blue Bulls) played in the Super 10 international championship. Among the participants in the tournament were clubs from Australia , New Zealand , Tonga and Western Samoa . The championship was held from 1993 to 1995, and three South African championship participants were determined based on their performances in the Curry Cup .

“Northern Transvaal” played in the 1993 season, where he ended up in group “B” with the teams of Transvaal, New South Wales, North Harbor and Waikato. Northern Transvaal took third place, passing forward Transvaal and New South Wales. In the next two seasons, the team did not qualify for the championship.

After the transition of rugby to a professional basis, the format of Super 10 was changed. The Super 12 Championship appeared, uniting teams exclusively from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The Australasian federations immediately adopted a new club system, which implied the presence of large regional teams with the ability to challenge players from lower status clubs. The leaders of South African rugby for some time refused such a reform, and the participants in the championship from South Africa were determined on the basis of performances in the Curry Cup.

“Northern Transvaal” became one of the participants of the first season in 1996. The club won 8 out of 11 meetings of the regular season, which allowed rugby players to take third place (Auckland and Queensland were ahead). Yanni Krueger, a South African player, became one of the top three scorers of the season by the number of points scored, losing to Matthew Burke from New South Wales and John Iles from Queensland . The team reached the semifinals, where they met with New Zealanders from Auckland and lost with a score of 11:48. The match was held at the Eden Park Arena in New Zealand .

A fairly successful start to the championship was replaced by a relatively weak start in 1997. The club won three times and in three cases played a draw, which was only enough for eighth place. At the end of the season, Northern Transvaal changed its name to Blue Bulls ( Blue Bulls - “blue bulls” ). After this season, the South African rugby authorities adopted a draft transition to a regional team system, abolishing qualifications from the Curry Cup. Four major clubs were created, one of which was the Northern Bulls (the Northern Bulls ). The first season of the updated team again failed, rugby players remained outside the playoffs. In 1998-2002, the “bulls” were considered one of the worst championship teams, because for five consecutive seasons the club occupied either the last or the penultimate place. In the 2002 season, the Bulls became the first team in the history of the championship to fail to win a single match. This anti-record completely belonged to the “bulls”, while in 2010 other South Africans from Lyons suffered a similar failure. Since 2000, the club has become known simply as the Bulls. Thus, the Super Series team was under the Bulls brand, and the Curry Cup team was called the Blue Bulls.

The team took sixth place both in 2003 and in 2004. After a season, the bulls repeated the success of 1996. Despite the weak start of the regular season, rugby players held a series of six victorious matches and reached the finish line in the playoff zone. However, in the 1/2 finals, South Africans lost to Uarataz , the heirs of the New South Wales team. Again, the “bulls” player was among the top scorers of the season: Brian Habana became the third player in the number of attempts made. In addition, at the end of the season, he was nominated for the prestigious IRB Player of the Year Award.

In 2006, the number of participants in the championship was expanded to 14, and the tournament was called Super 14 . Newcomers were South Africans from Central Chitaz and Australians from Western Force . By the last round of the regular season, fourth place in the standings was disputed by the Bulls, Brambiz and Sharks . After the Brambiz lost the Crusaders (3:33), the Bulls overcame the Stormers ' resistance in the Cape Town match, which ended with a score of 43:10. Such a combination of circumstances guaranteed the “bulls” a place in the semifinals. The Crusaders, which helped the Bulls reach the playoffs, beat the South African club in the first round of relegation games (35:15).

The Bulls lost to Sharks in the first game of 2007 (3:17), but in the next round, the team leveled the ratio of wins and losses by beating Central Chitaz . Before the last round of the regular season, the bulls needed a victory over the Queensland Reds , and the South Africans had to earn at least 72 points in the match. Otherwise, the club could not take second place and ensure the game in the semifinals in the home arena ^[2] . Such an unlikely event, however, took place: the Bulls beat the Australians with a score of 92: 3, with a difference of 89 points, which at that time amounted to a new championship record ^[2] . The Bulls recorded 13 attempts (four players took a double), and Derik Hoogard completed 11 realizations. The first team in the regular season was Sharks . As a result, for the first time in history, both semi-finals were to be held at South African stadiums. The Bulls avenged the Crusaders for last year’s defeat (27:12), and Derik Hoogard again showed high performance: the player scored 8 penalties and one drop goal. The second semifinal game took place at the Sharks home stadium, which also passed the semifinal barrier and provided the first all-African decisive match for the first years of the championship.

The finals took place at the Ebsa Stadium in Durban , on Sharks grounds. In the decisive match, rivals of comparable strength met, and the game turned out to be very intense. “Bulls” started not in the best way, making many mistakes at the beginning of the match and repeatedly violating discipline. Sharks were led to the break with a score of 14:10, an attempt by the “shark” of J.P. Petersen compensated for a similar effective action by Pierre Spies. In the second half, the “bulls” seized the initiative, but for some time they could not turn the positional advantage into an advantage in the long run. Derik Hoogard scored a penalty, minimizing the gap (13:14), after which the Bulls made several attempts to defeat the Sharks test zone. However, the onslaught of the “bulls” always failed at one of the last stages of the attack. The Bulls ’chances of victory were significantly reduced after Albert van den Berg brought the Sharks another attempt two minutes before the end of the second half, and the hosts' advantage was already six points. The situation could become even more critical, but François Stein was unable to carry out the implementation. The Bulls gained the ball after it was put into the game, carried out some tactical actions, and the shell was on Bryan Habana 's right flank. The player made an attempt, giving the ending of the game a dramatic character: the effective action of Khabana took place more than a minute after the end of regular time. This case is especially interesting because, according to the rules of rugby, the match continues until the ball becomes “dead”, that is, it does not go out or is played forward. In other words, after the second half, the game may continue for some time, but even the slightest mistake by the attacking or defending team can end the match. Derik Hugard decided the outcome of the meeting in favor of the guests, having implemented and set the final score, 20:19 in favor of the Bulls. In 2009, the club repeated success, having won in the Super 14 final against the Chiefs (61:17). The third victory of the “bulls" in the championship took place in 2010: the team won against another South African club - the Stormers (25:17).

The Bulls have all home matches at the Loftus Versfeld Arena in Pretoria . The stadium is also used by the Blue Bulls during performances in the Curry Cup . The arena hosts some of the country's national team games. Loftus Versfeld was one of the stadiums used at the 1995 World Cup in South Africa. The complex received matches of group D : France - Tonga , Scotland - Tonga and France - Scotland. Two matches of the playoffs of the World Cup were also played in Pretoria: Scotland and New Zealand met in the quarterfinal, and in the match for third place the French fought with the English .

The complex has been used for rugby matches since 1908. The object was given its current name in 1932: Robert Owen Loftus Versfeld ^{[3] [4] was the} founder of modern rugby in Pretoria. The stadium was reconstructed several times, in particular, the arena was updated several times in the 1970s . Now, after the 2008 reconstruction, in front of the 2010 football mundial , the stadium seats 51,762 fans.

The core of the team are the players of the Blue Bulls rugby union, which unites the territories of Pretoria and the province of Limpopo . The team also attracts players from the Falcons club, representing the East Rand . In 2005, the Bulls could be declared rugby players from the clubs Pumas ( Mpumalanga ) and Leopards ( Northwest Province ). Then, in connection with the expansion of the championship and the redistribution of territories between regional teams, these teams moved to the structure of the Cats club, now known as Lyons.

An expanded staff of 59 people to prepare for the 2013 season ^[5] .

• 1996 : John Williams
• 1997 : Kitsch Christie
• 1998-1999 : Eugen van Wieck
• 2000 : Heineke Meyer
• 2001 : Phil Praetornius
• 2002 : Heineke Meyer
• 2003 : Rudy Joubert
• 2004-2007 : Heineke Meyer
• 2008 - n. at. : France Ludecke

• 1996-1997 : Ruben Krueger
• 1998 : Adrian Richter
• 1999 : Shutte Becker
• 2000 : Ruben Krueger
• 2001 : Jost van der Vestuyzen
• 2002 : Chris Le Roux
• 2003 : Jost van der Westwijsen
• 2004 : Victor Matfield
• 2005 : Anthon Leonard
• 2006-2007 : Victor Matfield
• 2008 : Fury du Preses
• 2009—2011 : Victor Matfield
• 2012 - n. at. : Pierre Spies

Team

Matches

Individual

Seasonal

Super 12

Super 14

Super Rugby

• Club official website
• The Bulls Page on SuperXV.com