Match Centre: Champions Cup: Bulls 27-16 Saracens
Elliot Daly's try went in vain for Saracens
©PA
Bulls 27-16 Saracens, Pool 1, Loftus Versfeld
Bulls capitalised on the red card to Billy Vunipola as they defeated Saracens 27-16 in the opening round of the Champions Cup at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
This was also the first game for skipper Owen Farrell since he announced a break from international rugby to focus on mental well being but their indiscipline proved costly for Saracens as they failed to overcome the South African club.
Bulls made a promising start to the game as an initial break from Canan Moodie allowed David Kriel to touchdown and Johan Goosen landed the conversion to make it 7-0.
The home side maintained their three-point lead after Farrell and Goosen exchanged a brace of penalties apiece making it 13-6 by the 23rd minute. Three minutes later Saracens lost Alex Goode to sin-bin for a dangerous tackle on Kurt-Lee Arendse.
At the stroke of half-time, Saracens were down to 13 players temporarily with Maro Itoje also yellow carded for an offence right on the line and the Bulls capitalised on the numerical advantage with Janko Swanepoel bundled over from just five metres out to stretch their advantage. Goosen landed the extras as Bulls completed the opening half with a 20-6 lead.
Bulls extended the momentum into the second half as Arendse sent a wide pass for Moodie to dot down and just as Saracens returned to full strength, they lost Vunipola to red card in the 51st minute for a dangerous clearout at the ruck and despite that Elliot Daly bundled over the line to make it 27-11.
The final 10 minutes saw both teams down to 14 players with Swanepoel sent to sin-bin providing hope for Mark McCall's men who replied with a try from Theo McFarland but they could not make the final push as Bulls sealed a thrilling victory.
Team line up:
Bulls: Le Roux; Arendse, Gans, Kriel, Moodie; Goosen, Papier; Steenekamp, Van der Merwe, W Louw, Swanepoel, Ludwig, Van Staden, E Louw (capt), Hanekom.
Reserves: Wessels, Matanzima, Smith, Slabbert, Coetzee, Burger, Van der Walt, Petersen.
Saracens: Goode; Lewington, Daly, Tompkins, Maitland; Farrell (capt), Van Zyl; Ma Vunipola, George, Clarey, Itoje, Tizard, Gonzalez, Christie, B Vunipola.
Reserves: Dan, West, Judge, McFarland, Knight, Davies, Hartley, Cinti.
