Vodacom Bulls flyhalf Morné Steyn was back to his sharpshooting self in their 36-34 victory over the Brumbies in a Super Rugby match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The pivot scored 26 of his side's points to give the Bulls a valuable home win, writes Ockert de Villiers of Sapa.
The tourists, coached by former Springbok mentor Jake White attempted to outsmart the Bulls at their own game but with little effect.
They peppered the hosts with up-and-unders but the Bulls' back three up to the task under the high ball.
The home-side, however, struggled to get into the groove with the Brumbies were more of an annoyance than anything else.
White's nevertheless threw down the gauntlet and kept the Bulls at an arm's length throughout the match., Steyn struck the first blow as he got his side on the scoreboard with a penalty conversion.
It took the Bulls little more than a minute extend their lead with another Steyn penalty conversion.
The Bulls' defense, however, let them down seven minutes later. They gifted the Brumbies a try as their defensive system failed.
They let two tries within three minutes slip as Henry Speight and Jesse Mogg scored two easy unconverted tries for a four-point lead.
The Pretoria-based side did not allow the indiscretions get the better of them as they hit back but could not convert the opportunities into tries but were rewarded with three points thanks to Steyn's placekicking (9-10).
The Bulls wrestled the lead back in the 24th minutes with Bjorn Basson scoring after fellow wing Akona Ndungane got over the gain line with a sniping run.
After Ndungane got through a gap the Bulls quickly spread the ball wide to Zane Kirchner who cleverly tapped the ball to Basson who scored, with Steyn converting (16-10).
Steyn had the last say of the first-half as he knocked another penalty conversion seven minutes before the break to extend their lead to six points.
The Bulls flyhalf continued his reign of terror as he opened the second half with a drop goal and succeeded with a penalty goal to give his side a 12-point lead.
The home-side struck another demoralising blow with hard-nosed flanker CJ Stander scoring a controversial try.
Referee Marius Jonker did not rule a knock-on by Steyn and allowed play to carry on as the ball rolled to Ndungane, who passed the ball to Stander who scored in the corner with the flyhalf converting (30-13).
The Brumbies scored three tries in final period of the match with Andrew Smith, Ian Prior and Anthony Hagerty crossing the whitewash.
Hagerty's try at the death took the scores to 36-34.
Points:
Vodacom Bulls 36 (19). Tries: Bjorn Basson, CJ Stander. Conversion: Morné Steyn. Penalties: Steyn (7). Dropped Goal: Steyn
Brumbies 34 (13). Tries: Henry Speight, Jesse Mogg, Andrew Smith, Ian Prior, Anthony Hegarty. Conversions: Christian Lealiifano (3). Penalty: Lealiifano