Loftus heroes Papier and Pollard to punish Munster again?
· Citizen
Embrose Papier and Handré Pollard proved the difference for the Bulls during their URC league match against Munster, and all eyes will be on them again when the same teams clash in Saturday’s quarter-final.
The Bulls and Munster meet in a play-off at Loftus Versfeld two months after their nail-biting game at the same venue, which the Bulls held on to win 34-31 despite Munster fighting back three times after the Bulls went ahead.
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Papier earned man of the match for the second game in a row after scoring two tries, kicking well and completing a turnover at the breakdown.
Pollard slotted all six of his kicks while his opposite, Ireland international Jack Crowley, missed twice. It made all the difference in the three-point win.
Bulls, Munster neck-and-neck
The backline stars shone in a game where neither forward pack could dominate the other for long.
Munster controlled more possession (59%) and territory (61%), but the Bulls had greater tackle success (75% compared to 66%).
Both teams won all their scrums and there was only one lineout steal, by Munster.
The backs were clearly the difference as the Bulls had nine clean breaks to Munster’s four. They also retained seven of their kicks to Munster’s five.
Head coach Johan Ackermann said the Bulls left many points on the field against Munster. They did the same in their final league phase games, against Zebre and Benetton, though they also won those with bonus points.
Ackermann said they needed to be better in the play-offs.
Pollard and Papier will have targets on their backs
Papier, who hasn’t played for the Springboks since 2018, was recently invited to his first national alignment camp in years.
It comes after another great season with the Bulls, having scored nine tries in 16 appearances, and in the wake of injuries to Bok No 9s Cobus Reinach, Grant Williams, Morné van den Berg and Jaden Hendrikse.
He’ll want to produce more strong performances ahead of a return to Test rugby.
Pollard, meanwhile, threw off his poor form earlier in the season to finish the league phase as the tournament’s fifth-highest point scorer with 105 points after 30 conversions, 10 penalties and three tries.
Both the Bok regular and Papier will have targets on their backs when the teams return to Loftus.