Bulls left to rue costly decision in defeat against Scarlets

In Friday night's URC clash in Llanelli, the men from Pretoria did superbly to fight back from 27-7 down and get back to within two points of their opponents with less than 20 minutes left on the clock.

With the momentum still on their side, the Bulls were awarded kickable penalty just outside the Scarlets' 22, which would have put them in the lead.

But they opted for a driving line-out instead, and not only weren't they able to take advantage, the Scarlets were able to break free, leading to a yellow card to David Kriel for a late tackle, with the hosts going on to clinch victory with a try from Johnny McNicholl.

"I thought it was a game of two halves. They say hindsight is an exact science," Bulls assistant coach Chris Rossouw told reporters after the match.

"We also have this principle that if you are dominant and you are up by one or two points then you normally go to the corner to apply more pressure, instead of letting them in after you kick that penalty then, they are on your tryline again.

"I think that maybe got the better of us.

"At that stage, we were going very well. I think the guys just thought that if they could convert that into a try it would give them even more momentum."

Rossouw admitted it probably would have been a better option to take the three points on offer.

"If we look back now maybe we could have taken that three points and apply scoreboard pressure and then rebuild from there," he said.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't convert that play. If you look back, maybe it is something we could have done differently.

"There were games that we did exactly the same [go for a line-out] and we scored and maybe the guys had that thought process."

To make matters worse, Stravino Jacobs also left the field with an injury that looks set to keep him sidelined for an extended period.

"It looks like Stravino [Jacobs] has a serious leg injury," Rossouw added.

"It could be that he has a fracture in his lower limb, but we will have to get the final update on that."