Hat-trick hero Hendricks hurdles Bulls into third

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Cornal Hendricks scored a hat-trick in Swansea on Friday night as the Vodacom Bulls beat Ospreys to leapfrog into third in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship standings.

The Bulls claimed a 38-31 bonus-point win at Swansea Stadium to overtake the Sharks on the last corner of the regular season with 58 log points, and put pressure on Munster and the Stormers, both in action on Saturday in the race for a top-four finish.

Earlier on Friday, the Sharks slipped to fourth on the URC log after a narrow 24-21 defeat by Ulster in Belfast.

MORE: Slow start sinks Sharks in Belfast

Hendricks dotted down three times in the second half as the Bulls stretched a 12-10 half-time lead created by early tries from Madosh Tambwe and Chris Smith.

Electric Bulls fullback Canan Moodie scored after the restart before Hendricks took control of the scoreboard, and Smith chipped in with four conversions from six attempts.

But the Bulls’ defence could not match the quality of their attack and Ospreys broke through to score four tries – two from Jac Morgan either side of the break, as well as touchdowns from Sam Parry and a late intercept try for Luc Morgan – while Gareth Anscombe was on song in front of the sticks contributing 11 points.

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Devin Hermanus