Folau’s flying start enough for Tahs

Israel Folau celebrates his try after just 30 seconds against the Bulls at Allianz Stadium. Source: Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images

A FLEETING glimpse of royalty was enough to sink the Bulls at Allianz Stadium — and it happened before Prince William had even arrived.

The Duke of Cambridge hadn't taken his seat when the man wearing the undisputed crown as Australia's biggest rugby star, Israel Folau, scored a decisive try in the Waratahs' tight victory.

Just 28 seconds on the clock had passed when Folau swooped in for the season's fastest try and it proved crucial after a gritty 79-minute battle against the South Africans then unfolded.

The seven-point margin remained the difference between the sides in the 19-12 win — the Waratahs' first victory against the Bulls since 2005; the year Prince William graduated university with a nice girlfriend on his arm called Kate.

"That's the thing with a special player like him. You can plan but he just needs one bit of space and he can create something out of nothing. He is a world-class player," Bulls coach Frans Ludeke said of Folau post-match.

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Folau's try was a tonic for his frustrations over the "throat-gate" affair last week but kept quiet by the Bulls kicking tactics for the rest of the night, ultimately it was a muscular performance by the Waratahs forwards that got the job done for the home team.

Israel Folau carries a couple of Bulls defenders with him. Source: Getty Images

Led by the irrepressible Michael Hooper and with the cult-hero twins Jacques Potgieter and Will Skelton barnstorming in support, the Tahs pack matched the Bulls' physicality and got them out of trouble in the second half when the visitors clawed back into the game.

Having pushed out to a 13-0 lead after 21 minutes, the home side failed to kick on with a stuttering attack and the Bulls rallied to 13-9 midway through the second period.

But grim defence and Hooper's magic at the breakdown allowed Bernard Foley to kick the Waratahs home to a seven-point win, which keeps their finals hopes alive at the competition halfway point.

"It wasn't a diamond performance but there was plenty of good hard work going on out there, and sometimes that's what you just need," coach Michael Cheika said.

"We had some really good opportunities and we scored one.

"There were another two or three in the first half that we could have converted but in the second half the momentum changed a little bit in the game, and to be honest, sometimes in games like that when you do attack a lot and the momentum goes away from you, sometimes you can fall into a bit of a hole there.

"We did well to stay mentally switched on and stay in the game and just find a way out."

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Folau looks set to become the first player in history to become odds-on as first try scorer after breaking his own season record by seven seconds just after kick off.

Two nice touches from Adam Ashley-Cooper were instrumental; the first winning the ball back from the kick-off and the second a nice fend-and-offload in the ensuing phase.

The quality of Folau's support play — and how much it was missed in the past three weeks — was instantly apparent, but the play moved away from him for the rest of the game and a Tahs' strategy to seek field position didn't help.

Cheika joked later he would have told his team to kick less if knew the future King was watching, but in reality, an Englishman would have loved it and it was the right tactics against a Bulls side intent on doing likewise.

It also showed the attack-minded Waratahs aren't blinded by their run-first, run-often strategy, and have the smarts to find a way to win. A week earlier in Perth they became predictable for the Force defence by running too much ball.

Lock Will Skelton powers ahead for the Waratahs. Source: Getty Images

"Sometimes there we got a bit lost in our strategy but the boys decided to keep pushing down there and in the end they were the right decisions, to push the ball back to them down the middle (with kicks)," Cheika said.

"It wasn't the way we'd normally do it, but we also have to be a bit unpredictable. It sounds a bit silly, but we can't show the same thing all the time."

The Bulls basic game requires unyielding pressure to work but the visitors too often let the Waratahs off the hook with poor discipline and handling errors.

They were pleased to hang in and make the game close but the ruthless Bulls of old would have squeezed the life out of a Waratahs side on a middling night.

"The first 30 they were really on top of us and we did well in defence, and clawed our way back into it," Ludeke said.

"We could have easily squeezed a draw out of it but credit to the Waratahs. They had the opportunities and were accurate in converting the pressure into points.

NSW WARATAHS 19 (Israel Folau try Bernard Foley con 4 pens) bt BULLS 12 (Jacques-Louis Potgieter 3, Handre Pollard pens) at Allianz Stadium. Referee: Rohan Hoffman.

Relive all the action from the Waratahs v Bulls clash with our match blog below

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