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Springbok fly-half Morne Steyn bagged 20 points as Northern Bulls defeated Western Stormers 25-17 at Orlando Stadium Saturday to win a third Super 14 title in four seasons.
Trailing 16-0 during the first half of only the second all-South African final, Stormers clawed back within six points midway through the second half only for Steyn to kick three penalties.
A late Ricky Januarie try gave the scoreline a flattering look as the Bulls always appeared likely winners of the southern hemisphere championship climax watched by a sell-out 36,500 crowd.
Bulls started favourites at their adopted home ground in the black township of Soweto with Pretoria fortress Loftus Versfeld being readied for the FIFA World Cup that kicks off next month.
The defending champions made one change from the team that finished 15 points ahead of Canterbury Crusaders in a semi-final last weekend with Gerhard van den Heever returning to the right wing after serving a two-match ban.
But the scorer of eight Super 14 tries this season lasted just 10 minutes before an injury forced him to retire and be replaced by veteran former Springbok Jaco van der Westhuyzen.
Appearing in their first Super final, Stormers kept faith with the starting line-up from the 19-point triumph over New South Wales Waratahs at Newlands in Cape Town seven days ago.
Bulls shrugged off the Van den Heever blow to lead 16-3 at half-time with the usual suspect contributing most of the points as top 2010 Super 14 scorer Steyn kicked three penalties and converted a Francois Hougaard try.
Guest of honour President Jacob Zuma said he wanted to see tries and his wish came true on 24 minutes as scrum-half Fourie du Preez set up Hougaard from a ruck and the wing rounded fullback Joe Pietersen to dot down.
Stormers pack was struggling to assert itself, regularly being turned over, but they got on the scoreboard nine minutes before half-time when fly-half Peter Grant succeeded with his first penalty attempt.
A more even but scrappy second half came to life on 54 minutes when 2007 Rugby Player of the Year Bryan Habana intercepted a pass just inside Bulls territory and raced unchallenged to the line for a try Grant converted.
Steyn widened the Bulls lead to nine points with his fourth penalty, but failed for the first time in the match when another attempt from near the touchline just missed the target.
Not that it affected his confidence as two more penalty chances presented themselves in the closing stages and Steyn struck both between the posts to give the Bulls a 25-10 advantage.
With time ticking away on a cool, overcast evening, Stormers got a second try through Januarie and Grant converted.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.