The seeds for the epic defensive effort before halftime were laid months ago as Vodacom Bulls coach Jake White rotated captains throughout the season to try and ensure that no matter what the situation, there was enough leadership on the field.
That came through on Saturday as the Bulls went down to 13 men on the field just before halftime, and were left defending their line against a Springbok-laden Hollywoodbets Sharks side that were intent on erasing the 15-3 deficit with their numerical advantage.
But the Bulls held out, not allowing the Sharks to score in an epic defensive effort that was later pinpointed by White as the moment he knew his side were going to win their semifinal and book their third Vodacom United Rugby Championship final in four seasons.
While Cameron Hanekom and Marcell Coetzee were both yellow-carded in those dying moments of the first half, what was also noticeable was that the Bulls’ captain Ruan Nortje was also off the field, receiving medical attention for a cut on his eye.
Coetzee had taken over as captain but then was dispatched off the field for allegedly collapsing the maul, leaving the Bulls without three senior players in that period, as well as the numerical advantage that their opposition enjoyed.
POOR SHARKS TACTICS
There can be a lot written about how the Sharks attacked in that period, trying to overpower the Bulls from close range and not using the space their advantage provided, but one thing that cannot be doubted was the defensive effort that paid off as they went into the sheds with the same scoreline and a lot of confidence after stopping the opposition.
David Kriel won a crucial turnover on his own line in this period, but probably the most telling moment was replacement Jannes Kirsten - on the field for Nortje - turning Ox Nche onto his back to hold him up over the line and stop the Sharks attack dead in its tracks.
At that moment, Johan Grobbelaar had taken over as captain - a rising star and one who has had a difficult week, being snubbed by the Springboks as he didn’t make the 54-man squad for the upcoming international season.
Grobbelaar had only captained the Bulls once before - a surprise leadership role for a very difficult night when the Bulls lost to Saracens in the Investec Champions Cup in the middle of Storm Daragh.
But it was clear that lessons from that difficult night in England had come back to help the Bulls in this moment when they needed it. And White admitted as much afterwards.
BETTER PREPARED NOW FOR FINAL
The coach also said it was a signal that his team would be better prepared as they head into another storm for Saturday’s Grand Final at Croke Park against Irish juggernaut Leinster this weekend.
“Grobbies took over as captain at that moment,” White smiled when recalling the moment. “It's interesting because Grobbies has captained us before. So over a period of time, you never know when you're going to have to call on someone's number.
“Being a captain, captaining the Bulls before, he could take charge there. I know it's easy because in hindsight I can tell you this, but that's why it's such a massive win. You lose your captain, you lose three players to yellow cards, you defend your tryline like they did.
“You're playing against a side that's beaten you twice in the season. There must be a premium on the fact that you still can pull it off and win this game. It's all part of the building blocks we've put together in the last four years.
“Who's the captain? Who takes over? What happens when you're on a tryline? What happens when we're down 13 men or 14 men or whatever the story is? We've managed to learn those lessons along the way. That's part of what teams do that grow.
“Now we're going to play at Croke Park. I don't know how many people would come to that final. Hopefully it's going to be sold out. That's a massive stadium. This is probably, from a spectator point of view, the biggest game these youngsters can play. It'll just make them better and better and better. That's part of what we want to do is make sure that our players become resilient and better when they get into these big pressure situations.”
BUOYANT MOOD AT HALFTIME
White said the mood in the changeroom at halftime was buoyant, especially after they had survived the storm on their own tryline.
“Well, I'm going to say it again, that five minutes before halftime with 12 men, it didn't look like they were going to score and I mean that's a massive boost to the defence coach and the players.
“I said it to them in the changing room, that's where we won the game. Sometimes you think you win the game with a kick in the last minute, it's not that, it's what you do in certain times and we were 12 out of 10 there for the way we showed attitude and I mean again I say it confidently. I sat there thinking I don't think they're going to score yet because we were really fronting up well there.
“You can imagine coming in the changing room at halftime, when you come in without letting them score a try, you've got a very different vibe at halftime than you would have if they'd just conceded a try there.”
White added that another aspect that gives him hope for Dublin was the way the celebrations after the game were muted. Several Bulls players collapsed out of sheer relief, and there wasn’t the normal semifinal high-fives that would be expected after winning an epic game like that.
“I think the celebrations were the way it should be because we've won nothing,” White smiled afterwards.
“If it was the other way around I know what the headlines will be: the Bulls celebrate vociferously post the game so they've played their final. I'm actually quite chuffed that you said they just went through the motions because we've won nothing.
‘WE’VE WON NOTHING YET’
“It doesn't matter whether you've won a semifinal at home, you haven't got anything. In fact, we didn't even win the Shield. I'm actually quite chuffed when you tell me that because then we're on the right page.
“Maybe it's because we didn't play well and we had 13 men and we had 12 men or whatever the story was. We say we're good enough and we believe we're good enough to win this tournament so then there's no use running around having laps of honour and making it as though you've achieved something when you haven't really.
“I think to be fair, the players asked me can they go out and just thank everybody and I think that is a gesture to say to our supporters thanks for coming and thanks for your support but if you've told me now the celebration was a bit muted, then that's probably what I would have expected.”
The Bulls flew to Dublin on Sunday and will have a recovery session on Monday before starting their build-up to the Grand Final in earnest on Tuesday.