It goes without saying that Vodacom Bulls coach Jake White was a happy man after his side turned an almost certain loss at home to Leinster into a win in the flip of a scrum and a last minute penalty.
But it didn’t hide the fact that the Bulls have a lot to learn in terms of streetsmarts when it comes to this year’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign.
The Pretoria side still sit handily in third spot, and will be counting on the fact that no team that has finished top in the competition in the first three years of its existence has won it.
But as the heat starts to turn up and the Bulls know things will get tougher, they will need to look inward to what they can do to stop them from being their own worst enemies.
WHAT A FIGHT 🔥😮💨@Vodacom #URC | @URCOfficial_RSA #ForeverBlue pic.twitter.com/dQbSiMsfTV
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) March 22, 2025
Leinster on Saturday, while they were without their stars, were an exceptionally well-drilled side. They made few mistakes and were masters at placing the pressure onto the opposition, as they have done the entire season.
HOME GROUND ADVANTAGE NEGATED
But the Bulls will be more concerned with how they failed to take advantage of home ground and altitude, things that should be in their favour, and how that is becoming a real concern against some of the top teams in the competition.
White didn’t mess about when asked about some of the decision-making in the game, which he said was “stupid” and then reiterated that players have to learn from their mistakes or the team is likely to go nowhere in this year’s Championship.
With two seconds on the clock the Vodacom Bulls trailed 18-20 to Leinster.
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) March 22, 2025
At 84:27, they won the match 21-20 🤯#VURC pic.twitter.com/QK7KjbwyW7
“We need to be more smart. We can’t be stupid and think that we are going to get to the back end of the competition and win it if we don’t make better decisions in those situations,” he said after the last gasp win.
“It’s stupid things, stupid – unbelievably stupid. New Zealanders talk about game smartness, and I think that is the bottom line. You’ve got to understand where you are on the field, what the score is, what your job is.
“That smartness is also something a player has to learn. You can’t coach him on every single thing about his role.”
POSITIVES OUTWEIGH NEGATIVES
White said that he was pleased with aspects of the game - especially the fight in the team that saw them take an almost certain loss - Leinster had to simply get the ball out of the scrum in the 83rd minute and over the line, and turn it into a win.
“Most teams might have thought, ‘That’s it, game gone’. Most teams would’ve accepted that Leinster would’ve finished the game off,” White said on the monster scrum that won them a penalty and a chance to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
.“And they didn’t. How much price can you put on a team that says, ‘Forget it, we are going to get a scrum penalty here’? That is all I was asking. Just make sure that today we are desperate to get a result. I want to see for 80 minutes that you are desperate for a result. I don’t want to see anything else.
“We needed a scrum penalty in the last play of the game, and they needed to put the ball in and out, and kick the ball out. After two resets, we managed to get the penalty on the third scrum.”
White added that the effort to get back into the game after things had gone wrong and they were 17-6 down was superb - especially the way they engineered the penalty try they received after their maul was illegally sacked on the Leinster line.
Tom Clarkson received a yellow for the incident, and it allowed the Bulls to surge back into the game on the back of their fundamental strengths.
“The maul try and the yellow card, it was what we needed, and there is a lot of effort in that. You know how tired you get when you have maul, scrum, maul, scrum.
‘STUPID’ CARDS A CONCERN
But White wasn’t about to let the negatives go untouched, and indicated it will be a massive talking point at the review on Monday. This is not the first time the Bulls have had to struggle with 14 men this season, and whether justified or not, any coach would be pulling their hair out if disciplinary issues cost you the game.
“I’m proud of the way they fought, and the bench came on and made an impact. But I’m also not sweeping anything under the table. The reality is that it’s just because of our actions. Four times we’ve given penalties away for playing the nine – three of those were yellow cards.
“Today, we play the guy in the air: red card. You take everything away from the effort the other guys put in to get back in the game. For 80 minutes, even with 14 men, they found a way to win. And let’s be fair – that’s what sport is about. The good far outweighs the negative.
“ But I’m not going to condone red cards, yellow cards, stupidity. Because when we get to the knockout stages, we will lose those games.”
The Bulls now face tricky Italian side Zebre on Saturday in a game they would normally look for a fairly comfortable victory. But the combination of their own demons, and Zebre’s plucky one point loss in Durban make them an exceptionally tough team to play.
The Bulls know if they repeat the mistakes they made the Italian giant killers will be at their throats this Saturday and they will be under the pump.
White has a lot of work to do with the team this week, but more than that, the introspection that some players need to undergo will be the key to their form against Zebre.
And also to the rest of the season.