Forget bonus points and beautiful rugby, the Vodacom Bulls are treating this tour to Europe as a dress rehearsal for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship playoff rounds.
The Bulls left South Africa on Sunday en route to their EPCR Challenge Cup Round of 16 fixture against Bayonne and have had no option but to take their best available team along - although this hasn’t been confirmed - ahead of the fixture.
The Bulls haven’t released their touring squad, but other than the injured dozen or so players, all fit and ready players are likely to have been on the flight.
White has repeatedly said he doesn’t want to help teams plan against them by giving them an injury list beforehand, so it will remain a secret until the team is named on Friday, who is in the touring squad but it is likely to be a strong side selected for the fixture.
Nowadays, home teams can easily coordinate with hotels in their city to find out who has been checked into the team hotel, so the need for secrecy isn’t always justified, but be that as it may, this will continue to be part of the mind games before the match.
Either way, White and co have to face an actual knockout game this Friday against the French side, and then wait to see if they are heading to Edinburgh, or to face the Emirates Lions - either of which will be the team they face in the quarterfinals.
If the Bulls lose in Bayonne, it is likely they will stay in Europe for the week, because while next week is a quarterfinal week in Europe, they have two mega fixtures in the next two weeks against 2022/3 champions Munster and then defending champions Glasgow Warriors.
And White’s thinking is just that - away fixtures against these two teams could easily be what the Bulls will have to encounter in the final weeks of the URC - so they are treating them as a dress rehearsal for that.
FATIGUE FACTOR
The Bulls want to come home from those fixtures with as many points as possible, but will be aware of the fatigue factor of touring in Europe. Add to that the fact that the week after the Glasgow game, the EPCR Challenge Cup hosts the semis, and it could easily be a five-week tour, if all goes well.
So this week, White at least knows what he has to plan for, but for the rest of the tour, he will take it as it comes.
“We’ve got five points in the bank and now go on tour. It is much easier to get on a plane when we get five points at home than if we had lost that game,” he said after the win over Zebre.
“The one thing that’s different about this tour is that it’s not about bonus points. I think the win and knock-out style rugby is going to be the most important thing.
“We are on tour for four weeks and I don’t think any team can fly teams back and forth. It is logistically impossible even if I wanted to take another team and rest some guys. So I’ll take a team and I’m not sure how we’ll start next week,” White said.
Part of those decisions involves determining who returns and when, as White continues to await the return of lock Cobus Wiese, flyhalf Johan Goosen, winger Canan Moodie, and others recovering from injury. It is unknown if he included them in the touring squad or decided to wait until the Bulls return home before playing them again.
Conditions in Bayonne, and the home team’s form also come into play. Bayonne beat Lyon on Saturday and feature the likes of former Cheetahs and Scarlets loose forward Uzair Cassiem, Tongan prop Tevita Tatafu and Pumas hooker Facundo Bosch. Former England midfielder Manu Tuilagi is also in the side.
“I’ll make a call about which sort of team we need to put on the field. The conditions are different. I don’t think it will be as open as the game against Zebre was. We don’t have the luxury of flying teams back and forth. Once we go, we almost have to start preparing for four weeks on tour. It could be five,” White said..
“If you win against Bayonne and you win in the next round, you then stay for the semifinal, which is after the Glasgow game. So I will have to box a little differently in terms of how we get to the backend of the tour.”
White said the Munster-Glasgow leg of the tour would be vital.
“It could be that we end up playing Munster in the quarterfinals and Glasgow in the semifinals. Or we can end up playing Glasgow in the final again. We want to use this tour, especially the URC games, as a dress rehearsal for where we are and what we need to do.”
All that starts with a knockout game against Bayonne this weekend. From there, which side will play will be determined on a week-by-week basis.