Dejected and disappointed, Vodacom Bulls coach Jake White vowed introspection and to return stronger when his side takes the field in the next Vodacom United Rugby Championship following their heartbreaking loss to Glasgow Warriors on Saturday night.
White cut a shell shocked figure after the game as he said he needed to come to terms with the loss and find a way of dealing with it, and at the same time look inward because something was missing.
“Perhaps I missed a trick,” White said after his side’s second finals loss in three years, the first coming in the inaugural tournament to fellow South Africans, the DHL Stormers two years ago.
“I wonder if I'm missing a trick but I'm gonna have to find out what that-trick is. It is a checklist I have to work out.”
White said his side had missed an opportunity to win a final in front of a home crowd, but said perhaps he needed to look inward after losing his second final in three years in the URC.
“It’s probably tougher for me. As I get older I start to work those things out in my head.
“But we will be back.
“I know – I’ve already marked the date, we are playing Glasgow away, I already know the date.
“And, that’s all I can say. There is nothing I am going to say that is going to make it any easier.
“We lost away to the Stormers, we lost at home. I don’t think anything I say is going to make it any better.
“I lost a Super Rugby Final to the Chiefs, lost a Rainbow Cup in Benetton, and lost two URC Finals. So I’ll probably have to look at what I have to do as a coach to try and get over the line.”
MISSED OPPORTUNITY
White said that he told the team they missed the opportunity to do something special.
“I’m unhappy. I’m helluva disappointed. We missed an opportunity tonight. I waited a long time for this press conference,” he said.
“So, there’s no nice way. I told them in the changeroom. When you get an opportunity like that, when you get older, you realise that sometimes you miss an opportunity,” he said.
But he continued with the mantra that the team is still a work in progress and needs to develop more.
“I’ll think about it. But I also want people to understand what this young group has achieved in three years to play in three finals and a quarterfinal last year.
A special mention to the @BlueBullsRugby - Incredible finalists 🙌
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) June 22, 2024
Still a season to be immensely proud of đź‘Ź @Vodacom | #URC | #BULvGLA pic.twitter.com/0IfQPtKFYR
“I can’t rush the goalie – I can’t make it any quicker than it is. That Glasgow team has got guys that are internationals. Their whole pack played internationals and then they played Six Nations against England and France.
“So they are probably a little bit more seasoned, a little bit more aware of what’s happening.
“And the margins are small.
“As a coach, as a guy who has been around, as a coach who understands, all I’m disappointed in for them is that you get a chance and you don’t take.
“Not because they didn’t try, not because they did anything that I can point fingers at.
“It’s not nice and it is something we are going to have to learn, but I can promise you, and you can take this to the bank, we will be back.”
White pointed to the try on the stroke of halftime as a momentum shift in the game.
“And when I look back -- 39 minutes, maul, should we have held that ball back, maybe there was a penalty to us and then it’s 16-0 up.
“We break away, they get a penalty, they kick in the corner, it’s 13-7.”