The Vodacom Bulls face a massive poser this weekend - try to stop a losing streak, or use the opportunity to blood a host of fringe players to the rigours of Champions Cup rugby?
After being humbled 49-10 by Castres Olympique in France on Saturday night, the Bulls’ run in the Investec Champions Cup is truly over, and now the prospect they have is to either try for a run in the EPCR Challenge Cup, or concentrate entirely on the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
On top of it all, the side now sit with a four match losing streak - something that won’t go down well with Bulls supporters, as they return to Loftus Versfeld this weekend to face French side Stade Francais in their final Champions’ Cup pool game.
So coach Jake White will sit down this week and look at the permutations. The Bulls sit on zero points after three games in the Champions’ Cup. Stade Francais - who surprisingly beat Northampton Saints 45-35 in Paris this past weekend - are on five points and in fifth to the Bulls sixth spot.
The way the Champions’ Cup works is that the side that finishes sixth drops out altogether while the side that finishes fifth in the pool drops down and contests the playoff rounds of the EPCR Challenge Cup - the second tier competition.
So now the Bulls have a decision to make. The Champions’ Cup campaign is over, and now they need to decide what will be more to their benefit - to try and win some silverware in the EPCR Challenge Cup or rather blood youngsters against Stade Francais this weekend and increase the depth in the squad.
Of course, there is a good chance that whatever squad White will put out at Loftus will be able to win at home, and French sides are notorious for sending second-string sides abroad. But with Stade Francais second last in the Top 14 at the moment, having won just five of their 14 games in the league they have nothing to lose to send a strong side to Loftus Versfeld.
If they qualify for the playoff rounds of the Champions’ Cup, or at least secure the EPCR spot from the pool, it will make up for a poor season. Castres are fourth on nine points, and face Saracens away this weekend, so there is more than enough chance that Stade may well feel they have a chance at Loftus.
Add to this the fact that Munster, Glasgow and Northampton have won at the fortress over the past year and Toulon scaled the Cape Town Stadium in round one and a trip to South Africa may not be as imposing as it has previously seemed.
If the Bulls decide to play their fringe players, and they end up losing, another loss at home as well as extending the losing streak may not be a welcome thing to accept, but White must also think of the URC and if the Bulls - currently fourth on that log - can put in a massive run to go one better than losing finalists this season.
“I think Champions Cup is over for us because we’ve got no points and every other team has points,” White admitted after the loss to Castres.
“It is only Stade Francais that is an option. We can’t catch Castres even if we beat them. So I think the Champions Cup is over for us.
“It is one thing about the campaign and Champions Cup. You’ve seen it with all the teams when you get it wrong. Stade Francais beat Northampton and they are second last in the Top 14 and they beat the team that won the Premiership last year.
“It just highlights how difficult it is to advance in this competition. What we are going to do is worry about our performance in the next week and make sure we get momentum going into the URC,” he added, hinting at the approach for the week.
White was correct in saying the three week Christmas break probably worked against the Bulls, but didn’t mention the fact the Bulls and Lions had postponed their derby before New Year so it was their own choice to have a festive break.
“This team hasn’t played. We were off for three weeks. Whoever I brought was going to be three weeks shy of a game.
“Castres played last weekend in the Top 14. We are never going to play through Christmas, it is the way it is. Whatever team I brought would probably still have struggled to find the rhythm,” White added.
That may be true, but the lessons of the Champions’ Cup are tough ones to learn, and the Bulls now need to make a choice. They don’t have the depth to compete against the big guns, and the quicker they develop that depth the better.
So some short term pain may be necessary for long term gain.