Bulls will spend festive season searching for "missing link"

Where does Jake White go from here?

That’s the question that White was openly asking himself on Saturday night after a narrow loss in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby against the Hollywoodbets Sharks, where the Bulls again lost a game they could have, and probably should have won.

The loss left the Bulls going into their festive break with three straight losses - two in the Investec Champions’ Cup against Saracens and Northampton - and now the Sharks to end the year in the opposite situation than they wanted to find themselves in.

Of course, it would be easy to go overboard on the negativity, as the Bulls are still third in the URC and top the South African shield standings, and can still sneak into the Champions’ Cup playoffs if they win their next two games against Castres away and Stade Francais at home.

But as any coach in professional sport knows - winning is a habit, and so, unfortunately, can losing become one.

White is one who sets high standards for himself and the team, and there is no doubt that he expected his side to win in a hot and humid Durban on Saturday, especially against a Sharks side missing a number of Springboks.

And while anyone playing in Durban this time of year would attest, the conditions are very much a leveller - with the Bulls revealing that captain Elrigh Louw lost 5kg during the game as the conditions took its toll.

But the conditions and a controversial penalty try are not what is troubling White at the moment. On several occasions over the past two seasons the team has created more than enough chances to win games comfortably, but have failed to convert these chances.

And while a side has won, it is easy to brush these aside, but it is now becoming a situation that is a lot more concerning, especially with the bulk of the season ahead.

The Bulls also can no longer claim their fortress at Loftus Versfeld is impenetrable, with Munster, Glasgow and Northampton winning in the last eight months at the home of the Pretoria side.

Add that to the Currie Cup semifinal loss - which saw the Bulls dominate everywhere but hand the Sharks an extra-time win - and you can sense why White is frustrated.

So the festive season leaves White a lot of time for what he calls a “reset” and a time to reflect.

Understandably so - against Saracens the Bulls were also up against stormy gale force winds, and failed to capitalise on their first half dominance, against the Saints they dominated every facet of play but were well beaten on the scoreboard.

And on Saturday against the Sharks they were 17-10 up and in control of the game with 20 to go, and also had chances in the last 10 to clinch the game, all of which they weren’t able to convert.

There is no doubt that game management is a massive factor here. While Johan Goosen remains the No 1 choice (and only choice at the moment) for White at 10, he hasn’t shown that he can dominate a game as much as he did two seasons ago and seems at odds with himself at times.

Louw is growing in captaincy terms, and the Bulls are missing their regular season captain in Ruan Nortje, so mistakes will be made as the leadership group grows. But certainly at times there has been an over-emphasis on getting dominance on the field - in the scrums and mauls - rather than building scoreboard pressure on the opposition.

The Bulls have more than shown they have an attacking side and the pack that can dominate up front, but the questions on when to use which part of their attacking game plan has been an issue. That, and white line fever - with all three of the last few games being marred by handling errors close to the line - show that in terms of alignment the team is just that little bit off.

White is right that it isn’t time for panic stations, but rather for introspection.

“We don’t play next week. We have got to play in Europe and that’s an away game against Castres in France,” said White after the game.

“It’s not all doom and gloom. We are still top of the South African conference. We have played four away games, so there is still a lot of home rugby to be played, and that’s obviously exciting.

“But we are going to have to get it right. We can’t be performing like that and not getting results when they are there for the taking.”

And while he wasn’t seeing the funny side of things, White also likened himself to Manchester City football manager Pep Guardiola, who is undergoing a losing streak despite a star-studded side.

“There is no funny side to it at all. Three weeks now we have basically shot ourselves in the foot. I feel a bit like Pep. It has to be the coach not getting the players to manage the game the way they should,” said White.

“I think we ran with them in the scrums, we mauled them. It was just frustrating because we don’t seem to be getting it right from week to week. We almost make the same mistakes all the time.

“That’s what’s so frustrating. I have to have a look at why it’s not working, but it’s got to be me because I can’t seem to get them to understand what page they’re on.”

All that leaves a lot of work for the Bulls ahead of their trip to France in the New Year. But as they say, the first step to solving a problem is identifying there is a problem. The Bulls have done that. What happens next is what White has to solve.