The rude awakening the Vodacom Bulls got in their Rainbow Cup final demolition at the hands of Benetton Treviso may well turn out to be a blessing in disguise ahead of the upcoming United Rugby Championship.
The Bulls produced their worst performance under coach Jake White and their worst performance in years to be embarrassed and lose 35-8 in a final many had expected them to win.
But while they looked like a deer in headlights for most of the match, and never had an answer for the Italians work rate or physicality, one bad game doesn’t make them also-rans.
The post-mortems will start and there is a lot of disappointment among the team and their fans, but at least it has dispelled the underlying arrogance that South African teams will dominate Europe.
Benetton came into the game being given little chance by many South Africans and comparisons with the Italian national team were understandable. But they deserved better in the assessment and while they aren’t the strongest side in Pro Rugby, they are a well-organised team that worked hard and had a home ground advantage.
There can be many discussions on why the Bulls didn’t stand up to the challenge, but in reality, they had been flirting with disaster for a long time now, having won several games in the second half.
And the rude awakening will make them realise that they can’t coast when it comes to the URC.
At least coach Jake White will take the lessons to heart, and is experienced enough to know that the lesson - as harsh as it was - perhaps was a necessary one.
The Bulls have coasted through all the local derbies, winning in a canter at times, and have rarely been tested. In fact, it has probably gone too well for them.
There is nothing that can be done about the embarrassing display on Saturday but to learn from it.
And White knows that.
“It was perhaps a bit arrogant to expect to just arrive in Italy and win,” White said afterwards.
“It is a different tournament altogether and in South Africa, we have played the same teams over and over and we know everybody backwards.
“To come over here and get into the unknown is perhaps a good thing. While we are disappointed we didn’t get over the line, we can grow as a team. I’ve coached overseas, and I’ve always known it was a different game over here.”
White said his disappointment was in the way the Bulls reacted, and how inexperienced they looked out on the field.
“You can’t come here thinking it is the same, we are used to a lot of things and everything was different logistically. We looked like an inexperienced team today and didn’t have one thing that went our way.
“In contrast, everything went their way. They scrummed well, defended well and finished well. They were clinical in the 22 and we didn’t have one area that we threatened them.
“This is a lesson for all of the coaches, it is easy to do analysis on domestic rugby because we know everyone. It’s much tougher to do it here.”
White added that one bad game doesn’t make this a bad team and he is right. But the performance was nowhere near what the Bulls expect of themselves. And while it is easy to point fingers, he will know the way the team react to this is what will be the most important heading onwards.
“This is a lesson for everybody in the group. We have to take it and by the time we get off the plane and back to Pretoria, we will have to have moved on,” he added.
Moving on won’t be easy and the Italians and other Pro14 clubs will have taken much confidence out of the result.
It’s up to the Bulls now to make sure this doesn’t happen again.