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Bulls sitting pretty, but they have bigger mountains to climb

rugby28 October 2024 07:00
By:Brenden Nel
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Jake White @ Gallo Images

As relieved as they were from their last minute win over Benetton on Friday night, Vodacom Bulls coach Jake White will be a lot happier as his side heads into the break of a month but knows there are more mountains to climb before the team can be happy.

The first part of the season was negotiated pretty well - and had it not been for a refereeing error, the Bulls would probably have ended off with five victories on the trot - hardly something to scoff about.

But the one point loss at Scarlets, thanks to a red card that was overturned days later, still sits as the only blemish on the Bulls scorecard this season.

The team has handled adversity pretty well. Talk of more than 30 injuries before this tour thanks to the ever increasing workload of a never-ending season, a Currie Cup campaign and pure bad luck didn’t stop them.

And while the team on tour was missing some key players - an illness a night before the Benetton game robbed them of their third flyhalf (Johan Goosen and Jaco van der Walt are injured) - they found a way to win.

KEY LESSONS

That, in itself, will be one of the key lessons the Bulls take home with them as they gear for the month off. But their next task will be just as daunting, and play just as big a part as the five week opening salvo of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship season.

The Bulls now have 11 players in the Bok squad - something they never had last year this time, and with that comes complications. Those players are not likely to return for their next game against Connacht - or at least some may be rested.

Deciding who will stay in the northern hemisphere after a three week Bok tour may take some planning, especially with four massive games after the Boks complete their fixtures.

The Connacht game - a venue the Bulls have never won in the URC - will be massive, especially as a win over the sixth placed side will give them more valuable points before a home run late in the season.

But it is followed by their opening Investec Champions Cup game against English giants Saracens, where the Bulls will be hoping to have many of their Boks available.

While the Bulls may follow the European clubs lead and play a second string side in that game, preferring to concentrate on their home fixtures in the lead up to the playoffs, the temptation to make a statement at Sarries may be there as well.

DURBAN SHOWDOWN

The following week they host English champions Northampton Saints at Loftus - a must win game for the Champions Cup before heading down to Durban for a gigantic showdown with the Sharks before their break over Christmas.

To come away with four wins would be more than ideal, as both their URC fixtures are away games, and two wins in the Champions Cup would virtually set them up for qualification for the playoff rounds.

The Bulls will be without Kurt-Lee Arendse, who heads to Japan after the Bok tour but will have a host of players - including Goosen, Van der Walt and others available like Sintu Manjezi, Jannes Kirsten, Stravino Jacobs.

And if their Bok contingent can be used, it will give them a four week run with close to their strongest side.

That is why the win over Benetton was celebrated through adversity. The Bulls had gone through two weeks of disciplinary cards that were overturned, then had an illness hit the team a night before the game, and then didn’t play particularly well in the conditions, and were behind until the last 15 minutes.

FOUND A WAY TO WIN

But they found a way to win.

And White was correct in saying the team sometimes needed to win ugly. That victory over Benetton would have done much for character and belief in the team. Against all those odds they saw it through to victory.

White explained afterwards that the changes had hit them hard.

“It was the first time in a long time – I wouldn’t say it has never happened – that we had to make significant changes,” White said.

“You don’t often change your quarterback, if you use that analogy. Johan Goosen and Jaco van der Walt were injured, and then Boeta all of a sudden got sick.

“I don’t know what it is. He just got really, really sick – cold shivers – so we had to put him on a drip.

“Then literally three hours before kickoff, we decided we are going with Keagan at 10, which meant we had to change our nine (on the bench) as well because he was covering nine and 10.

“We had to change our bench because we didn’t have a reserve 10 if something happened.

“What I’m really happy about is that we found a way to adapt. Often sporting teams talk about you having to adapt, and that you’ve got to be aware that you can’t always control everything.

“To get a result like that at the end of the game. You can imagine that the change room is obviously very buoyant, and very happy.

“A guy like Keagan is over the moon that he could contribute as a starter at 10.

“There was a minute-and-a-half left, and we ended up winning the game. You can only feel proud when you see your players doing that at the end of the game.”

BEAUTY OF WINNING ‘UGLY’

White saw the beauty in the “ugly” victory.

“It was tough, and sometimes you’ve got to win ugly, but they don’t allow you to play much. They’re a really good defensive team and got a lot of internationals. We were staring down the barrel for most of that game and then we found a way to win,” he said.

“The message at halftime was we haven’t even started playing properly and we’re 9-3 down, and we could’ve easily been 9-6, so I said to them, ‘you’ve got to believe you’re going to win’ and that once we start playing we’ll put them under pressure.

“Our lineout wasn’t good, and it doesn’t matter whose fault it is; whether it’s the throw, the reaction of the jumper, whether the lifter is not understanding the call, whether the caller is calling to the wrong place because he’s under pressure


“I’m very happy that we were able to pull that one through, because sometimes you need a little bit of hope and that kind of win going into the next block of matches. I’ve seen a lot of teams that have gone on to win competitions win games like that, and take a lot of confidence out of that.”

The Bulls will enjoy their time off while the Boks, with Wilco Louw and Cameron Hanekom joining the squad, headed off to their camp in Jersey on Sunday night.

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