Bulls wary of Lyon's home form

The Vodacom Bulls may be on the cusp of qualifying for the Heineken Champions’ Cup, but they face a tough task in their first match in France.

And their halfback Zak Burger has warned them not to be complacent as they head to the European winter.

Burger has been one of the stalwarts for the Bulls and sports a shiner from Saturday’s win over Exeter Chiefs, but there is no doubt the tender skin won’t keep him from trying to get his side into the Round of 16.

Technically the Bulls still need one point to ensure qualification, although given their good points difference, it would be a surprise if they don’t qualify.

But Lyon showed against a second string Bulls outfit at Loftus that they can be dangerous, picking up the bonus point and at home they will be tougher nuts to crack.

“A French side at home is very dangerous. Lyon wouldn’t be happy with where they are at the moment on the Champions Cup log, but they are an outstanding team. They have a very big pack, a mobile pack and a few big backs with speed,” Burger told the media before departing for Europe.

“Their crowd will surely get behind them, and I just looked now and saw the weather is also quite cold there.I think No 1 to six or seven, there are only four or five points between the teams in our group.

“If we can get that win against Lyon, it will be massive in terms of where we finish on the log, as we want to give ourselves a good opportunity to play a round of 16 game at Loftus. The ball is in our hands, and we must make use of this opportunity.”

While the Bulls went through a December dip and lost their derbies to the Sharks and Stormers respectively their form in the last fortnight has been more encouraging and the away win against Dragons and home victory over Chiefs has shown they can find their feet again after some disciplinary issues that were quite costly over the festive season.

Like all backlines that flourish, the forwards play their part to set the platform for them to do well, and against the Chiefs it was no different.

“The backs must certainly say thank you to the pack on the day – I thought they were phenomenal on the day. In the scrums, the lineouts, our mauls were very good, and they gave our backs a dream world to get the ball in hand and attack in space. Our pack made it very easy for us as backs,” Burger added.

“Especially in the games against the Stormers and Sharks, what made it difficult for us was that our discipline wasn’t up to standard. We couldn’t get into the right areas on the field.

“And in both those matches, we had three yellow cards in the Sharks game – Canan Moodie got two and it became a red card, and against the Stormers, we also got two yellow cards.

“So, in the last two weeks against the Dragons and Exeter Chiefs, we placed an emphasis on our discipline in particular, to improve that so that we at least have a fair chance in the game and play with 15 men against 15 men.”

Given that it is their first match in France, the Bulls may not know what to expect, but they certainly will go into the game with the confidence that momentum brings.

And that, for Burger and his teammates may well be enough.