If there ever was a test of just how far the Vodacom Bulls have progressed under coach Johan Ackermann, their Investec Champions’ Cup match against Glasgow Warriors on Saturday is it.
Because on the face of it, this looks like an impossible challenge. The Vodacom United Rugby Championship log leaders are in exceptional form and beat Leinster two weeks ago, and Benetton on Friday night with ease. They have a bunch of Scottish internationals back and will have more back this weekend.
And they are at home waiting for the Bulls to arrive.
All that counts in the favour of Franco Smith’s side, and given the up and down season the Bulls have had thus far, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them start as massive underdogs in this game.
But the turnaround in the season, after the horror run of seven losses, came away from home. On a cold night in Pau the Bulls stood up and defied the odds to win a tough game and give themselves a chance.
They have beaten Glasgow before - last season in a league game at the Scotstoun - and a large majority of the side will know what success tastes like in the Scottish city. And they will know that few people will give them a chance.
The Bulls will depart Pretoria for a milder Glasgow on Tuesday knowing that they can upset the odds, but only if they give themselves a chance to do so.
Thankfully it seems that Ackermann has decided that this team need to give it a shot, and will throw the dice and see where it lands.
THROWING THE DICE
“If we’re in the play-offs in the Champions Cup, we must give it a go. We will give it our best shot, and then we’ll take it from there,” he said after his side’s narrow win over Munster at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
“Glasgow are in front of us this week, but we’ll need to be better than we were against Munster if we hope to win. Glasgow will definitely punish us if we continue to make the defensive errors of the Munster match, so they will be a massive challenge over there.
“The Warriors are probably the best attacking side in the URC, so we have a big challenge ahead of us, but we’ve got nothing to lose. We’re going to Glasgow and will work hard to give ourselves an opportunity to win.
“If we progress, that would be great. We want to give the Champions Cup a good run. We can’t control what happens after that. When we return to the URC, we’ll have to play our best available team every week because qualification is so tight.
“We understand that it is a privilege to play in a Champions Cup Round of 16 match — we are alive in one of the best competitions in the world, so we will give it our best.”
COSTLY DEFENSIVE ERRORS
Those defensive errors were very costly for the Bulls against Munster. It kept the Irish side within distance and eventually gifted them two bonus points that may be very interesting for the rest of the URC when it comes to the fight for playoff spots.
And Ackermann knows that, saying that the Bulls own inefficiencies are something that needs to change in the team.
“We could have put them away on several occasions, but we didn’t purely because of execution and errors such as knock-ons and other basic errors,” Ackermann explained.
“As a team, we create opportunities and then we just don’t finish them. That’s the part we keep reviewing and working on, week after week.
“We left a lot of points out there. There were two or three big moments where we should have scored, and we didn’t.”
If the Bulls do the same against Glasgow the Scottish side will punish them and their Champions Cup will be over.
They know that. The key will be how they change that in the space of a week, with international travel involved.