The Vodacom Bulls are betting on a “hail Mary” victory to ensure their season of disappointmentsa success.
While there would be nobody in their right mind making the Bulls favourites for their Vodacom United Rugby Championship trip to Cape Town this weekend, especially after seven straight losses in all competitions to teams coached by John Dobson, the Bulls are hoping the pressure of a playoff game may be their biggest allies where they have failed before.
But it doesn’t mask the fact that they will start as massive underdogs in a derby that has been so one-sided in recent times that those who may want to paint them as favourites only do so to draw attention to themselves.
Compounding the problem for Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White is the fact that his own selections have placed more pressure on the team.
The decision to play several first choice-players against Western Province in the Currie Cup game this weekend was puzzling to say the least. Sure, the Currie Cup match is important for the Bulls, but by packing his team with some of his top players, he has only compounded the pressure by losing to effectively an under-23 Western Province team.
On Saturday it was noticeable that the WP youngsters had virtually no fear of the Bulls counterparts, especially the way they stood toe to toe with some of the more experienced players in the team. It was clear they weren’t going to take a step backwards and trusted their defensive system to stop the Bulls attack.
And while the Bulls have found momentum in their wins over Zebre and a second string Leinster, you have to wonder if this ploy of playing first choice players and then losing badly in Cape Town would have stunted that momentum?
White will remind the media this week that it is us that promote the narrative and the rivalry between him and Dobson, but in essence White has twice now played top teams in the Currie Cup and come up short.
Those were his decisions and clearly the focus has been firmly on stopping the losing run against the Stormers. But it hasn’t worked.
In most of the games against the Stormers the Bulls have been stopped by their own ineffectual attack and the Stormers watertight defence. Again on Saturday where senior players were expected to make better decisions on the field, they failed.
Johan Goosen’s injury was another unnecessary risk that backfired and now the Bulls will wait and hope he isn’t out of this weekend’s game.
But what should worry White more is the way the Bulls are so easily rattled by Dobson’s teams, and especially their youngsters.
It is hard to miss the fact that in Pretoria the rivalry with the Cape side is slowly turning into an obsession, one which gets worse with each defeat.
The Bulls know they are underdogs on Saturday and the Stormers players will be brimming with confidence and relishing getting one more over their old foes.
That in itself could be a levelling factor, alongside the pressure of the playoff.
But unless the Bulls come up with something different, the old adage that is normally incorrectly attributed to Albert Einstein comes to mind: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Right now the Bulls need something different, because their approach isn’t working.
And 7-0 is not a number anyone in Pretoria should be happy with.