Jake looks to Boks as depth, defence key to title hopes

It is no secret that the Vodacom Bulls would have wanted a better season than they got in 2022-23.

No trophies in the cabinet, a losing record against their arch-rivals - the DHL Stormers - and a tendency to overplay players during the season while trying their best to compete in three different competitions took its toll.

Eventually, something had to give and instead of focusing on one competition and hoping for a trophy, they ended up with nothing.

While they were a bit surprised to have the likes of Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie and Marco van Staden in the Springbok World Cup side, Director of Rugby Jake White has been a busy man, buying a number of players who for the most part aren’t likely to trouble the Springbok selectors.

But creating strength in depth is a huge part of the Bulls' plans for the coming season and White has taken some inspiration from the way the Springboks created depth on their way to the Rugby World Cup for his upcoming plans.

TROPHIES ARE A MUST

White is never one to hide his intentions, and it wasn’t surprising to see him look at the season and already target a trophy. The Bulls are well-funded and their fans have expectations, and White has already promised that he could buy depth to ensure that the transition to becoming a champion team in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship comes sooner rather than later.

While success in the Champions Cup doesn’t seem to be the sole focus, a better URC campaign and a Currie Cup offer the Bulls a chance to try and fill the trophy cabinet again, but it won’t be easy.

White admitted that rotation, building depth and defence are the main areas he wants the team to improve in the coming season, and if they get that right, he feels they will be able to challenge for a trophy.

“The most important thing is, after the season, is that we didn’t win anything. And that’s amazing to be part of a club like this, which I’m really proud to be part of. We made the semifinal of the Currie Cup, quarterfinal of the URC and Top16 of the Champions’ Cup,” White explained.

“We want to win something. We want to make sure our fans are obviously proud of the fact we win trophies. And from a game point of view. We scored the second most amount of points in the URC and the most points in the Currie Cup, but the one area we’ve got to work on is that we’ve conceded the most points out of South African franchises.

“Gary Gold and Jean Tiedt are coming in as defence coaches and we need to put an emphasis on that, in terms of conceding penalties and points and allowing teams to score points against us. That will be an area where we will be working hard on to make it tougher for teams to score points against us.”

ROTATION CREATES DEPTH

White admitted that in the season review, he probably didn’t trust the depth enough and should have given more players chances to impress rather than holding onto the same starting lineup. That was especially apparent when the URC starting lineup dropped to play Western Province’s second-stringers in the Currie Cup at Loftus Versfeld, and lost.

And while the obsession with the Stormers will end at some point and the losing streak will be gone, the Bulls did themselves no favours by concentrating too much on using the same group rather than spreading the load.

White says, in retrospect, he was probably too scared to trust the younger players and paid the price for it.

“I probably hung onto the same group of players for as long as I could, and probably didn’t show flexibility in selections, didn’t trust the fact that I could make changes. I decided this year that with the pre-season we could interchange and this weekend, to go with the tried and tested is probably the comfortable thing. But to choose some guys who haven’t played yet and get out of my comfort zone is what I’m considering,” White said.

“But credit to the Springboks - I was watching this World Cup campaign and I probably would have gone with Pollard to start. A lot of other coaches would not have started with Manie, they would have brought another hooker in, they wouldn’t have hookers who can play flank as well.

“It is a remarkable thing to see, and it shows how much experience Rassie has, that during the year they changed their flyhalves, they changed their front row and were prepared to put different combinations on and there is a successful recipe to it.

“So what I’m looking to do is to change a few things, not keep the same group of players together. I have got a lot of more depth, guys who are older, wiser and more experienced. But there is no reason that I can’t do that with younger guys a lot more.”

SUCCESS DEPENDS ON DERBY WINS

So how do the Bulls go about getting back on the road to success? Win the local derbies first, says White.

The Bulls' record last season was poor in this department and with home ground advantage going to the conference winners in the playoffs, there is more than enough motivation to get this right.

“To win derbies. The reality is that last year we fell short because we lost at home to the Sharks, lost at home to the Lions and lost at home to the Stormers, lost to them twice as well. The one lesson that is obvious is that you need to win your derby games,” White explains.

“To have players who can play and not rely on one group of players. Rassie and Jacques have shown - and to a large extent the Stormers as well. The lesson I learnt, and not that I didn’t know it - but I was probably a bit bang (scared) to do it, probably because I didn’t know them well enough to put them on the field.”

White has named two captains, underpinning his desire to rotate more, with lock Ruan Nortje and veteran flank Marcell Coetzee named this week to lead the team into battle.

“My thinking is, with the long season we’ve had, the chances of having the captain on the field always is almost impossible. I think you must not forget we have Marco van Staden coming back who also plays openside flank, so it isn’t as if Marcell will be picked every week.

“But that also doesn’t stop us from using Nizaam Carr or Elrigh Louw from ever being the captain if those other two guys aren’t on the field. Just from an official point of view, they’re good mates, they get on well and they know how we want to play, so it probably makes it easier to announce two, rather than one captain for the season.”

ACQUISITIONS

The Bulls median age may have gone down a bit with the retirement of Bismarck du Plessis and Morne Steyn but they still boast a lot of talent.

The speed of former Puma winger Sebastien de Klerk, and the Sharks duo of Mpilo Gumede and Khutha Mchunu are a few that have gone unnoticed but could turn out to be gems for them.

Add Willie le Roux joining the backline to give them a Springbok back three, plus Sergeal Petersen and Devon Williams and they have some speed and quality out wide and up front.

Fullbacks are a position they don’t lack depth in, with former Edinburgh duo of Henry Immelmann and Jaco van der Walt joining while up front Jannes Kirsten, Wilco Louw and Akker van der Merwe are all very useful buys.

The Bulls, at first glance, do look as if they will be a lot stronger this season, but the various challenges of travel, three different competitions and a lot of players looking to put up a fight for a starting role will all determine how good they are.

But more than that, how much White trusts his own promise to rotate will determine where they finish - and if they challenge for a trophy - this season.

Players in:

Willie Le Roux (Toyota Verblitz)

Jaco van der Walt (Edinburgh)

Devon Williams (Pumas)

Henry Immelman (Edinburgh)

Sebastian de Klerk (Pumas)

Sergeal Petersen (Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks)

Akker van der Merwe (Sale)

Jannes Kirsten (Exeter)

Devon Williams (Pumas)

Khutha Mchunu (Sharks)

Deon Slabbert (Pumas)

Mpilo Gumede (Sharks)

Players out:

Lizo Gqoboka (Stormers)

Sbu Nkosi (released)

Morné Steyn (retired)

Bismarck du Plessis (retired)