Cape Town – Picking such a strong Bulls team for a Currie Cup game against a genuine Western Province side seemed to be of little benefit to the Pretoria side, and that was especially so after they lost 31-7 on Saturday night.
If the URC-laden Bulls side had won, it was to be expected. Now that they’ve lost to WP, what does it say about their chances for next Saturday’s quarter-final at the same Cape Town Stadium?
One conclusion that can be reached is that Bulls director of rugby Jake White was trying to lull Stormers counterpart John Dobson and his team into a false sense of security, as it was a lacklustre effort from the visitors on a chilly Cape Town night.
There were quite a few first-choices who started and are sure to line up for the URC playoff next week as well – Kurt-Lee Arendse, Stedman Gans, David Kriel, Johan Goosen, Marco van Staden and Gerhard Steenekamp, while others on the bench included Johan Grobbelaar, Mornay Smith, Ruan Vermaak, Cyle Brink, Embrose Papier and Harold Vorster.
And then there were those who will be in contention for bench spots next Saturday: Cornal Hendricks, Keagan Johannes, WJ Steenkamp, Janko Swanepoel, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Chris Smith.
All of that might was up against a Province side that only had a few real Stormers contenders – Clayton Blommetjies, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Angelo Davids and Willie Engelbrecht.
Yet the Bulls battled to produce any sense of cohesion. Their forwards battled in the scrums, they were shot down by a marauding WP rush defence, and they offered little on attack with ball-in-hand – and whenever they made it into the opposition 22, an inevitable knock-on followed.
They looked like a team trying to avoid injuries for the ‘real show’ next weekend, and lacked the hunger that a spirited Province side had in bucket-loads.
“You’ve got to be honest and complement the Province team. Defensively, they were brilliant. And tactically, they used their opportunities far better than we did on the night. It was a different game tonight. Conditions were tough – the field was very difficult to play on,” Blue Bulls assistant coach Hugo van As explained in the post-match press conference.
“We had a couple of opportunities in the first half that we didn’t use, and they got into our half, had a very positive scrum and scored from that – they had two intercept tries. On the night, they were just sharper and just better on execution than what we were.
“We knew that Province are a team that (dish out) double hits and they come off the line hard (in defence), and I think that was the end-result of that (Bulls knock-ons) – they came off the line hard, they double-hit us, and we couldn’t control the ball and we couldn’t get gain-line success.
“We had four or five 22-metre entries in the first half, without any success. At the end of the day, we came back a little bit in the second half. We got a bit of momentum, got it to 17-7, and again, tactically we made a very average decision – and that’s the way the game went on the night.”
To make matters worse, flyhalf Goosen didn’t come out for the second half due to a hamstring issue picked up before kickoff, which saw his left leg heavily strapped up, while star fullback Arendse had to leave the field in the second half for an HIA after a head knock, only to return to the pitch after being cleared – which was an unnecessary risk ahead of the URC quarter-final.
But Van As promised that it will be a very different Bulls side that will rock up to face the Stormers.
“You’ve got to be fair… As a combination, we weren’t at our best. Although we finished with a lot of URC players on the field, in the first half, there were combinations that had not played together in the last couple of weeks,” he said.
“Jake wanted to keep momentum in the team, and it didn’t work out. But next week will be a totally new challenge for the team.
“The good thing about it is that they’ve all been here this week, and next week, we will be in the same situation. There are a lot of positives that we can take out of the game, and a lot of things that we know we need to fix.
“I’m sure a full-strength URC team will benefit from tonight’s performance. North-South Derby, quarter-finals of the URC, I think there’s going to be pressure – no matter how you see it.
“There is a lot to play for, for both teams, next week. There will be pressure, and I’m sure that the crowd will be different next week. It’s going to be a typical URC quarter-final grand game, and that will be enough pressure on the day.
“One of the biggest challenges will be for the team to be tactically better. We played miles too much rugby in our own half, and with their rush defence… And make no mistake, this is no excuse, but the turf wasn’t great – it’s slippery.
“So, tactically will be the biggest challenge for the team to adapt and be better.”
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