Whatever it was that Bulls captain Pierre Spies said to his team prior to taking on the field against the Crusaders, they are words that he will need to repeat for the remainder of the season.
Much of what transpired on the field at Loftus Versfeld in the Bulls 31-19 win over the Crusaders was apparently due to the emotional words Spies shared with his team before kick-off.
For a man often criticised for no longer possessing the X-factor that made him one of the best number eights in the game a few years ago, his value to the Bulls team has taken shape in the manner in which he leads them.
Spies is still far from the finished product that made him feared in his heyday when the Bulls ram amok in Super Rugby but his composure under pressure and the meticulous way in which he and his team have gone about their job this season is finally paying dividends.
The Bulls are also far from the finished product but in what was their best performance to date, they proved that they are a team not to be taken lightly and their beating of the Crusaders would have sent out a clear enough warning to the rest of the competition.
“The captain made a call before the game that we want a special performance and we knew it was going to be a big game for us.
“We played against a side that was in-form and had had two convincing wins. So we knew that we had to be at our best in terms of work rate and accuracy. The nice thing about the game is that it is really rewarding if you have a team effort like we did,” said Bulls coach Frans Ludeke.
Even in the face of adversity with the Bulls having lost Springboks Jan Serfontein and Arno Botha through injury before the game, they were not deterred in their intent in beating the seven time Super Rugby champions and stretching their unbeaten run against the New Zealanders at Loftus to eight years.
Serfontein’s replacement and debutant Burger Odendaal made a huge impression and marked his Super Rugby debut with a try while Hanro Liebenberg also made a strong case for himself to be considered a starter with another impressive performance on defence and with ball in hand.
The Bulls started off the game with a bang scoring two blitzkrieg tries and even though the Crusaders showed their class in coming back and even gaining the lead, the Bulls stuck to what has worked for them through the ages and killed the opposition by their dominance of the set phases and seizing control of the big moments.
The Bulls were also aided by their scramble defence which was timely in breaking the Crusaders momentum from their line breaks but the Crusaders will also find blame on themselves for two passes from giant winger Nemani Nadolo which were judged to be forward with the try-line beckoning.
But what stood out for the Bulls was the way in which they bullied the Crusaders at the breakdown with the entire team getting involved, especially Springbok prop Trevor Nyakane whose consecutive turnovers won the Bulls vital penalties at a crucial time in the game.
The deadly accurate boot of Handré Pollard was also massive in ensuring that the Bulls regained the lead and stretched it in that second half when the Crusaders threatened to mount a comeback but ultimately, it was the functioning of the Bulls team in its entirety that handed them the win.
Spies commended his team for having responded to his call for a performance of a lifetime, believing that it could be the turning point in their season.
“It is very rewarding for everybody. It is great when you ask something of your team and they respond, everybody stepped up and everybody understood the importance of this victory. The team will take a lot of character out of the win,” said Spies.
The Bulls may not have catapulted to the top of the South African conference with their win over the Crusaders but they now trail conference leaders the Sharks by a solitary point and are seventh on the overall log ahead of their derby against the Lions in Johannesburg next weekend. - The Star