Cape Town - The Bulls may have battled to produce consistent phase-play on attack, but the fact that they scored six tries against Zebre on Friday night should bode well for the rest of the United Rugby Championship.
That was how coach Jake White felt about the 45-7 bonus-point victory over the struggling Italian outfit in Parma.
White was a relieved man afterwards, adding that the five log points meant that “at least we are still alive” in the competition as the Pretoria side are now in 10th place on the log with 23 points from 10 matches.
It wasn’t always an eye-pleasing performance, and a yellow card to Marcell Coetzee made things even more difficult, with Zebre scoring through flyhalf Antonio Rizzi soon after the Bulls captain left the pitch.
But White praised the character of his players as they scored 45 unanswered points. Hooker Johan Grobbelaar hit back with a touchdown from a driving maul, while Embrose Papier, Coetzee, Arno Botha, Lionel Mapoe and Kurt-Lee Arendse dotted down as well, with flyhalf Chris Smith slotting six conversions and a penalty.
“We want to play well every time we play. I thought we played quite nicely tonight,” White said.
“A lot of opportunities, and we had one try disallowed for a knock-on. So, it’s what coaches want – short turnaround, one week, left on Monday night, got here and got the job done. Mission completed, and now we’ve got two weeks before we play URC again against Munster.
“At least there’s enough to work on there. You need one of these games. They lost seven games (before the Bulls match), but they are going to start winning. They are not going to keep losing forever and ever and ever! The law of averages tells you someone’s going to be on the end of a result where they get it right.
The perfect try? 🤩 Mapoe 🔪 Arendse 💥 Papier 🎁@Vodacom #URC @URCOfficial_RSA pic.twitter.com/KaxEvfuYPW
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) February 26, 2022
“I’m just happy that we didn’t get sort of ambushed again. We found a way, even though we were 7-0 down, to get a comprehensive win.”
But there were again a number of handling errors on attack, and it’s something that the Bulls will have to iron out ahead of their showdown with Munster at Loftus Versfeld on March 12.
“When you get tries like Lionel’s try under the poles, the offload from Elrigh (Louw) to Kurt-Lee to finish off in the corner, that’s the kind of rugby we want to play,” White said.
“We want to make sure that we see the space, and we take the space. Sometimes we get a little seduced by some space early on, and it’s false space. A lot of times they shot up, but they didn’t really shoot up. They shot up and stopped, and we probably got a little bit spooked by their defensive progress.
“At halftime, we spoke a little bit at 17-7 up, and then to go 45-7 up in the second half means that the information that they got at halftime, they took on board, and you could see that it was much better in the second half.
“As soon as we were a little bit more direct, and made tackles around the fringes and created space outside… The model is quite easy.
#ZEBvBUL FULL-TIME:
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) February 25, 2022
That's the end of the 80 minutes in Parma. The Italian job is done. ✅
The Vodacom Bulls have bagged an impressive 7-45 victory over Zebre Parma. Well done, boys!#TrueToTheBlue @Vodacom #URC @URCOfficial_RSA pic.twitter.com/JwSv3yVzU7
“You look at sides like Leinster, who have dominated the European Cup, Toulouse won the European Cup last season – the reality is that you’ve got to score four tries. You’ve got to back yourself to actually get points on the board, and that’s why I think, even though we started slowly, to get 45 points away from home…
“The method wasn’t always perfect, but the outcome is what we want. So, hopefully as coaches, we will find a solution to getting the players to understand the method a bit more.”