Cape Town - That fateful hot afternoon in Treviso last June will forever be etched in the Bulls’ memories following the thrashing that they received from Benetton in the Rainbow Cup final.
But instead of talking about revenge yesterday, assistant coach Nollis Marais pointed out the progress that the Pretoria side have made since ahead of Saturday’s United Rugby Championship showdown with the Italian club at Loftus Versfeld (2pm kickoff).
The Bulls learned some harsh lessons against Benetton in that 35-8 defeat, and one of those aspects that came up again in their last URC game – the 19-17 loss to the Stormers in Cape Town on April 9 – was winning the breakdown battle.
Openside flank Deon Fourie was a menace in the race for the loose ball, and thwarted a number of Bulls attacks by getting his timing just right, and living on the edge.
“We know exactly what we need to fix against Benetton, and what went wrong against the Stormers. So, I think we will be well prepared for them,” Marais said yesterday.
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“It’s always difficult to travel and play away. The Stormers played well. In the breakdown area especially – which is my area – we were put under pressure.
“We did identify Evan Roos and Deon Fourie as threats, but you know, let’s be honest: Deon Fourie was very good on the day, and he put us under pressure there. So, that’s the area that we really focused on over the last two weeks.”
Benetton will be smarting from a 36-17 European Challenge Cup reverse against Toulon at the weekend, and will be determined to get back to winning ways at Loftus.
They have a number of industrious forwards, such as flanks Michele Lamaro and Manuel Zuliani, as well as South Africans Carl Wegner, Irné Herbst and Corniel Els, who will look to slow down the Bulls on the ground and disrupt their lineout, and the battle with the likes of Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Nortje and Elrigh Louw will be one to savour.
“You fly on a Monday there and it’s the first time you play an overseas side, and they bring a totally different picture at the breakdown to what you are used to,” Marais said about the Rainbow Cup final.
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“That is where we actually saw, ‘Listen guys, it doesn’t matter what we thought or what level we are at the breakdown, and all the different aspects, we were behind the European sides’. They play each other every week, so we needed to adapt very quickly to that. The area that we were lacking was definitely at the breakdown.
“We have definitely improved on that. At one stage, we were not good with our ball-carries, and now we are one of the top sides now on ball-carries. We are getting better on that and the breakdown, so we made a huge step up since the beginning of the URC.”
It was a tough start to the URC last year as well, with Irish giants Leinster and Connacht beating the Bulls up north. But now, Jake White’s team are contesting hard for a playoff spot, and they have produced some outstanding rugby at Loftus Versfeld.
“The first thing we realised is that our reaction speed at the breakdowns is not nearly quick enough. That was the first thing we had to do was the reaction speed at the breakdowns,” Marais said.
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“And then there were small little technique things that we could see they do better than us, and it’s something that we need to implement better on our side. Not that we don’t have it, but we had to make it more accurate.
“The third one was the refereeing interpretations. We had to adapt to what the overseas refs would interpret at the breakdown – what is legal and not legal, and what we can get away with.
“Jake told us from the beginning: ‘We haven’t played yet until we’ve played overseas. We think we’re good, we will find out when we are overseas’.
“And those first two weeks overseas, when we faced Leinster and Connacht, we very quickly found out that his words are true.”
@AshfakMohamed