Cape Town - When it comes to playoff matches, one of the buzzwords in South Africa is ‘finals rugby’ – which usually means that the teams will be much more conservative with their game-plan.
And if it’s two local sides in a derby, there is an even greater chance of the match being characterised by box-kicks, one-off runners and aiming at the posts.
But that is exactly what Bulls coach Jake White warned his team against for Saturday’s United Rugby Championship quarter-final against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld (1.45pm kickoff).
The Pretoria outfit have mixed their traditional physicality with some out-of-the-box thinking this season, and have played with great variety from the lineouts and scrums, as well as bringing their strike-runners at the back into play.
They still don’t have exciting fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse due to a broken thumb, but with the likes of Madosh Tambwe, Cornal Hendricks and Canan Moodie at the back and Ruan Nortje, Elrigh Louw and Johan Grobbelaar upfront, they are confident of taking on a Sharks side filled with top-class Springboks such as Lukhanyo Am, Siya Kolisi, Bongi Mbonambi and Ox Nche.
“It’s been working for us. I’ve been around long enough to know you don’t get influenced by other people… you get influenced by what you want to do on the field. It works for us. I’ve given the players full carte blanche to express themselves and not feel the pressure,” White said from Loftus Versfeld yesterday when asked by Independent Media if there is a danger of the Bulls creeping into their shells.
“This is not pressure – this is what you want to do. You want to be running down the last straight with a chance to win the competition.
“I used the golf analogy this week: the pressure of trying to make the cut on a Friday is very different to walking down the 18th and having a chance to win the competition.
“At this point in time, we have a chance to win two competitions, and we have one hole to play. The reality is that’s not pressure – that’s what you do for a living, and I want them to enjoy it. I want the players to express themselves, and I want them to give it a full go.
“Whatever happens, happens, because we will be in this situation again – I’ve got no doubt.”
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The Sharks do have some serious attacking threats themselves in the shape of Makazole Mapimpi, Aphelele Fassi and Am, but they tend to rely on their all-Bok front row of Nche, Mbonambi and captain Thomas du Toit to gain the physical ascendancy in the scrums.
That was what undid the Bulls in their last encounter at Loftus in February, while the Sharks were also victorious in Durban in December.
But White believes that his team can do the job today. “They beat us twice, and we still finished ahead of them on the log. So, you don’t get any awards for beating someone twice!” the former Bok mentor quipped.
“The reality is that the competition has three more weeks to go, and we made mistakes and played with 14 men against them, and nearly beat them. It’s knockout rugby now, and I am pretty confident.
“We’ve done well in knockout games, and in the ones that have counted, we’ve played our best rugby. So, hopefully tomorrow, it will be the same.
“I can’t answer for the Sharks, but we’ve got a couple of things that we are going to bring to them, and it will be interesting to see whether they work.
“I’ve been reading so much and I don’t want to get into a debate, but I am very proud that we are the favourites! We lost twice to them, they’ve got five World Cup winners, and we don’t have one incumbent Springbok.
“So, it’s fantastic that they see us as favourites – it’s a feather in the cap of all our coaches and our players to get that accolade.
“We are really excited. Loftus feels a little different today – there is a bit of a buzz. People are coming to get tickets and it’s almost like the old days for me, where there’s something happening at Loftus. Hopefully we will do the supporters proud, by playing as well as we can.”
Teams For Loftus Versfeld
Bulls: 15 Canan Moodie 14 David Kriel 13 Cornal Hendricks 12 Harold Vorster 11 Madosh Tambwe 10 Chris Smith 9 Zak Burger 8 Elrigh Louw 7 Arno Botha 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain) 5 Ruan Nortje 4 Walt Steenkamp 3 Mornay Smith 2 Johan Grobbelaar 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Bench: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels 17 Lizo Gqoboka 18 Robert Hunt 19 Janko Swanepoel 20 Reinhardt Ludwig 21 Embrose Papier 22 Morné Steyn 23 Stedman Gans.
Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi 14 Werner Kok 13 Lukhanyo Am 12 Marius Louw 11 Makazole Mapimpi 10 Curwin Bosch 9 Jaden Hendrikse 8 Phepsi Buthelezi 7 Henco Venter 6 Siya Kolisi 5 Reniel Hugo 4 Le Roux Roets 3 Thomas du Toit (captain) 2 Bongi Mbonambi 1 Ox Nche.
Bench: 16 Kerron van Vuuren 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu 18 Khutha Mchunu 19 Ruben van Heerden 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe 21 Grant Williams 22 Boeta Chamberlain 23 Ben Tapuai.
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