Cape Town — While their attacking game was one of the best last season, the Bulls are so concerned about their defence that director of rugby Jake White is going to coach that department in this year’s United Rugby Championship (URC).
The Bulls went down 18-13 to the Stormers in last season’s final, but perhaps part of the reason for them running out of steam a bit at the Cape Town Stadium were their difficulties leading up to the title decider.
They were on a play-off footing for much of the second half of the campaign after losing five out of their first six matches, which were all away from home – mainly due to the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions in South Africa.
That constant pressure took its toll as White had to play his virtual full-strength side in every match, with the ‘A team’ even running out in the Currie Cup at the same time to ensure that the Bulls are successful in that competition as well.
They ended fourth on the log, which meant a home quarter-final against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld, but an away semi-final against mighty Leinster in Dublin.
They did the impossible at the RDS Arena by winning 27-26, but then had to travel back to South Africa to face the Stormers in Cape Town the following weekend.
White wants his team to avoid a similar scenario in the 2022/23 season, which starts on Saturday against the Lions at Ellis Park (4.05pm kick-off).
The Bulls played some outstanding attacking rugby, which saw them score the second-most tries (74) behind Leinster (89). The Pretoria outfit made the most offloads (243), second-most points scored (588), were third in clean breaks (124) and metres gained (7 605) and fourth in defenders beaten (372).
But it’s a different story in defence. They were ranked 14th overall in that department, and had the most turnovers lost (307), were seventh in tackles missed (325) and 12th in tackles made (2 513).
The Bulls were also listed as the worst team with regards to their discipline last season – joint-13th in red cards (two) and last in penalties conceded (160) and scrum offences (54).
Defence coach Joey Mongalo has now joined the Sharks as their Currie Cup coach, and White will take charge of the department this season. He said that a new defence coach is only likely to be brought in next season, as some of the candidates are currently on contract with other teams.
Currie Cup coach Gert Smal will also assist in the junior structures to help identify the top talents that can graduate to the senior team.
“I think firstly, defence. We were the 12th-best defensive team in the competition – and eighth out of the top eight, so last in that as well,” White told Independent Media ahead of the Lions game.
“So, defensively, we were probably a little bit light in terms of how we defended. We leaked a lot of tries. I think the start – I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault. It was a new competition … and remember the way it was with Covid, we had to tour first up.
“In our first six games, we lost five, so that would be some area (to improve). I know the circumstances are different (this season), but we want to make sure that from the beginning of the comp – a little like Leinster did to us last year in round one – they made a statement from early on.
“And the statement they made early on was that they didn’t need to bring their main team to South Africa. So, the learnings for me would be to make sure that we create an opportunity for us to have our own destiny in our hands towards the back-end of the competition.
“Unlike this (past season) year, when we had to play catch-up every game and obviously try to get into the top eight, and then into top four. Then a home quarter and all that sort of stuff …”
White was delighted with the attack last season, which is handled by assistant coach Chris Rossouw, but is determined to see his team go all the way and secure the trophy this time around.
“Our attack was outstanding. I think that’s one area where we played some good rugby, and I thought Chris Rossouw was outstanding. There are a couple of tweaks to our attack now as well, because as you can imagine, we are going to be playing in another competition as well (Champions Cup), with a lot of analysis,” the former Springbok coach said.
“As I said, the little things that we are going to be doing now in pre-season – which is the first pre-season we’ve had in a long time – hopefully we will put those things into match-day.
“The belief is there, having beaten Leinster in Dublin – you can’t put a price on that. We probably exceeded expectations early on. Not taking anything away … if you have a crack at a final, you’ve got to win it.
“But for this group of players, the average age of our group is very young. The expectation of our board is that 2023 and 2024 would be a fantastic time for this group to mature. We probably jumped ahead quicker than we should’ve.
“Now it’s our second year, and I’m quite keen to see if we can maintain that sort of momentum. There is no way Leinster are bringing a B team to South Africa again. There is no way Ulster are going to be set up again in terms of expectations of SA sides again.
“There is no way the Irish teams are going to come here with their eyes closed again, so we will have to be better.”
IOL Sport