Cape Town - Jake White was careful when answering a question about the importance of today’s United Rugby Championship North-South Derby between the Bulls and Stormers.
He made a fair point that during his time in charge in Pretoria, the biggest games for his team have mainly been against the Sharks, especially at Loftus Versfeld.
There have been Currie Cup finals, and last season’s dramatic URC quarter-final, where the Durbanites went down to an extra-time drop goal from Chris Smith.
But, of course, last June’s final at Cape Town Stadium saw the Stormers triumph 18-13, and they followed it up with a fourth consecutive win over the Bulls with a 37-27 victory on December 23 in the Mother City.
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That kind of record will irk White, who may have said that he has a different perspective on life following his recent operation, but will have lost none of the fire that has brought him success over a 40-year coaching career.
That is why he feels this evening’s encounter against John Dobson’s team at Loftus (5.05pm kickoff) is a bit different to the previous Stormers games he’s been involved in.
“I just sense that this one is a little bit like it used to be. I just get the sense that this derby is like it was when I was a youngster. It’s got lots on it, it’s got crowds coming… it’s got the making of being a classic once again,” White said yesterday.
“Our backs are against the wall. We’ve lost four times – that’s all I hear, four times – never beaten them in the URC. This is it: This is where we are going to get measured.
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“We are going to try our best to make our supporters proud. We are going to play as well as we can, try as hard as we can, and give the North-South Derby the kudos it deserves. They are the URC champions, they haven’t lost for a long time and they’ve obviously got something that’s going well.
“But sport is like anything – it goes on highs and lows, and when you are on top, you must enjoy it because inevitably, all teams have a patch where they struggle as well. It happens to any sporting team and top sportsmen.
“We’ve got a great opportunity at home… Lots of supporters, and a must-win game for (the Bulls). Whenever I’ve pushed a button with this Bulls team, when they’ve had their backs to the wall, they’ve produced. So, tomorrow is another challenge.”
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With Johan Goosen ruled out after a shoulder operation that will sideline him for up to six weeks, White opted to move David Kriel to fullback and reinstate Sbu Nkosi at wing after his lengthy absence from the game, and he backed the Springbok flyer to bring the necessary “energy” to the Bulls attack.
But it will take more than just emotion and “being tough” to beat the Stormers, who are lethal on the counter-attack and boast some serious playmakers and strike-runners such as Herschel Jantjies, Manie Libbok, Dan du Plessis, Seabelo Senatla and Suleiman Hartzenberg.
“We need to be accurate… The one thing is, we need to play for 80 minutes. We were 13-13 before Christmas, and we let them score two quick tries straight after halftime, and the game was gone,” White said.
“It was a little moment of inaccuracy, not concentrating, and then the game was gone. The Stormers are like that – they can punish you from anywhere. They basically swapped Warrick Gelant for Clayton Blommetjies, like for like, and Manie’s on fire and playing really good rugby now.
“He has been the form flyhalf, kicking everything over, running, side-stepping.
“For me, it’s just a simple thing: We’ve just got to concentrate for 80 minutes. We’re good enough if we play for 80 minutes. We’ve just got to make sure that we switch on for the whole game.”
Teams For Loftus Versfeld
Bulls: 15 David Kriel 14 Cornal Hendricks 13 Wandisile Simelane 12 Harold Vorster 11 Sbu Nkosi 10 Chris Smith 9 Zak Burger 8 Elrigh Louw 7 Cyle Brink 6 Marco van Staden 5 Ruan Nortje (captain) 4 Jacques du Plessis 3 Mornay Smith 2 Johan Grobbelaar 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Bench: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels 17 Simphiwe Matanzima 18 Francois Klopper 19 Ruan Vermaak 20 Nizaam Carr 21 Embrose Papier 22 Morne Steyn 23 Lionel Mapoe.
Stormers: 15 Clayton Blommetjies 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg 13 Ruhan Nel 12 Dan du Plessis 11 Seabelo Senatla 10 Manie Libbok 9 Herschel Jantjies 8 Marcel Theunissen 7 Willie Engelbrecht 6 Deon Fourie (captain) 5 Gary Porter 4 Ruben van Heerden 3 Neethling Fouche 2 Scarra Ntubeni 1 Brok Harris.
Bench: 16 Joseph Dweba 17 Ali Vermaak 18 Sazi Sandi 19 Ernst van Rhyn 20 Ben-Jason Dixon 21 Junior Pokomela 22 Paul de Wet 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
@AshfakMohamed