Bulls not just focusing on Kiwi teams

DEFENCE may no longer be the determining attribute to winning Super Rugby, but it will go a long way to bringing the Bulls closer to their fourth title.

The Bulls showed their intent of doing well with a second pre-season friendly win, this time against the two-time Super Rugby champions, the Chiefs, in Brisbane last Thursday.

The Pretoria-based team went on to lose to the Chiefs in the semifinals of the Brisbane Global Rugby Tens competition after overcoming Australian Super Rugby outfits the Western Force and Brumbies, and former Super Rugby champions the Highlanders in the round-robin and knockout stages of the competition.

Beating the Chiefs and the Highlanders would have been a timely confidence boost for the Bulls, who will come face to face with the teams in the New Zealand conference this year.

But Bulls defence coach Pine Pienaar said their focus should not only be on the danger New Zealand teams will pose to their progress to the knockout stages of Super Rugby.

As impressed as Pienaar was with the Bulls’ defensive performance in their two warm-up matches against the Lions and Chiefs, and how they performed in the unfamiliar game of Tens, he is just as concerned about the threat the Stormers will pose in their opening game of the competition at Newlands.

“There are a few things we worked on after the game in Zimbabwe that paid off. A few players who didn’t play in Zimbabwe played now and it was nice to see how they went,” said Pienaar yesterday.

“In certain areas we showed what we had to work on for the competition. There’s a lot of stuff we have to look at before the Stormers game and the campaign, but it worked out fine for us.

“I don’t want to focus on New Zealand sides all the time. I think each week we must be up for the battle that comes on the weekend. Look at the Stormers and how they put 57 points up against the Lions, so obviously their attack is working.

“They also put up 43 points against the Cheetahs, who had the best defensive record in the Currie Cup last year. We must take it week by week and not get ahead of ourselves and focus on New Zealand sides only.

“There are a few things on defence we worked on and want to get right, regardless of who we are playing.

“We’ve got to be up each week because every game is a battle in itself, but it will be more a focus on what we can do better as a team than what the side we are going to play against (are doing).”

Pienaar also warned that the team shouldn’t get carried away with their pre-season performances and must continue to work hard on improving their game from defence to attack and chase their own standards.