Losing was bitter, but part of the growth process for Mitchell

PRETORIA: The last gasp 29-28 loss to the Highlanders would have certainly hurt the Bulls but it was the manner in which they lost that is still a bitter pill for the men in blue to swallow, according to coach John Mitchell.

With no time remaining on the stadium clock and with a narrow two point lead, the Bulls were penalised for being offside and up stepped All Black flyhalf Lima Sopoaga to calmly slot over the winning kick and break the hearts of the Bulls fans who thought it would be their side’s fourth consecutive win and the second over New Zealand opposition.

And it was almost the case had it not been for the home side infringing moments after Springbok centre Jesse Kriel had scored what had seemed to be the match winning try after the Bulls had found themselves trailing from as early as the fourth minute of the game when Aaron Smith scored an easy try from a first-phase break by fullback Fletcher Smith.

In accepting the defeat, Mitchell lamented his side’s failure to fully capitalise on the many points-scoring opportunities that they let slip through their hands, but also conceded that the loss was part of his team’s evolution and growing pains.

“I think you got to realise that the Highlanders are a side that doesn’t go away and we always knew that it would take until the end to put them away. While we didn’t get much conversion for our efforts in the first half, we got to be really proud of how the guys fought and nearly won the match in the last five minutes. And to lose the game through an offside line is a little bit distasteful and hard to take but it is part of our growth,” Mitchell said.

The game could have unfolded and ended differently, though, had the bulls not wasted their opportunities more so on the cusp of the half-time interval where they lay siege to the Highlanders in-goal area but failed to score and allowed the Highlanders to turnover possession and run the full length of the field to score their second try.

Mitchell agrees those were the soft moments that handed the Highlanders ascendency on the scoreboard and kept them in the hunt to steal the game at the death.

The Bulls would have also been hamstrung by their insistence to kick for touch instead of for goals and rely on the rolling maul to rumble over which was nullified by the Highlanders tireless defence.

But Mitchell backs the decisions made by his players on the field. “I will support their decisions. They back certain aspects of our game. What you have to understand about the Highlanders is that it is a game of chaos. Ultimately that game was full of chaos and fracture. It is never going to be pretty or a game built purely on structure and that is what you get. We are getting better in that fractured situation as well. We had the match in our hands and an offside line in the end cost everyone,” said Mitchell.

While Sopoaga’s winning penalty would have also been a knock to the Bulls ambitions of staying among the playoff contenders, what will be important for Mitchell’s men is how they take on this painful lesson, apply it in their coming games so they don’t again find themselves on the losing side in a game they should have won.