Bulls backs brace for lash of Mitchell’s tongue

Ken Borland

Despite returning to winning ways, Blue Bulls coach John Mitchell (right) said the team are nowhere near realising the objectives he desires for them, but he did praise his forwards for a topclass effort in their narrow 44-42 win over Griquas in their Currie Cup match at Loftus Versfeld.

“We’re nowhere near where we want to be yet, but I thought the forwards were quite outstanding. The way we defended the maul was much better and the scrum was very good too, the attitude was tremendous and they showed better team-work. Our two young locks (Aston Fortuin & Ruben van Heerden( also did very well, they were a bit fatigued at the end after how much they carried.

“But there will still be a bit of pain because the path we are on is still very new. We still need to make adjustments to our defence, especially the edge defence, both wings did not do their jobs tonight but that will get sorted. The wings did not stick to the plan, which made it a hard night. There will be harsh consequences because I expect players to stick to the plan. They are both really talented, but they have to realise there are two parts of the game you have to do well – attack and defence. And sometimes we weren’t that sharp on attack either,” Mitchell said.

The highlight for the Bulls was a scintillating hat-trick scored by Manie Libbok, who was a late replacement for Warrick Gelant at fullback.

“Manie is a very exciting footballer, he’s got real gas which is a quality you cannot teach. I’m very big on making sure people are ready to play and Manie trained at fullback for most of the week because of a knee niggle Warrick was worried about,” Mitchell said.

The director of rugby said the second-half fade of the Blue Bulls – who were 41-21 ahead shortly after halftime – was not due to a lack of fitness.

“It had nothing to do with conditioning, it was just that they had the ball and we had no field position. Our players can go 80 minutes no problem.”