Bulls showing a new dimension
CONDITIONING: MITCHELL’S MEN A WORK IN PROGRESS
Prop Nyakane is excited about his side’s re-emergence.
The emphasis on conditioning new Bulls coach John Mitchell has put on his team has had noticeable effects in how super fit they all look, but when it comes to the tight forwards it has not been to the exclusion of their core set-piece roles, as prop Trevor Nyakane points out.
As dazzling as some of their rugby has been and as impressive as their intensity and pace of play has been, their much-improved work in the scrums and lineouts has been the cornerstone of their progress this year.
“We’ve always had big units and big guys, but you can’t put players in a box and that physicality is always there. Every backline will tell you they need go-forward from their pack in order for them to find and see the space. So our scrums and driving mauls give us go-forward ball.
“The more conditioned you are, the more you enjoy your rugby and you can get to more places on the field and recover quicker. The set-pieces are very taxing but even if another team has a better scrum or lineout drive, it’s about whether they can keep it up for 60 minutes because we have more energy.
“But our skills are also always there, we just needed to find a way to apply them. Now we have a licence to do stuff, especially if offloads are on. The coach hardly ever shouts at a player, but he hates it when a player doesn’t go full-on with whatever they decide to do. But we have very special ball-players like RG Snyman and Lood de Jager,” Nyakane said at Loftus Versfeld.
The principle challenge for the Bulls this weekend against the Stormers will be trying to match the visitors’ powerful pack and Nyakane, in the form of his life, said he is excited for the contest up front.
“We know it’s going to be an arm-wrestle against a good pack, it’s one of the ones you want to measure yourself against. Last weekend was one of the better scrummaging performances since I’ve been here in Pretoria. People just see the front row when that happens but our back five is really excited about the scrum as well, they’ve bought into the system, there’s that synergy which makes it easier for the front row.
“Some locks just want to do lineouts but RG and Lood really want to get stuck in at the scrums. Playing at tighthead is still a work in progress for me, there’s still a lot of learning for me to do. But I’ve been playing there for quite a few years now,” Nyakane said.