It’s falling into place for Bulls

It has been a tumultuous year for the Bulls rugby union, but a Currie Cup semifinal place provides some hope that the company’s miseries may be coming to an end, with new coach John Mitchell (above) praising the attitude of everyone involved with the team.

The Blue Bulls were impressive in dismantling the Pumas 52-32 at Loftus Versfeld at the weekend and, with the Free State Cheetahs getting thumped by the Golden Lions, it was enough for Mitchell’s team to finish fourth on the round-robin table. A measure of their improvement in recent weeks is that the Pumas thrashed them 51-15 in Nelspruit at the end of August.

“I have to commend the players and staff because there has been a lot of change, which is never easy for people, it destabilises everything until the trust is built up again and everyone knows where they fit in. There were changes of leadership as well, which is never ideal, but the players have rolled up their sleeves and ripped into it,” Mitchell said.

The Blue Bulls’ opposition in the semifinal will be the Sharks, whose 10-match winning streak came to an end at the hands of Western Province, who were convincing 31-20 winners in Durban. But the game meant little to the Sharks except in terms of taking momentum into the knockout rounds, and they are favourites.

But the dazzling rugby produced by the Bulls in the last fortnight suggests they have started to click and, with no pressure of expectation on them, they can play with freedom, which brings their tremendous backline weapons into play.