White is a very relieved coach

Bulls coach Jake White (below) was an extremely relieved man after his side held off a spirited fightback from the Lions to , clinch a 30-28 win in their United Rugby Championship (URC) derby on Saturday.

Lions replacement back Jordan Hendrikse missed a longrange penalty after the hooter which would have clinched a one point win over their cross-Jukskei rivals.

Over 26 000 fans were entertained from start to finish as the Lions got off to a flying start, before the Bulls fought back to lead at half-time, with the lead then changing twice in the final 10 minutes for an exhilarating finish.

In the end White admitted it was some of his younger players who made important contributions and big mistakes that swung the fortunes both ways as his side scraped over the line.

“It’s not our greatest performance and we got a win. It is one of those outings where we weren’t on top of our game, but we got away with that,” admitted White after the game.

“I do need to reiterate that it was a 21-year-old who stole the last lineout and a 21-year-old who made a mistake by carrying through the line at the end. This is the only way they will learn, but I am much more relieved.”

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen was slightly frustrated but proud of the effort of his players, after their top start was undone with a poor finish to the first-half.

The Bulls then twice pulled away in the second-half, including an extremely unlucky situation where the referee inadvertently blocked Lions scrumhalf Morne van den Berg from getting to eighthman Mpilo Gumede.

“I think the last 10 or 12 minutes in the first-half we didn’t really respond, we reacted. There were about five or six penalties in a row from our side which was disappointing,” said Van Rooyen.