SA teams improving – Mitchell
THE gap between South Africa and New Zealand teams in Super Rugby is slowly closing, Bulls coach John Mitchell says.
Speaking as he prepared his charges for the daunting trip to the Stormers in Cape Town tomorrow‚ the former All Blacks captain said South African teams had come a long way and they had what it took to beat the Kiwis.
Against New Zealand teams this season‚ the Bulls beat the Hurricanes in their opening match of the campaign at the Loftus Versveld Stadium in Pretoria but went on to lose to the Chiefs and Crusaders away from home. Last weekend, they narrowly lost by one point to the Highlanders in Pretoria.
“We have closed the gap on New Zealand teams‚ we have come a long way to realise that we can actually play and beat them‚” he said.
“The Sharks are different from the Stormers or the Lions because each of these teams have strong elements that give them strengths.
“Playing against New Zealand teams is about how you mirror your preparations to match situations.
“There is more passion and physicality in local derbies, but Kiwi sides try to get the ball more to space – but that doesn’t mean the game is not physical,” he said.
He said the Bulls did not want to allow last week’s disappointment to affect them against the Stormers.
Bulls captain Burger Odendaal said that for them to succeed against the Stormers‚ they must break their momentum.
“The Stormers have good forwards, but if we can dominate and break their momentum‚ we will make it difficult for them.”
Meanwhile, Stormers hooker Ramone Samuels is not having sleepless nights about throwing in against the most efficient lineout in the competition when his side meet the Bulls.
The Bulls‚ with lock Lood de Jager and RG Snyman in the vanguard‚ have a 90% lineout success this year.
“It’s a tough challenge, but we are doing our homework‚” Samuels said.
“We have been studying their contesting plans they used against the Highlanders last week and against us previously.”