Bulls resolute – Strauss
Skipper says team can still put wretched season behind them
BULLS captain Adriaan Strauss has never been a man for the glitz and glamour that comes with the game of rugby.
Instead, it is man like him who the rugby gods have maybe dealt the cruel hand of never fully experiencing the intoxicating high of holding a trophy aloft and gulping the sweet taste of success.
In his previous jobs as Cheetahs and Springbok captain, Strauss endured testing times from leading a franchise of no-hopers as far as reaching the 2013 Super Rugby play-offs where they lost against the Brumbies in Canberra, to being at the helm of the national team last year through their worst rugby year yet.
This year, Strauss has again had to man up as the Bulls endure their worst start to Super Rugby in more than a decade but the tough-as-nails hooker from the Free State believes this is the time that real rugby players are separated from those in the game for self glory.
With the Bulls only winning one of their six matches so far this season, Strauss is not at all removed from the tough realities that face his side and has urged his team to do all the talking on the field ahead of today’s clash against the Jaguares at Loftus Versfeld.
For Strauss it is all about his side staying the course and fighting to prove that they are still as good as their pre-season billing as one of South Africa’s top Super Rugby franchises.
“I think one thing that you learn is that you need to stick in the fight no matter what happens. You need to make the step up and we now get that opportunity and I don’t want to talk a big game. We know what lies ahead of us. We are all still passionate and very hungry to play good rugby.”
As much as Strauss believes that his side can turn around their season, he also understands that the position the Bulls find themselves in is self-inflicted from buckling at the pressure of playing five games away from home, to the plethora of errors they have made as individuals and as a team.
Today will be the perfect time to fix that and slowly get their campaign back on track.
“We are not going to make any excuses. We had a slow start and after the Sunwolves game at Loftus we did gain some confidence especially against the Blues in that first half, and against the Chiefs there were better signs as well. Against the Sunwolves (in Tokyo) we just let it slip, we had a very bad day. As a team we had an off day, and individually we made a lot of mistakes.”
Against the Jaguares today, the Bulls can’t afford to continue in the same vein that has cost them this season, especially in their last three matches against the Blues, Chiefs and Sunwolves. They will need to eliminate the needless and costly errors while making sure they play to their strengths if they are to attain a favourable result.
“It has been a lot of execution errors but it is important to look at the positives – where we have played good rugby,” said Strauss.”We know the responsibility we’ve got when we play at home at Loftus.”