Bulls relying on favours
THE Blue Bulls find themselves in an unenviable situation where their Currie Cup fate is not entirely in their hands, but captain Burger Odendaal says they will play their part in keeping their play-off aspirations alive when they host the Pumas at Loftus Versfeld tomorrow.
Burger’s troops will not only have to replicate the performances of the past few weeks but will need to ensure they finish the game with the desired outcome of a bonuspoint win if they are to have a realistic chance of making the semi-finals next week.
But try as they may, the Bulls will then have to endure a drawn out wait for Saturday’s encounters between the Sharks and Western Province and the Golden Lions and Free State Cheetahs.
While the Sharks have already secured their place in the semi-finals, and even the stuttering WP, the outcome of the cat fight at Ellis Park will ultimately determine if Burger and his men live to play another week in the competition.
The third-placed Cheetahs are on 31 points while the Lions are one point behind and the Bulls are just three points adrift of the Lions.
For Burger it will be utmost for his team to focus on getting the five points and leave the rest to the Lions and Cheetahs to resolve.
“Definitely, we are just going to go out and give a good performance on Friday. We’ll watch the other teams fight it out on Saturday and hopefully get a spot so we can do it next weekend again,” said Burger.
Burger is not blinded by his team’s recent performances where they have shown significant growth in their style of
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play, but says they are striving to get better by the game.
“I think a couple of calls could have gone our way, then we would have been in a different situation than what we are at the moment. There are still things we need to work on and it is never going to be perfect but it is going to be about how close we can get to perfect.”
The fact that coach John Mitchell has named an unchanged team for the third week running puts the Bulls in a better place to build on their win against the Cheetahs last week and give them an opportunity to avenge the 51-15 loss they suffered in Nelspruit at the hands of the Pumas.
Mitchell is confident his side are moving in the right direction and that they will not repeat the ills of their ways.
“I guess it’s a quarter-final and they will take strength and heart from their performance in Nelspruit. They’ll come for our heart and forwards, there’s no doubt about that.
“Ultimately we are going to have to bring the physicality to it and also the discipline with that as well,” said Mitchell.